Another Look at the “Decorative” Female Model

Abstract Published evidence suggests that the presence of women as “decorative” models improves recognition of the entire ad. This investigation sought to determine if decorative models have equivalent effects on recognition of both visual and verbal ad components. Starch-scored ads were used to test for recognition differences. The illustration score was selected to represent visual recognition and the body copy score was selected to represent verbal recognition. Analyses of covariance found that visual recognition was significantly affected when female decorative models were present, but that verbal recognition was not affected by the presence or absence of the decorative female models. Both visual and verbal recognition were differentially affected by product category.