A Study in Pink: What Determines the Success of Gender-specific Advertising?

Gender-specific marketing gains importance as women become more influential as consumers. The study investigated an efficiency of two approaches to gender-specific marketing: designing a stereotypically “feminine” product and priming an interdependent self-construal with an advertising scenario. Female participants (N=160) evaluated four advertisements for a soft drink with feminine/gender-neutral product design and independent/interdependent selfconstrual. The results demonstrated a significant positive effect of interdependent selfconstrual on the attitudes towards the ad. The effect of stereotypical product design was nonsignificant. These results suggest that indirect approach to gender-specific advertising via priming techniques may be more efficient than direct use of gender stereotypes.