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This paper aims to measure income differences between the obese and the non-obese for Brazil and understand which components explain these differences.

A decomposition method based on recentered influence functions, proposed by Firpo et al. (2007) is used, and the procedure is applied to individuals' income distribution quantiles.

The results confirm the existence of a wage gap between obese and non-obese men and women. In the case of men, the difference was favorable to the obese in all quantiles and in the case of women, favorable to the non-obese. The biggest differences were observed at the top of the distribution. This difference is mostly explained by observable characteristics that cause the wage gap between groups. The wage structure effect, which may have elements associated with discrimination in its composition, was not relevant in most quantiles.

Unobserved factors can impact the results, but our methodology tries to minimize such impact.

The authors can only observe a point in time and with that they do not know how long the individual has been obese.

The methodology adopted in the work is recent; moreover, studies on the effects of obesity on the labor market are still recent in Brazilian research.

Whether a human body has a healthy carrying capacity is calculated by body mass index (BMI). The BMI is found by dividing body weight in kilograms by the square of body length. If the person's body weight is more than the heaviness that the body can carry healthily, it is called obesity. Destinations have a specific area, just like a human body. Therefore, any destination whose carrying capacity is exceeded can be called an “obese destination”. This study's primary purpose is to reveal the importance of destination carrying capacity through the concept of obesity.

Content analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was employed, and graffiti reflecting the feelings of the local people toward tourists were used as data. Graffiti was considered as a social carrying capacity indicator to identify obese destination symptoms. Fifty graffiti obtained from search engines about destinations with obesity problems were analyzed.

The study's findings reveal that anti-tourist graffiti indicates obese destination symptoms. Furthermore, when the content analysis of graffiti is examined, it is seen that the obese destination's local people have intense anger toward tourists. This is a clear manifestation of the destination's health deterioration.

This study, in which the concept of obese destination is used for the first time, suggests that destinations' health may worsen just like people. If destinations with over-tourism are called obese, a more expansive awareness will be created about the destinations' problems. The study suggests that nonecolabel can be used as a mandatory diet tool for obese destinations. Anti-tourist graffiti has been addressed as an obese destination symptom.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of obese models vs normal weight models on fashion brands’ attractiveness.

An experiment was carried out in which 1,225 university students in Sweden and Brazil rated the attractiveness of a fashion brand worn by a normal weight model and an obese model.

The overall effect of obese models’ effect on fashion brand attractiveness was insignificant. Furthermore, neither culture nor the consumer’s own weight had a significant effect. There was, however, a significant effect of the participant’s own gender; women rate fashion brands worn by obese models significantly higher on attractiveness than they did fashion brands worn by normal weight models. Men displayed the inverse response.

The effect of the model’s ethnicity was beyond the scope of the experiment, and the brand attractiveness scale captured only one aspect of brand character, leaving other potential brand effects for future studies.

Companies can use obese models with no overall brand attractiveness penalty across markets and for marketing to women of all sizes. Given men’s negative reactions, such models might however be unsuitable for the male-to-female gift market.

The results support the use of obese models, which can lead to greater representation of larger women in the media, and consequently, reduced fat stigma.

The study validates the theory of user imagery, and it extends the theory by examining how different target consumers react to user imagery traits and thus provides evidence for gender bias toward obese models.

The Malaysian lifestyle has been undergoing changes over time. With better socio-economic conditions, Malaysians tend to consume more food today than they did previously. Excessive intakes of high calorie foods combined with little daily physical activity have led to increased numbers of overweight and obese people in the population. The purpose of this paper is to compare the incidence of overweight and obesity in the population in Malaysia with other Southeast Asian countries.

Data for this research were based on secondary data of average weight, overweight and obese people for populations in the Southeast Asian countries. The analysis for this research focused on the population in Malaysia and compared it with populations from neighboring countries.

The population in Malaysia was ranked the second highest in the number of overweight and obese people in the Southeast Asian region. In addition, the rate of increase overweight and obese people in the population of Malaysia was found to be the highest in the region. Since the percentage of overweight and obese people had increased consistently from 2010 to 2014, there was a high possibility that the momentum would continue into the following few years.

Being overweight and obese was not desirable by the majority of people as it could lead to various health diseases and psychological problems. Unfortunately, the percentage of overweight and obese people in Malaysia seems to be increasing. Improved socio-economic conditions have increased the amount of food normally consumed by people. Although many people were found to be aware of the negative impact of being overweight and obese, the majority of them did not seem to take the initiative to reduce their body weight. This research is expected to create awareness of the alarming rate of increase in the number of overweight and obese people in Malaysia in order to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

The purpose of this study was to explore body shapes among overweight and obese men and examine fit issues based on the current ASTM sizing standards related to the categorized body shapes.

The SizeUSA data and the additional data extracted using the ImageTwin (TC2-19) software were used. To categorize body shapes, principal component (PC) analysis with varimax rotation, hierarchical cluster analysis for an elbow method and K-mean cluster analysis were employed. Comparing the categorized body shapes and ASTM sizing charts, a cross-tabulation was performed to test associations between fit analyses for top and bottom for the body shape groups. Furthermore, an analysis of variance and pairwise comparison were performed to identify differences in mean values of size drops between two body parts across the different body shape groups.

Using a three-dimensional (3D) body scanning technology and 3D virtual avatars, three body shapes for overweight and obese men emerged: Rectangle-curvy, bottom hourglass-hip tilt and top hourglass-straight shapes. Further, overweight and obese male consumers are not likely to find a perfect fit from apparel companies who developed their sizing charts based on the men's and big men's ASTM standards. Notably, the big men's ASTM sizing standard did not work for most overweight and obese men the United States.

Despite the notable increase in the US population that is overweight and obese, most overweight and obese men have had fit problems due to the differences in their body shapes as compared to the standardized body shape used in the current sizing system. The results of this study suggest apparel companies who are targeting overweight and obese male consumers in the United States updating their sizing systems in order to solve fit problems.

Obesity is today’s most neglected, yet blatantly visible, public health problem. This study aims to examine the role of social media and goal-directed behavior in motivating healthy lifestyle intentions for customers experiencing obesity. It investigates the distinct roles of self-conscious emotions (shame and pride) and weight-transformational posts shared by others on social media as moderators of these relationships.

The conceptual model uses the goal-directed behavior theory and social comparison theory, tested using data collected from 804 obese customers in Fiji through an experimental design.

Weight-loss transformation posts by others on social media, elicit distinct emotions for obese customers. Obese customers who felt guilt and shame due to shared weight-loss transformation posts showed a stronger association between goal disclosure and healthy lifestyle intention. In addition, the association between goal disclosure and healthy lifestyle intention is conditionally mediated by goal commitment, specifically for those obese customers that elicited guilt over shame due to shared weight-loss transformation posts by others on social media.

Despite the adoption of an experimental design using a fictional stimulus being a commonly used method in marketing studies, external validity issues are likely. Also, this study examines obese customer behavior relating to Facebook. In addition, data collection for this study has been done from a single country perspective. Therefore, caution needs to be exercised when generalizing the findings of this study.

The findings assist businesses and marketers in the health and fitness industry to better leverage social media and goal-directed behavior and understand the emotions of obese customers to undertake data-driven precision marketing strategies.

The findings provide novel insights into goal disclosure and commitment, electronic word-of-mouth on social media platforms, self-conscious emotions and healthy lifestyle intentions for customers experiencing obesity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether overweight and obese individuals are underrepresented among top female and male US executives and whether there is evidence of greater discrimination against overweight and obese female executives than male executives.

Estimates of the frequencies of overweight and obese male Fortune 100 CEOs and female Fortune 1000 CEOs were obtained using publicly available photographs and raters with demonstrated expertise in evaluating body weight. These “experts” then estimated whether the pictured CEOs were normal weight, overweight or obese.

Based upon our expert raters’ judgments, it is estimated that between 5 and 22 per cent of US top female CEOs are overweight and approximately 5 per cent are obese. Compared to the general US population, overweight and obese women are significantly underrepresented in among top female CEOs. Among top male CEOs, it is estimated that between 45 and 61 per cent are overweight and approximately 5 per cent are obese. Compared to the general population overweight men are overrepresented among top CEOs, whereas obese men are underrepresented. This demonstrates that weight discrimination occurs at the highest levels of career advancement and that the threshold for weight discrimination is lower for women than for men.

Weight discrimination appears to add to the glass ceiling effect for women, and may serve as a glass ceiling for obese men.

This paper uses field data, as opposed to laboratory data, to demonstrate that discrimination against the overweight and obese extends to the highest levels of employment.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate students' attitudes towards people of different weights by comparing and contrasting student stereotypes of thin, average, moderately obese and morbidly obese weight individuals, and identify existing prejudices toward the obese and morbidly obese with regards to fashion, style and garment selection. Respondents included 304 college students at a southern university in the USA. Eighty‐seven per cent of the students described their weight as being normal, 10 per cent identified themselves as obese or morbidly obese, and 3 per cent indicated being excessively thin. Results indicated that participants would prefer to seek fashion advice from an average‐weight, as opposed to overweight, person. Ninety‐three per cent of the sample indicated that a thin or average‐weight individual would be more likely to follow fashion as opposed to an obese or morbidly obese person. Thin or average‐weight individuals were perceived to be more flamboyant, having more fashion choices, being more confident with their apparel choices and more willing to pay a high price for their clothing, having an easier time acquiring clothing that fit well, being more able to obtain and desire high‐quality clothing, and also presenting the best overall appearance in their clothing as compared to overweight individuals. The sum or ranking means for the fashion variables of the sample were as follows: thin 24.1, normal 24.4, obese 37.7 and morbidly obese 47.6. (p <0.001).

An experiment was carried out to evaluate whether or not relevant and successful work experience would mitigate employment discrimination in cases involving women and overweight industrial salespeople. The study was conducted in a salesforce setting and used practicing sales managers as subjects. The results indicate that for obese salespeople, positive work experience improved their fit for a job assignment only when the job was less challenging. In the case of a more challenging assignment, successful experience did not seem to help; non‐obese salespeople, with and without successful experience, were both considered more fit than obese salespeople with successful experience. Men and women were found to be equally fit for both more and less challenging assignments.

This paper brings a European perspective to the mainly U.S.-based literature on the relationship between obesity and labour-market outcomes. Using micro-data on workers aged 50 and over from the newly developed SHARE database, the effects of obesity on employment, hours worked, and wages across 10 European countries were analysed. Pooling all countries, the results showed that being obese was associated with a significantly lower probability of being employed for both women and men. Moreover, the results showed that obese European women earned 10% less than their non-obese counterparts. For men, however, the effect was smaller in size and insignificant. Taking health status into account, obese women still earned 9% less. No significant effect of obesity on hours worked was obtained, however. Regressions by country-group revealed that the effects of obesity differed across Europe. For instance, the effect of obesity on employment was greatest for men in southern and central Europe, while women in central Europe faced the greatest wage penalty. The results in this study suggest that the ongoing rise in the prevalence of obesity in Europe may have a non-negligible effect on the European labour market.