The costs associated with law enforcement have seen a sharp increase, driven by rising personnel costs and the growing demand for policing services (Gascón, 2010; Urban Institute, 2020). Considerable discussion has arisen about how science can potentially help law enforcement “do more with less”, and some scholars have suggested introducing new crime control technologies to address this problem (e.g., Roach, 2022; Weisburd & Neyroud, 2011). With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, police departments around the world had additional demand, as they were made responsible for overseeing and ensuring compliance with COVID protocols. As a response, some countries (e.g., Singapore and China; Barrett, 2021) resorted to employing service robots either alongside or in place of police officers to assist with COVID-related compliance tasks.

Consumers and sources are embedded in cultural contexts that influence how those sources are read. We examine how consumers stigmatized for being fat collectively read advertisements for luxury fashion brands featuring plus-sized sources. We unveil individual and cultural resources stigmatized consumers rely on to collectively develop readings of advertising sources.