As “Get Ready With Me” videos continue to dominate TikTok feeds, one undergraduate researcher in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences is exploring how the popular content format shapes consumer behavior.
Madelyn Wilkins, a sophomore advertising management major, has spent the past academic year researching how “Get Ready With Me” (GRWM) videos influence purchase intention, consumer attitudes and perceived similarity among viewers. Working alongside faculty mentor Juan Mundel, associate professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, in the Media and Advertising Psychology (MAP) Lab, Wilkins recently received an undergraduate research seed grant from ComArtSci to support the project’s next phase — a replicate study examining how male consumers respond to GRWM-style content. The funding will help support participant incentives and research-related software and programming needs.
Wilkins joined the MAP Lab during her freshman year and has contributed to multiple research projects while gaining hands-on experience in data collection, analysis and collaboration with faculty, graduate students and peers. She said the experience helped her build leadership skills, confidence and a stronger understanding of professional research environments.
Below, Wilkins shares more about the project, her research process and how undergraduate research helped shape her academic path.
Q: What inspired your research on “Get Ready With Me” videos?
A: My research project consisted of TikTok’s popular genre ‘Get Ready With Me’ videos, which currently has 22.9 million uploads under the hashtag #grwm. As an avid TikTok user myself, I love scrolling and watching GRWM videos when they appear on my page.
With this in mind, I wanted to learn more about how these videos have changed the way — physically and mentally — myself and millions of others view them daily. Dr. Mundel proposed the idea of a study for ‘Get Ready With Me’ videos to a few peers and me, and I immediately agreed to join the project.
Q: What did your research process look like?
A: I met regularly with Dr. Mundel throughout the 2025-26 school year to discuss tasks for the week, cleaning the data, analysis of results, presentation and more. For this study, we used a Qualtrics survey for both the pretest and the actual study.
Participants were shown three different ‘Get Ready With Me’ videos and answered questions after each one using a Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. We also included attention-check questions to make sure participants were fully watching the videos and understanding the products being showcased.
Once the data collection process was complete, Dr. Mundel guided me through the process of cleaning the data using professional software. From there, the data was passed along for statistical analysis and results.
Q: Did any of the findings surprise you?
A: I wasn’t necessarily surprised by the results, because they pretty much aligned with what I was expecting at the beginning. However, it gave me a new light from behind the scenes to understand why consumers act the way they do when prompted with videos like ‘Get Ready With Me.’
Q: What’s next for the research?
A: Our next goal is to replicate the study with our attention focused on men.
In the most recent study, all videos included female influencers and products such as makeup and feminine haircare and skincare. In the next study, we hope to target male consumers using male influencers and products such as athleticwear, male skincare and haircare. We would like to see if the results vary between the two studies.
Q: How has undergraduate research shaped your future goals?
A: Coming in as an undergraduate student and getting to experience hands-on research at the start of my college career is something I will always be grateful for at Michigan State.
With my heart set on applying to the Eli Broad College of Business, it wasn’t until working in the MAP Lab and researching alongside professionals and graduate students in ADPR that I realized I wanted to switch my major.
I discovered where my true interests lie and gained a clearer understanding of what a career could look for me through the skills I’ve developed throughout this time.
By Claire Dippel