Instagram Advertisements Favor the Left Cheek

Area of Science:

• Social Media Marketing
• Advertising Psychology
• Visual Communication

Background:

• Marketing expenditure is shifting from print to social media platforms like Instagram.
• Previous research on posing biases in print advertising yields conflicting results.
• The phenomenon of left-cheek posing bias in portraits is documented but not yet studied in social media advertisements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether a left-cheek posing bias exists in Instagram advertisements.
• To determine if this bias differs across model genders and image types.
• To compare findings with previous research on posing biases in print media.

Main Methods:

• Analyzed 2,000 Instagram posts tagged with #ad, ensuring an equal number of posts for male and female models.
• Coded each post for pose orientation (left cheek vs. right cheek), image type (e.g., full body, head and torso), and model gender.
• Utilized Instagram's 'Most Recent' feed for data collection.

Main Results:

• A significant left-cheek bias was found in 59.8% of Instagram advertisements.
• This bias was consistent across genders and image types.
• The left-cheek bias was more pronounced for female models and full-body poses compared to male models and head-and-torso poses.

Conclusions:

• The left-cheek posing bias observed in traditional portraits and photographs extends to paid Instagram promotions.
• This bias may be influenced by the need for emotional engagement in the highly competitive social media landscape.
• Findings suggest advertisers and influencers could leverage this bias for potentially greater engagement on Instagram.