Self-Concept..the consumer evaluates themselves before the product?

Self-Concept can be defined on how one looks at themselves in a positive or negative aspect or even how one aspires to become apart of a social group.

This self concept is exploited by marketing and is used in adverts by making the customer compare themselves to the synthetic images, leading to the consumer to aspire and gain access to the product that is being subconsciously sold to them.

'Exposure to ads can trigger a process of social comparison,where the person tries to evaluate their self by comparing it to the people depicted in these artificial images' -Michael R. Solomon. 


Furthermore, in recent studies females are more likely to look at an advert or television programme and compare themselves to the thin, attractive and elegant model that the brand uses. Resulting to the female having a lower self-esteem but rating the product being sold highly, in contrast to a female model that is less threatening to the female consumer and sustaining a positive self-esteem - but rate the product lower.

'the subjects who saw depicting normal weight models did not feel bad about themselves, but they did rate the brands lower' - Michael R. Solomon 

In addition to this, it is up to the seller to hold up a mirror to the buyer and attempt to convince that the buyer that they NEED this product in enable to be that model in the advert. The clip Below illustrates how low self-esteem works in a person and how a high self-esteem also is perceived in a person. Although the clip does not focus on buyers behaviour or from a sellers aspect, it demonstrates how these emotions are easy to inject positive self-esteem by purchasing their product.