Gender Differences in Responses to Emotional Advertising: the Effect of the Presence of Others

ABSTRACT - The research examines how the real or imagined presence of others in the viewing environment differentially affect males’ and females’ responses to emotional advertising. Based on gender theory, the research predicts and finds that females’ responses to ads that contain high-agency (e.g., happiness, excitement) or low-agency (e.g., sentimentality, warmth) emotions are not influenced by social context effects. In contrast, the presence of another person in the viewing environment affects male responses only when the emotional appeal is incongruent with gender stereotypes. Under private viewing conditions, when gender stereotypes are less salient, males’ self-reported pleasure and Aad are not significantly different from females’ responses. Implications for advertising research and media planning are discussed.

Citation:

Robert J. Fisher and Laurette Dube (2003) ,"Gender Differences in Responses to Emotional Advertising: the Effect of the Presence of Others", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 30, eds. Punam Anand Keller and Dennis W. Rook, Valdosta, GA : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 15-17.

Advances in Consumer Research Volume 30, 2003     Pages 15-17

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO EMOTIONAL ADVERTISING: THE EFFECT OF THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS

Robert J. Fisher, University of Western Ontario

Laurette Dube, McGill University

ABSTRACT -

The research examines how the real or imagined presence of others in the viewing environment differentially affect males’ and females’ responses to emotional advertising. Based on gender theory, the research predicts and finds that females’ responses to ads that contain high-agency (e.g., happiness, excitement) or low-agency (e.g., sentimentality, warmth) emotions are not influenced by social context effects. In contrast, the presence of another person in the viewing environment affects male responses only when the emotional appeal is incongruent with gender stereotypes. Under private viewing conditions, when gender stereotypes are less salient, males’ self-reported pleasure and A_ad are not significantly different from females’ responses. Implications for advertising research and media planning are discussed.

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