No Evidence That Exposure to Materialistic Advertisements Influence Appearance Overvaluation and Financial Success Overvaluation in the Self-concept

Abstract

Theory and prior research indicate that placing overriding importance on a life domain (e.g., appearance, financial success, health, work, interpersonal relationships) can negatively influence mental and physical health. In particular, people who overvalue appearance have been shown to engage in maladaptive weight-control behaviours and to have eating disorders. Likewise, people who overvalue financial success have been shown to engage in risky gambling and to have disordered gambling. Although the consequences of overvaluing a life domain are palpable, much less is known about its antecedents, which we examined in the current research. According to the Consumer Culture Impact Model, exposure to sociocultural ideals regarding luxury, wealth, and appearance via advertisements influence appearance overvaluation. We proposed that exposure to such sociocultural ideals should also influence financial success overvaluation. We tested the hypothesis that appearance and financial success overvaluation increase in response to viewing materialistic advertisements. First and second year undergraduate students completed self-report measures of appearance and financial success overvaluation in September 2020 (N = 185). They were re-contacted in March 2021 to complete a consumer decision making task. In the task, participants were randomly assigned to a control condition wherein they viewed and compared several non-materialistic advertisements (e.g., pencils, coffee) or to an experimental condition wherein they viewed and compared materialistic advertisements (e.g., champagne, luxury vacation). Afterwards, all participants completed again the same measures of overvaluation. Unexpectedly, linear regression analyses showed that there were no pre-post changes in appearance and financial success overvaluation from before to after exposure to materialistic (relative to non-materialistic) advertisements. Exploratory Bayesian regression analyses revealed support for the null hypothesis. Findings do not support the Consumer Culture Impact Model. Holding materialistic values are discussed as a potential moderator.