Executive Summary
The principal aim of this study is to seek out and identify the main factors that underpin gender receptivity and reactions to persuasions of advertisements and messages. The research hypothesis- various aspects that determine criteria for appreciating or deprecating textual/ visual measures differ between men and women and has provided food for thought for many research studies. Besides the impact caused by differences in physiological, psychological, and perceptual build-up between men and women, a host of factors including feminism, use of verbal/ spatial skills, reactions to cues, and even sexual aspects could produce different responses among men and women. This study has also considered several robust empirical studies and various findings, interpretations, and results that have emerged from such studies.
Introduction
It is found from empirical studies that the attitudes between men and women in advertising persuasions are different in terms of approach and acceptance. Independent studies conducted reinforce the belief that the women are more affected by the initial, or first advertisement, in a sequence of advertisements that are shown to them and men by the last advertisement. In the survey conducted regarding grant of donations for cancer research, showing the need for manifestations of both self-help and help other attitudes, it is found that the sequencing of advertisement, being on help others first, appealed to women rather than the self-help, in which the support and interest of men were noticed.
“Thought-listing data revealed that females continued to exhibit primacy effects regardless of message appeal, but the recency effects with males disappeared when the advertisement (help-self) matched their values.”Brunei, Fr. D Ric F & Nelson, Michelle, R: Journal of Advertising Research.Vol. 43 (2003)
This gives an indication that women are more altruistic and helping others in need rather than men. However, in the second study, it is seen that men did not show so much self-help as women. This reinforces the belief that while men are more aggressive and demanding when it comes to responding to advertising appeals, women are more caring. The nurturing factors that govern women are seen in the context of their preferences for advertisements that show caring and helping others attitude, which was present to a lesser degree in men. It is seen that men tend to respond better to messages that appeal to themselves only, whereas females are more heuristic in nature and prefer to learn things themselves. A woman may purchase a product on its visual appeal itself, whereas a man considers all relevant factors before making a purchase.
However, the main difficulties that a research study of this kind would ensue would be in terms of contradictory reactions on the subject matter and lack of strong evidence of subjective evaluation on research already conducted. The preponderance of different research studies drawing forth discrete interpretations and conclusions would also impinge on new research. However, it is seen that certain apparent characteristics emanate from the use of research tools and techniques on this subject.
“Thought-listing data revealed that females continued to exhibit primacy effects regardless of message appeal, but the recency effects with males disappeared when the advertisement (help-self) matched their values.Journal of Advertising Research: Frederic F. Brunel and Michelle R.Nelson (2003): Cambridge Journals: Message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion
Research question: Does empirical research reinforce the contention that men and women react differently to advertisement persuasion?
In a study conducted by Nike, the famous shoemaker, in association with a feminist magazine called Glamour, it is seen that the Company used five advertisements that highlighted women’s participation and active interest in sports. “The purpose of this article is to report on the persuasive strategies utilized by Nike in its 1999 advertising campaign in a woman’s consumer magazine through a method known as critical feminist analysis, in order to gain a better understanding of its storytelling approaches.” (Arsenault, Darin J, Fanzy, Tamer: Tamara: Journal of critical postmodern Organizational Science: 2001: BNET: 2008: Just Buy It: Nike Advertising aimed at Glamour readers: A critical feminist analysis :
But the main reason for the inclusion of women in sports is to seek alignment with Title IX of the Education Act 1972, which ordains that those institutions which are under public or Federal funding are categorically banned from professed gender bias. It could be seen in the context of Nike that, more than their interests in encouraging sporting events and the aspect of femininity movements, the prime considerations for Nike would have been in terms of using the feminine aspects to boost their profits and bottom line and create more marketing opportunities for their sports goods products.
Thus it is possible to comprehend the use of Nike’s story for attracting feminine consumers, and it is seen that Nike’s marketing strategy is mainly oriented for using women’s sports gear as a medium for enhancing better profit and gains for the Company. Arsenault, Darin J, Fanzy, Tamer: Tamara: Journal of critical postmodern Organizational Science: 2001: BNET: 2008: Just Buy It: Nike Advertising aimed at Glamour readers: A critical feminist analysis.
Impact of feminine theories advocated by Cheris Kramarae and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell.
Cheris Kramarae has advocated the use of Muted Group Theory. It basically involves three aspects or assumptions:
- Men and women have framed different perspectives towards the world, and this is the reason why men and women perform different jobs.
- Men are more politically dominant and aggressive, and therefore they are able to repress women’s ideas and meanings through public support.
- In order to be able to be understood by men, women must transcribe their thoughts, feelings, and intentions into the men’s communicative world, or in other words, they must communicate to men at their wavelengths. (Haines Colte (2003): Cheris Kramarae Essay: A Summary of the Muted Group Theory :
This theory mainly advocates the fact that since men learn communicative abilities faster and earlier than women, the latter have a hard time expressing themselves as compared to men. Therefore the communicative skills of expressing themselves strongly and coherently are more evident in men than in women. However, when it comes to an understanding, women are better positioned to understand men than vice versa.
If the Cheris Kramarae Muted Group theory has to be applied in the present case study, it is seen that the aspect of advertisement persuasion would be more effectively communicable by men rather than women. However, since men have the upper hand, if a decision needs to be taken, men would be in a better position to do so, although the level of comprehension and interpretations of text messages may be higher for women than for men.
Further, it could be seen that since men have a greater level of difficulty in understanding women than vice versa, with respect to message persuasions, the ads promoted or featuring women would be less comprehensible for men when compared to male ads directed towards women. However, the actual usage of this Muted Group theory may be restrictive in nature since women are not able to communicate or respond as effectively and speedily as men.
The Muted Theory Approach is all about the basis of power-sharing between men and women. The theory indicates that men run the risk of losing their dominant positon if they were to heed to women and integrate women’s wishes into the language. To give equal status to women would be to deny their own rights/ privileges, which may not be acceptable to men. (Muted Group Theory)
Seen in the context of message persuasion, it is seen that in the context of a family of husband and wife, the male gender would not like to yield ground to the female. Thus, the decisions based on the impact of ad persuasions would rest with the male constituent. If there are differences of opinion between men and women, by and large, the opinions of males would stand, as per this theory.
Gender theory propagated by Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, 1989.
In terms of speech agency that could be used for communication K. K. Campbell has advocated three axioms that are –
- it is directed towards certain community and is participatory
- these are produced and controlled by materialistic factors that govern human nature
- it is produced by highly articulate producers
- it is viewed as an art or, a craft.
- it is executed through a form that is dynamic and ever-changing. (Scot, Richard Barnett: A Space for Agency: Rhetorical Agency, Spatiality, and the Production of Relations in Supermodernity. (Under the direction of Carolyn R. Miller).
Thus it is seen that the axioms propagated by K. K. Campbell, when viewed in the present context of message persuasion on gender differentiation, would envisage the aspect of spatiality. It is seen that research has confirmed that knowledge and application of spatiality are better understood and utilized by men rather than women.
It is seen that the advertisers take recourse to different strategies for a different audience –men and women in order to make convincing and appealing sales talks. It is seen that both genders are more easily convinced if the advertising message is more relative to the opposite gender’s social role, rather than their own gender role and perspective. There are many differences between male and female clients in the relevant knowledge and understanding that is needed for intuitive planning and judgments for making advertising decisions. It would be seen in terms of the research carried out by Woods (1966) and Nowaczyk (1982) women reacted to non-verbal stimuli more effectively than men. Women may rely on message cues that demand more attention than their male counterparts.
However, if the degree of cues is so high that both male and female attentions are equally responsive, then it is seen that not many differences could be seen. It is seen from the advertiser’s point of view that the detailed parameters are crucial for several reasons- the gender differentiation may be important when both the male and females manifest the same kind of knowledge and interest in the various advertising messages which are being sent out to them and which are believed to be informative to them. The different reactions to advertising messages are important for advertisers since they would like to know how the different attention-getting techniques could create varying gender reactions.
Thus, male products to be used by male-like clothes, talc, male shaving, and dressing accessories, inner wears would require a different advertising approach when compared to advertisements for women’s dresses, cosmetics, lingerie, etc. The degree of responsiveness and attention-catching features could be forecasted, and the advertising messages could be formulated so as to get maximum market attention. In an experiment conducted for judging products, it is seen that they were asked to memorize a fact and then recall and pass judgment on it after a certain time.
The recalling aspect reinforced the fact that recall would point to good processing and imprint of memory functions and that recall would reiterate a strong impression on mind and memory faculties. However, the factor of judgment differs from that of recall in that it invokes and involves a different set of mental processes, and it could be said that judgment is based on readily accessible information. In the process of judgment, cues may be used only if fully detailed upon, and otherwise, the judgment process would be based on general readings of the situation.
Certain experiments were conducted, which are being detailed below:
Experiment 1
In the case of gender differences, it is seen that detailed information was available that reinforced general parameters and also if the degree of attention were of such low contextual value that genders, male and female, were not much different. The experiment was related to messages relating to a new TV Program that was aired in order to facilitate participants’ subsequent recall and judgment against two current TV shows being aired.
It is also seen that in the context of certain cues, seen in terms of high, low, or moderate, the impact of gender on these factors was considered. It was seen that low cues not in conformity with the main show did not evoke enough attention for gender differentiation, but at high and moderate levels, gender differentiation was apparent. It was also seen that in the context of this survey, certain areas were merged to the main TV Show.
In the survey, which involved 53 subjects, it is seen that 53 subjects were asked to indicate their opinion about new TV programs, and each of these was evaluated in terms of 4-7 Points-Scale, which included the level of interest, familiarity with the subject, interest and aptitude and its significance in terms of the viewers. (Joan Meyers Levy And Brian Sternthal: Journal of Marketing Research: Vol.XXVIII (Feb 1991)
Results
The results showed that there no significant gender differences were found on any of the items indicated as criteria. In terms of the survey, since the significant p’s were found ≥.11.
Findings
Gender differences in the setting of parameters on the detailing of messages cues, could be seen from the experiment where the dissimilarity was low, is suggestive of the fact that there were not much different between gender differences, but when dissimilarity was high and significant, these hints affect women more than men. Yet these findings suggest that the two genders were equal when directory required to do so, suggests that different cues encryptions took place or not, and these have implications. (Joan Meyers Levy And Brian Sternthal: Journal of Marketing Research: Vol.XXVIII (Feb 1991) P 84-85.
Experiment 2
In this case, the presenting of message cues took place, and the cues were manipulated and elaborated without causing any differentiation in the message content of the advertisement text. The attention to the argument was carried, and the product contained a large number of product characteristics and two cues, which were alien or unconducive to the product’s conventional taste. Despite the fact that the advertisement contained these cues or ‘miscues,’ they were considered either in commonality or separated from the main characteristics. The main idea was to gauge the reactions of these characteristics by the different genders- men and women. There were three factors that were considered and assessed in terms of the effects of gender and cue positioning:
- The participants were asked to judge the taste of the products as laid out in the text message.
- In order to provide an indication of the accessibility of the taste information, the serial position in which subjects generated their first taste related to the thoughts examined.
- The participants were then required to recollect the message from memory.
It is seen that in this experiment, to determine the impact of gender differentiation on advertising persuasion, the positioning of the cues are of great significance. If they are placed separately, they would attract minimal attention and be well below the parameters, and therefore, the aspects of gender differentiation would be minimal. (Joan Meyers Levy And Brian Sternthal: Journal of Marketing Research: Vol.XXVIII (Feb 1991) P 84-85.
However, if they are placed continuously, then it is quite possible that this would be above the women’s parameters but lower than the men’s parameters.
In such cases, it is seen that women would evaluate the performance of the cues in an unfavorable manner and would tend to dwell longer on its negative aspects and have more access to taste inferences. Thus, it is seen that the prediction of gender differences are more favoring the continuity process rather than separatism. To the extent that these outcomes feature variability in the gender’s detailing rather than their encoding of taste cues, no differences are recalled of the cues that may be seen.
Experiment 3
25 males and 28 females were subjected to a test for evaluating the performance of new toothpaste. The selection of the toothpaste was preceded by a pretest in which 52 students were asked to list all the characteristics for evaluation. The favorable aspects of the toothpaste in terms of its bacteria annihilating properties and gum diseases were also considered. (Joan Levy & Brian 1991, P. 90 -91).
These were the favorable aspects. When coming to the unfavorable aspects, the criticalities were in terms of pungent after taste and bitter taste. The subjects were asked to define “caustic and pungent” from top of the scale, most important to least important. Regarding the caustic and pungent taste, it is seen that the subjects were asked to evaluate their reactions to the use of the toothpaste whether the aspect of caustic and pungent is important for their decisions.
Results
Women tend to judge the products’ taste less favorably than men taste the clues in the continuous system. The gender’s judgment did not differ when the taste was disparate. It was also seen that the women’s reactions were less favorable when taking the cues in the case of continuous cues rather than when it was done separately. The men’s judgment was indifferent to the variations in the tasks. Women produced more thoughts than men when taste cues were continuous. It was also seen that both men and women had good recall of the taste attributable to memory. Then discussions on these aspects seem to suggest that the reasonability of several explanations following different processes or judgments. (Joan Levy & Brian 1991, P. 90 -91).
In the research conducted, it was found that men and women were open to words at rates that were swifter than they could identify, and they were asked to pass judgment on it. Females gained over men in producing judgments, although the turnover of the word presentation did not matter for males and females.
The lower standards of women in making judgments is just another exhibition of the general manner of processing information. Similarly, the rate of processing cues by males may emerge, but this does not make a difference between males and females (Joan Levy & Brian, 1991, P. 94).
According to the “selectivity model,” females’ processing entails effortful elaboration of the message content (Meyers-Levy and Maheswaran, 1991).
Males tend to heuristically process advertising information by focusing on cues” (Darley and Smith, 1995; Meyers-Levy, 1989). Goliath Business knowledge on demand.
Research and discussions of the origins of gender differences is suggestive of inroads for future research. It is necessary to find out the implications that follow from the causes for gender differences in the standards for detailed discussions. If the gender differences are connected to the dominant nature of men and the submissive nature of women, the implications are that the lower standards for females for detailing may only be present in male-dominated societies. (Joan Levy & Brian, 1991, P. 94).
According to the research works carried out by Bakan (1966) and Carlson (1971, 1972), it is seen that the males are driven in their choices for advertisement persuasion by characteristics of assertiveness, need for establishing supremacy and dominance, whereas in the case of women, it is seen that they seek communal concerns. (Myers-Levy, 1998). Maureen Hupfer McMaster University.
The results showed that:
- male consumers elicited significantly higher automatic processing level than females as to the brands with the male spokes-character,
- female consumers elicited significantly higher automatic processing level than males as to the brands with the female spokes-character.
And no significant differences were found in the controlled processing of the brands between male and female consumers under both conditions. These findings are assumed to be of some value to the advertisement designing”.
Social Science Research Network- Acta Psychological Sinica, Vol.37, No.5, 2005.
Thus, it is seen that in the case of men, their reactions would be more self-focused, while in the case of women, they would think about others as well as themselves.
However, it is seen that the works of Eagly & Carli (1981) do not uphold this view. Chapter 18: Cognitive approaches to social psychology.
According to them, women are more convincing as compared to men. However, it is seen that in these studies, the comparisons between the attitudes of men and women- men with regard to their assertiveness and dominance, and women for their need for harmony with themselves and others, and to seek peace with oneself and others, was not the chief focus of attention and comparison. Therefore, it could not be concretely ascertained that this theory with regard to gender differentiation on advertising persuasions could not be established.
In the case of advertising persuasion on men, in particular, it may be said that the media images to the viewers are important. If the viewer feels that the male model is feminine, then it might exclude this view from their concept of masculinity. It is also seen that most viewers seek the overall picture and do not concern themselves with individual differences. (Ganst & Bodenhausen, 2007).
In the case of gender differentiation, it is also found that the previously held attitudes or prejudices regarding advertisement models are important and have a bearing on the present attitudes also. Boys and girls who hold feminine preferences tend to identify with male depictions as compared to masculine children.
The aspects of assertiveness play an important part in gender differentiation. It is seen that the attitudes of men and women may differ substantially in their views and perspectives of advertising. While men are more circumspect, careful, and not carried away, or influences by glamour or glitz of the advertisement, or in some cases, by the allurement of the models who display them, it is seen that this is not the case for women.
This is because women view advertisements messages as a need that has to be satisfied, or satiated. The nurturing and nourishing features that are the special characteristics of most women are best served in ads and messages, and most advertisers are fully aware of it. Thus, the ads would want these special characteristics of women in terms of help others, or their quest for seeking to establish cordial and warm relationships with all they come into contact with, to be part and parcel of the advertisement response model. Thus, in real terms, the perspectives of men would be to establish the veracity and truth of the message, in terms of its contents, message value and contextual usage, and also how it would best serve male purposes.
The male is self-centered, seeking to satiate his own ego appetites and establish his overlordship through assertion, aggressiveness, and self-imposition, which may not be the prime considerations in the case of the females. In their case, it would be in terms of altruistic values, helping others, and also seeking to seek out gregarious values by reaching out to people and situations. In an advertisement seeking donations for a noble cause, the male would be more inclined to look for avenues in which his ego satiation could be established, his control and domination of the situation completed, and also the ways and means by which the authenticity and content value of the ad be made out. In other words, it is seen that from the male point of view, the aspects of control, leadership, domination, and assertion are enforced, or tried to be enforced.
But if we are to take the case of women, the effects or reactions from ads would be seen in terms of how it could serve their nurturing and caring attitudes. Taking a model regarding donations, it could be said that how best this ad would help in establishing contacts with people, reaching out to needy people, and serving their needs would be the integral effects or reactions. Whether the female gender actually provides the donation cheque is a different matter, but what is more important is that the nurturing and caring attitudes, combined with the need to establish contact and gregarious, sociable nature, are evident from studies.
Research studies have also shown that the situational aspects of the advertisement are also equally important. In this context, the difference has to be established between sex and gender. This differentiation is important since the physiological build-up of a man or woman could impact perceptions of advertisements. While sex refers to the biological setup of a man or woman, or their biological structural variation, the word gender, refers to the cultural aspects of differentiation between men and women.
The cultural aspects of differentiation would be in terms of their respective breeding, the environment in which they grew up, their education, social status, parentage, and how they perceive life and living. It is common knowledge that the higher the quality of education and cultural value addition, the more visible would be its impact on awareness of ad message impact and the level of positive discrimination or differentiation that could be established.
Conversely, the lower the cultural settings and educational levels, the more negative would be the responses or reactions to ads, especially one dealing with the opposite gender. Thus it is seen that perceptions in the context of advertisement are the net determinant of not one or two factors but a host of factors, which may be highly individualistic in nature. It is quite natural that people are more allured by messages carried by members of the opposite gender, but this is only up to a point.
It needs to be seen the wider context of the participant identifying himself or herself with the carrier of the message, in terms of putting the viewer in the place of the messenger, or idol, in terms of establishing identical links with them. If a high degree of similarity, or commonness, can be established, it is seen that the effects of the product etc., being messaged would have a higher degree of content and impact value; conversely, if the degree of similarity cannot be established, or is established at a lower level of significance, the impact value would be low.
The impact value could be seen in terms of the member being able to recollect and recall the message at a later date and also in terms of being influenced to the degree that could directly or indirectly buy the product.
Similarly, it is seen that women may purchase an advertised product based not only on its usage value but also in terms of emotional appeal or intuitive value. As it has been established, the need to help others is prominent and dominant in as far as women’s attitude to react to advertisement persuasions is concerned. Although a man may not react positively to such persuasions directly, it is seen that women tend to do so, and more overtly so. The more alluring and appealing the advert is, the more obvious is the need that women may react positively to it.
This aspect is important since advertisers need to know how to develop adverts that could appeal to men and women who may be their prime buyers. The ads for motor cars, or bikes, need to be more appealing to the macho image of speed, daring, impulsive, and daredevil attitudes of men and boys. But this could also appeal to women, who secretly crave to be a part of the action, but how may be denied due to physiological or other reasons. Women would prefer these ads since it would add to their image about men and their endeavors.
Coming to advertisements for household goods, which are a specialty area of women. It is seen that these ads could be appealing in that women would have reasons for making judicious and intelligent decisions based on their requirements and the need-satisfying capacities of the products. For men, such ads for household goods would be in terms of, say, their fuel reducing capabilities, or economic functions, which may also be a determinant factor for women.
It is seen that women’s focus changed depending on their hormonal level.
If we take an example of 2 images, one of a couple sitting with snacks and wine and the other of a hit movie, which one will attract the men & which the women? Well, the research done by Holly Buchanan shows that women are more interested in images with more than one person. They are more inspired by the relationship between people in the image. It is actually hard to tell whether women or men, who would like which in this case. It is likely that women would prefer the image of a man & woman spending time together and men watching the hit movie title? (Buchan, 2007).
Advertisement: Today, advertisements are more and more becoming part of our life. Wherever we see, there are advertisements, on televisions, radios, posters everywhere, hotels, public places, and all over our surroundings. How to advertise in an attractive way is very important. Here also advertising, how does it catch in different ways the men and women. Yes, the advertisement affects the general public differently among men and women. It can happen that men are more attracted towards a different style than a woman. Therefore while advertising, it is important to take into consideration the interest of both man and woman. A kind of advertisement which can attract both population groups.
The main purpose of advertisement is to bring the particular product to the attention of the consumer and ensure the sale of the product. The message contained in the advertisement has to be, therefore, clear, containing all emotions and values which can awaken the customer.
It is seen that printed versions of advertisements are more effective. However, the color, texture, etc. should be taken proper care of. Other means of advertisement can sometimes fail the attention of the general public. If printed and supplied all-round, mass public attention can be gained. The advertisement should be able to convey the use of the product & its virtues to the customer in an appropriate way.
“Using semiotics in advertising can help to reveal the hidden meanings and messages in the underlying level; this modern-day method of semiotics is based on the writings of Charles Pierce and Ferdinand Saussure.” (Henderson, 2002 ).
“The persuasion of advertising is examined in terms of the risks women face in their decisions as consumers. Experimental results relate self-confidence, risk style, and product importance to the effect of TV commercials on brand choices for regular and instant coffee, shampoo, margarine, and household wraps. The data confirm the curvilinear effect of generalized self-confidence on persuasibility. They also show that persuasion is strongly affected by a woman’s risk style. The effects of these psychological variables are enhanced for more important products, while the overall level of persuasion decreases as importance increases.” (Barach, 1969, pp. 314-320).
“Specifically, women are more sensitive to the comprehensiveness of the trial information, recognizing manipulated differences in trial diagnosticity. In contrast, men tend to use readily available information to form brand judgments and are less likely to notice that other attribute information is unavailable in the product trial”.
Ingenta Connect– Jan 2006: Kempf, DeAnna; Laczniak, Russell; Smith, Robert: The effects of gender on processing advertising and product trial information.
Men and women are two individual personalities having different interests, knowledge, judgment capabilities, social status, etc. Scholars believe that both genders evaluate certain products in different ways, as also their involvement in a particular product varies.
Therefore their approach towards a particular advertisement can be entirely different. Certain ads may attract only men, and in other cases, only women are the victims. (Sridhar, 2007). Consumer Involvement in Product Choice – A Demographic Analysis.
The Flymen & Goldsmith (!993) reported women were more involved in fashion and are further interested in reading Fashion magazines as also fashions featured in media and visit such fashion published places more often. Consumers who were more involved or interested in high fashion were less interested in bargains or sales.
“Innovativeness, opinion leadership, and enthusiasm are some of the common characteristics of those consumers who experience long-enduring involvement in certain product categories.” Journal of Advertising: Frederic F. Brunel and Michelle R.Nelson (2003): Cambridge Journals: Message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion.
Researches showed that, among men and women, “fashion involvement individuality was strongest in shaping apparel involvement.” Women were fashion involved, whereas men indicated that comfort seemed to be more important. Here it shows that men & women differ in their level of apparel involvement. Studies showed that the difference in involvement is seen because men and women are socialized differently. The level of product involvement depends upon how much the customer is influenced by the advertisement and has believed the contents. The knowledge of fashion and interests of consumers’ current requirements also shows the involvement of women customers in these fashion goods. The research has always proved that women are more interested in apparel fashion than men.
In all advertisements, images play an important role in motivating, attracting, and expressing ideas. “Gender has been found to play an important role in involvement with fashion apparel because women tend to develop more personal and social connections than men in a more convenient way” (O’Cass, 2004).
Irrespective of race, the percentage of women involved in fashion is more than men. They spend more time and money on buying fashion products—images in fashion advertisement, their role in involvement, and the consumer communication process. (Images in fashion advertisement).
The results of one of the studies indicated that there are gender differences in public self-consciousness and social anxiety, with the effects particularly pronounced for younger females. Younger females also recalled more television commercials than other male and female groups”.
How men & women process information differently in advertising persuasion?
Advertising is pervasive. It’s all around us. It’s one of those things that could be termed “a necessary evil.” Sometimes you are frustrated at the amount of advertising that you are subjected to every minute of every passing day – On the TV, Radio, Hoardings, Newspapers and Magazines, Leaflets and handouts. While you are at home, on the way to work, in the restaurant, in the movies, at the mall, at the disco, you name it wherever you look, there will name names and messages screaming at you.
There are companies advertising their brands, brands advertising their products, supermarkets and shopping malls advertising their discounts, political parties advertising their election manifestos. Associations are advertising their events, and every day you will get introduced to an advertising innovation. Like a message behind the bus ticket, on the restaurant bill, on a red balloon high in the sky are just a few places newly acquired by advertisers.
Advertisers are always looking for more and more innovations in advertising. In fact, it would help them immensely if they knew the differences in a particular message would affect a male audience as compared to a female audience. How they can differentiate between these two broad categories and how they can use that information in creating gender-specific messages through which they can reach out to them in a more effective method.
In order to understand how men & women process information differently in advertising persuasion, we will take a look into the general differences between the genders processing information given to them.
General Differences
Numerous studies have concluded that females are more emotional than men. They are genetically programmed to be so. The fact that they are more involved in the process of reproduction, i.e., pregnancy, childbirth, upbringing, than men, may have contributed to this difference. As established by Areni and Kiecker in 1993, “Primary caregivers (i.e., females) tend to foster nurturing, whereas the other parents {i.e., males) foster a competitive orientation.”
Differences in information processing
In 2000 separate experiments were conducted where men and women were subjected to reading and interpreting advertisements in a highly systematic manner which has concluded that females were more responsive and sympathetic to charity appeals than men. Men’s responses were more towards the self-centered messages. Females have shown their ability to think deeply about the advertising message and interpret them, while men showed less care or effort in doing so. “Behavioral data from Nielsen Net Ratings found that women typically spend more time looking at a web page than men do, also suggestive of more
intensive processing {Media Week, 2001” (Message Order Effects and Gender Differences in Advertising Persuasion, Frederic F. Brunel and Michelle R. Nelson). But they also found that when men are specifically instructed to concentrate on the content of the message, the differences fade. However, the advertising industry is not interested in such cases as the findings on regular standard circumstances are what they can use to improve their gender-specific advertising.
Gender Difference and effects of different advertising orders
Research on different types of messages has shown that depending on the order in which people encounter information may affect persuasion. Kardes and Herr’s study of 1990 has shown a light on Primacy and Recency theory on the order of information in a message. Primacy is when the initial information provides a greater degree of persuasion and Recency effect. On the other hand, it occurs when the final communication has a greater role in persuasion. Meaning of recency – a time immediately before the present.
The primacy and recency effects are affected by the interest in the subject of the message, involvement, and the attitude of the audience at that point in time. Based on previous research, it can be established that persons with high interest in a topic showed a primacy effect, whereas those with low interest exhibited recency effects. The overall effect of primacy and recency also changes according to the person’s involvement in the message shown. If they are informed and instructed beforehand, they show a primacy effect because they are interested in understanding the information provided later. At the same time, exactly the opposite happens in the case of no prior instruction or motivation. The recency and primacy effects show different degrees in Men and Women.
Gender Differences in Primacy and Recency effects
With no motivation to process the information in any particular way, it is found that females go through elaborate processing strategies, while males had image-based or simplistic processing.
This means that females will show a more primacy effect than males. The initial part of the message has a greater bearing on the processing of the later part in females.
Males tend to do the opposite.
In the journal of advertising research, September 2003, Frederic F. Brunel and Michelle R. Nelson have conducted a study on 188 Eighty-eight college students. They were presented with two charity advertising appeals in different presentation orders—a between-subject factor with random assignment. Half of the subjects received order 1. The other half received order 2. Two print advertising messages were used.
One message asked subjects to give money to a cancer research charity because it would be good for them (a selfish/help-self message).
The other appeal was identical to the first one, except subjects were told that giving money to the cancer research charity would help other people (an altruistic/ help-others appeal).
After reading both appeals, subjects were asked to “select the International Cancer Society advertising appeal/ message that they find most persuasive.” A simple dichotomous choice variable was used to capture preference.
Results for Order 1 (Help-Self Presented First. Help-Others Presented Last):- Over 60% of males preferred the Help-Others message, and over 60% of women preferred the self-help message. This is contrary to their inherent nature, but this goes to prove that women show more primacy effects, which is capable of overriding the inherent nature, and men show more recency effects. It’s because the Help-Others message was given last to them.
Results for Order 2 (Help-Others Presented First, Help-Self Presented Last).
Here the results were totally opposite. Men leaned toward the Self-Help message by over 55% and women toward the self-others message.
“One of the studies found that message order and gender influenced message persuasion: under low situational involvement, females (males) exhibited primacy (recency) effects when viewing two advertisements differing in values (help-self versus help-others) for a charity.”
This finding confirms the argument that under low involvement situations that do not call for specific processing styles, presentation order has a differential effect across gender. Females processed the information more systematically in a start to finish method, whereas men tended to show more recency effects and just concentrated on the final message.
The explanation
From an advertising perspective, it is most fruitful to focus on those gender differences in information processing and judgment that have been consistently supported in past research: Women seem more accurate in decoding nonverbal cues (Hall 1984; Everhart et al. 2001) and are considered to be more visually oriented, more intrinsically motivated, and more romantic compared to men (Holbrook 1986). Male readers are more likely to be detached and tend to see a story from the outside (Bleich 1988), whereas female readers are more likely to be participatory and tend to experience a story from the inside (Flynn 1988).
Similarly, compared to men, women have been found to show greater sensitivity to a variety of situation-specific cues in determining their self-evaluations (Lenney, Gold, and Browning 1983), use more elaborate descriptive terms (Nowaczyk 1982), and be subject to outside influences to conform (Meyers-Levy 1988). Men, due to their frequent conceptualization of items in terms of physical attributes and objective states, have been portrayed as more analytical and logical in their processing orientation. In contrast, women have been characterized as more subjective and intuitive since they indulge in more associative, imagery-laced interpretations (Haas 1979).
The above body of evidence seems to suggest that men might respond more favorably to objective advertising claims, and women might favor subjective, image-oriented messages. However, recently researchers have proposed an alternative explanation to account for these findings.
Implications for advertisers
It is clear that there are significant differences in how men and women behave, process information, and render judgment. These differences emerge from a host of biological and cultural factors and are further reinforced through the socialization process. While the effect sizes of the gender differences are somewhat modest, they are large enough to warrant the attention of advertisers. Fortunately, there are some broad areas of overlap between the various theories discussed above, which suggest a few common guidelines for advertising strategy.
Both the Biological Origin Hypothesis (e.g., hormonal differences, brain organization) and the Social Role Theory, discussed earlier, have been widely researched, and there is reasonable support for a number of their claims. While it is undoubtedly true that significant biological differences exist between men and women, it is also true that the socialization process is likely to enhance rather than diminish these differences. Therefore, each gender is biologically and socially trained to value traits common to one’s own gender. This is manifested in men preferring advertising messages that feature competition and show dominance and in women preferring messages that show importance to self as well as others (Putrevu, 1992).
Even today, it is a question for marketers that which advertisement will attract men & which women? In most cases, a single page of advertising with a bold headline, few lines of text, and a simple image generally appeals to male audiences, while an ad with multiple images and lots of imagination-provoking detail and text is effective with female consumers.
Both sexes respond most favorably to exclusive portrayals of their own gender. In addition, females exhibit the least favorable reactions to advertisements featuring female models in roles superior to males. Across genders, responses are significantly affected by consumers’ a priori attitude towards the sex-role portrayal issue”.
Conclusion
Thus it may be concluded that a host of factors are responsible for the different perceptions between men and women in their choice of persuasive advertisements. These include both biological and cultural differences in perceptions, including intuitive and emotional need satisfaction.
Different people react differently to ad persuasions, but it is established that the ads in which the viewer can establish a higher sense of identity and appeal would have impact value. This is because people have the innate tendency to accept positive tendencies and reject negative ones. This is particularly true in the case of women also, who would like to establish relationships through ad participation and establish bonds based on help others and altruistic models. The reverse is usually found for men who prefer self-help as a main dominant feature in ad reaction.
Current studies have also established that the perceptions are generated by cues taken in a continuous process and against cues that may be disparate and non-continuous.
In such cases, it is seen that women react faster when faced with high-level non-congruence in advertisements cues as compared to men, but in the event this non-congruence is low, both the men and women have more or less equal reactions, and the level of gender differentiation is not significant.
References
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