Research on discrepancies between the actual self and ideal self has examined self-discrepancies in knowledge, skills and stature but age-based
self-discrepancies have only recently received attention and so we studied this phenomenon in young adolescents. In three studies we identi
fi
ed a
product-category contextual cue that apparently caused adolescents to respond to an existing age-based self-discrepancy. Speci
fi
cally we found that
when the contextual cue was advertising for an age-restricted product, adolescents conformed to dissimilar young adult advertising models and
diverged from similar adolescent models. This indicated that the contextual cue caused them to respond to an age-based self-discrepancy and use a
product associated with the ideal self rather than the actual self. Importantly, this response was stronger among adolescents that were more
dissatis
fi
ed with their age. With advertising for an age-unrestricted product, adolescents conformed to adolescent advertising models and diverged
from young adult models. Industry policies for age-restricted products assume that similarity drives in
fl
uence and therefore mandate that
advertising models be young adults rather than adolescents. Our
fi
ndings suggest this assumption is invalid for age-restricted products.
© 2015 Society for Consumer Psychology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved