New York, May 9:

A beautiful young model may not necessarily help sales, rather she could actually negatively influen-ce the customer if she is irrelevant to the quality of the product, says a study.

Pretty faces are used to sell everything from computer processors to motor oil. But it is not really effective to use them to market something that has nothing to do with physical attractiveness, reported the science portal EurekAlert. The research by Paul M Herr at the University of Colorado and others argues that an attractive model presents the first unified theory explaining how we respond to spokespeople and models, outlining the major processes involved in our perception of this type of advertising.

“When consumers are focused on the ad and they believe their thinking to be unduly influenced by something about the spokesperson, attractive spokespeople may be less persuasive than relatively unattractive spokespeople,” write the authors.

The study has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research.

“Though she may very well be an expert, a wom-an in a bikini does not seem credible as an auth-ority on computer proce-ssing speed,” Herr said.

A consumer concerned primarily with the quality and features of the computer may suspect the u-ndue influence of the mo-del on one’s perception.