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Annual Conference 2019

March 28–31, 2019

Marriott City Center, Dallas, TX

Proposal authors of accepted papers can use the tool below (scroll down) to see where they have been placed in the agenda. Note: Special Topics sessions - Only the submitter's name is searchable, not panelists. [If you wish an overview of the conference please click here: Conference Overview Agenda.

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3.1b Does ‘Inspiration Porn’ Inspire? How Model Disability and Level of Challenge Impact Affective Responses and Attitudinal Evaluations of Advertising

Friday, March 29, 2019 at 2:45 PM–4:15 PM CDT
1-Normandy A
Abstract

Members of the disabilities community have voiced concerns about stigmatizing representations of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in advertising. “Inspiration porn” in advertising often takes the form of showing a PWD completing highly physical and challenging tasks (i.e. climbing a mountain, running a long race with prosthetic legs, snowboarding, etc.). Such portrayals of PWDs have the potential to elicit elevation, but could also lead to ego-threatening self-comparisons. The question thus arises: does the use of PWDs in advertising affect advertisement effectiveness? Utilizing a 2 (disability status of the model: non-disabled vs. disability) by 2 (challenge level of the activity: no challenge vs. high challenge) between subjects design, an online experiment (N = 472) asked, does a model with a disability (compared with a non-disabled model) completing a high challenge task (compared with a low challenge task), increase an advertisement’s effectiveness? Furthermore, it explored whether indicators of inspiration mediated the relationship. Results revealed that advertisements featuring models with disabilities (relative to advertising with an able-bodied model) increased advertisement effectiveness. Mediation analyses revealed that the effect of model disability on advertisement effectiveness was mediated by meaningful affect and physical indicators of elevation. Implications for practitioners and scholars are provided.

First & Corresponding Author

Summer Shelton, University of Florida
Authors in the order to be printed.

Summer Shelton, University of Florida; Frank Waddell, University of Florida

Additional Authors

Frank Waddell, University of Florida
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