“To Spanx or not to Spanx”: How objects that carry contradictory institutional logics trigger identity conflict for consumers

Despite claims supporting its relevance, the role of objects as carriers of institutional logics has been overlooked in marketing research. This study examines how the extended materiality of consumption objects—that is, the material substances, designer intentions, and marketing efforts objectified in them—may trigger identity conflict for consumers, particularly when such objects are carriers of contradictory institutional logics. We collected and analyzed qualitative data on body-shaping undergarments (i.e., shapewear), which carry the contradictory logics of constricted femininity and flexible feminism. We explain how the extended materiality of shapewear creates intimate tension for consumers by interfering with how consumers relate to their own bodies and to other people, thereby prompting identity conflict.