Editor’s note: Melvin Prince is president of Prince Associates, a Darien, Conn., research firm, and associate professor of advertising at Iona College.

Advertisers have long recognized the power of supermodels to influence consumers and have used their services as commercial spokeswomen for branded products. For example, Carol Alt has had numerous endorsement contracts (such as Lancome, Hanes, Cover Girl and Sasson), and television campaigns (such as Pepsi and General Motors). Cindy Crawford did a commercial for the Cadillac Catera. Christy Turlington was enlisted by Mercedes. Claudia Schiffer was used to target teenagers. Naomi Campbell and Kathy Ireland were spokeswomen for Frito-Lay. Kate Moss donned a milk mustache for an ad campaign sponsored by the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board. Wonderbra advertising featured Eva Herzigova.

At the apex of the modeling world, these supermodels are the subjects of numerous articles and photo sessions in such magazines as Allure, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Mademoiselle, People, Redbook, and Vogue.

An examination of these magazines over the past two years yielded a list of the most frequently referenced supermodels: Amber Valletta, Angie Everhart, Anna Nicole Smith, Bridget Hall, Cameron Diaz, Carol Alt, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Daniela Pestova, Elle Macpherson, Eva Herzigova, Eve Salvail, Heather Locklear, Heather Stewart-Whyte, Helena Christensen, Isabella Rosselini, Karen Mulder, Kate Moss, Kathy Ireland, Krissy Taylor, Linda Evangelista, Liv Tyler, Nadja Auermann, Naomi Campbell, Niki Taylor, Nina Brosh, Paulina Porizkova, Rachel Williams, Shalom Harlow, Stacey Williams, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz, Tyra Banks, Vanessa Paradis, Vendela Kirsebom and Yasmeen Ghauri.

Supermodel image study

A study was conducted to measure the impressions of supermodels among young women, aged 18-24 (n=85). The survey addressed two primary areas: 1) imagery of supermodels and 2) opinions as to how good each supermodel would be as a spokeswoman for several product categories.

Respondents were asked to indicate which images described each of 37 supermodels in the study. The attributes were adapted from concepts in magazine article references to supermodels. Fifteen such image attributes were used: attractive, dependable, expert, classy, honest, experienced, beautiful, reliable, knowledgeable, elegant, sincere, qualified, sexy, trustworthy and skilled.

Results were mapped and analyzed using correspondence analysis. The analysis of images shows a) general dimensions by which supermodels can be classified; b) how each of the supermodels studied rates along these dimensions; c) the specific images most closely associated with each model; and d) the clusters of models with similar image profiles.

A second task consisted of respondents giving opinions as to which of the same supermodels would be good as spokeswomen for advertising each of six product categories that have used supermodels as advertising spokeswomen: fragrances, intimate apparel, leather goods, jewelry, automobiles, fashions. The analysis of advertising spokeswomen ratings is analyzed in the light of sets of product categories associated with groupings of supermodels.

Super imagery

Two primary dimensions emerged in the correspondence analysis to portray the images of supermodels. The first dimension is that of "role," ranging from solely examples of beauty (e.g., Nina Brosh, Anna Nicole Smith, Stacey Williams and Vanessa Paradis) to competent, attractive women (e.g., Cindy Crawford, Heather Locklear, Isabella Rosselini and Paulina Porizkova).

The second dimension is that of "personality," ranging from positive inner traits, such as sincerity and dependability (e.g., Kate Moss, Niki Taylor, Nadja Auermann and Heather Stewart-Whyte) to interpersonal styles, such as classy and elegant (e.g., Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour and Rachel Williams). Image profiles for individual supermodels can be seen in Figure 1. For example, Helena Christensen personifies sexiness, Linda Evangelista symbolizes elegance, Heather Locklear is perceived as knowledgeable, and Kate Moss projects sincerity.

A second set of evaluations, supermodels as spokeswomen, is graphically shown in Figure 2. Products that supermodels might endorse were grouped into three sets: 1) clothing, 2) accessories, and 3) consumer durables. On ratings for presenting specific advertised products, Moss and Rosselini were viewed as best spokeswomen for fragrances; Linda Evangelista, Paulina Porizkova, and Carol Alt for jewelry; Tatjana Patitz and Helena Christensen for intimate apparel; Niki Taylor, Vendela Kirsebom, Tyra Banks, Nadja Auermann, Vanessa Paradis and Karen Mulder for fashions and Heather Locklear, Anna Nicole Smith and Kathy Ireland for leather goods and automobiles.

These choices of supermodel spokeswomen for specific products reflects, in part, their overall popularity. If we examine the average percentage given each supermodel across all 15 image attributes as an index of popularity, then Cindy Crawford, Heather Locklear, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Isabella Rosselini top the list.