The Effect of Content and Model Type in Sidebar Advertising on Middle-Aged Women’s Online Purchases of Anti-aging Products

In the United States, the beauty industry reached $62.46 billion in sales in 2016 (“Revenue,” 2015). A large portion of the beauty industry sales is anti-aging beauty products (“Anti-aging Products,” 2009). There are approximately 48 million middle-aged women between 30 and 55 years of age (Census.Gov, 2011). The most used social media site for middle-aged women is Facebook, which is currently the largest social media outlet for advertising world-wide, averaging four to six advertisements per site (“Social Media,” 2014). Beauty product marketers have not optimally targeted middle-aged women through sidebar advertisements on social media sites [1]. Sidebar advertisement is an internet advertisement in the form of a vertical or horizontal bar on a website that contains graphics, photographs, or text to promote a product presented on social media websites [2,3].