The Effects of Femvertising on Consumer Attitude

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The Effects of Femvertising on Consumer Attitude

Dual Award Dissertation

M.Sc. Advanced International Business Management and Marketing Caren Conradt

S3792145 | B8054605

c.conradt@student.rug.nl | c.conradt2@newcastle.ac.uk Supervisors

Dr. Diana Gregory-Smith Newcastle University Business School

Dr. Jiyoung Shin University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business

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The results were obtained by experimental research design, comparing the Femvertising group (experimental group) with the control group (traditional advertising). A total of 272 responses from Dutch and German participants are collected. As expected, Femvertising had a significant positive influence on consumers' attitudes toward the ad as well as toward the brand. Furthermore, it was discovered that consumers' attitudes toward feminism as well as consumers' nationality moderate the effects of Femvertising on the attitude toward the ad. Gender was found not to have a significant impact.

Overall, the findings of this research provide relevant and valuable contributions to the knowledge of the emerging field of Femvertising.

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Acknowledgments

Firstly, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisors, Dr. Diana Gregory Smith, and Dr. Jiyoung Shin, who provided valuable input for this dissertation and supported me during this process under unordinary current circumstances.

Further, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate in my survey and distribute it. I am grateful for everyone who participated in my pre-test as well as stimuli test and provided honest and valuable feedback.

Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my parents for providing food and shelter and their continuous attempts to keep me motivated. A special thanks to my father for his immense support and the apt name of this project: The Massacaren.

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1. Introduction

When directly asked, over 90 percent of women claim that advertising influences how society views them as shown by a study from SheKnows Media (2014). However, most women also criticize that they are not authentically represented in these ads. This discrepancy between advertising and reality can be ascribed to the frequent usage of gender stereotypes in advertisements. Women to this day are not only more often victims of stereotypical portrayals, but they are also often categorized as unambitious, subordinate and dependent while men are portrayed as the dominant gender (Hatzuthomas, Boutsouki and Ziamou, 2016). These stereotypes in advertisements affect the beliefs and behaviours of consumers as they are constantly confronted with unrealistic representations of females. As a response to this cultural tension, a new form of authentic and female-empowering advertising, namely Femvertising emerged and quickly gained approval by the audience and throughout the marketing industry.

Since the company Dove presented the first campaign (“Real Beauty”) that was directly associated with challenging female stereotypes and empowering women in 2016, many brands followed this approach, and the concept of Femvertising became a promising marketing tool over the past years (Davidson, 2015). This development implies that companies perceive these types of marketing activities as successful and valuable for the firm (Davidson, 2015). However, due to its recent occurrence, only limited research is available on the concept and its effectiveness.

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9 Previous scholars indicate that feminist values influence how gender roles and gender stereotypes are perceived. On the one hand, it is argued that feminists are more critical of female stereotypes (Lavine et al., 1999), but on the other hand, they criticize Femvertising for “selling empowerment” to women (Hunt, 2017). These conflicting arguments are considered in this study to investigate how consumers' feminist values impact the effects of Femvertising. Moreover, An and Kim (2007) emphasize the importance of cultural context for advertising especially regarding gender roles. However, studies on Femvertising, which heavily rely on gender portrayals in advertising, widely neglect the cultural factors when exploring the effects on consumers. This research seeks to address how culture – particularly the masculinity of a society which at the core captures how gender and their roles are perceived in society – affect how female-empowering messages within advertisements are regarded.

This study aims to empirically explore the effects of Femvertising on both male and female consumers regarding their attitude toward the particular ad and the brand pursuing it. It is further investigated how individual, as well as collective cultural values regarding gender roles, affect the impacts of Femvertising. Based on this, this study aims to answer the following research questions:

RQ1: How does Femvertising influence the consumers' attitudes toward the ad and, ultimately, the brand?

RQ2: What role does gender, the cultural societal values as well as the individual’s attitude toward feminism of the consumer play?

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10 In the following, some background information on the concept of Femvertising is provided to introduce the topic and demonstrate its relevance. This is followed by a literature review on the known effects of Femvertising and the deduction of hypotheses accordingly. Based on the literature review and the conceptualized model, the measurement items, as well as the stimuli for the survey are developed and tested. Responses from two groups, namely Dutch and German, who are randomly assigned to one condition, are collected. Regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. A discussion about the findings in comparison to prior literature demonstrates the relevance and value of the insights. Finally, a conclusion, including implications and limitations, is drawn.

2. Background on Femvertising

This chapter introduces the concept of Femvertising by first describing the status quo of female portrayals in advertising and the impact of such. Further, it is demonstrated how Femvertising deviates from traditional advertising, emphasizing its relevance and importance.

2.1 Female stereotypes in advertising

In general, stereotypes are beliefs about a social category. These can become harmful when they shape expectations about one social category (e.g., women) or restrict opportunities for one particular group (Eisend, 2010).

Advertisements commonly use gender stereotypes to promote a brand or a product to their target group. Particularly women are subject to these stereotypes in advertising, which is demonstrated by the fact that they are up to four times more likely to be stereotyped than men (Eisend, 2010).

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11 2003a; Knoll, Eisend and Steinhagen 2011; Plakoyiannaki and Zotos, 2009; Robinson and Hunter, 2008). In general, female stereotypes express the prevailing power relations between gender: While men are often shown in an active role, women are rather passive. More specifically, men are depicted as independent, authoritarian, and professional (Reichert and Carpenter, 2004). They perform some kind of action that has a goal and a purpose while women in the same ads often function as the object of such purpose or as a prize, which is why men and women are described as the gazer and the gazed, respectively (Shield and Heinecken, 2002). According to Courtney and Lockeretz (1971) four main gender-stereotypes are used in advertising: (1) A women’s place is in the home; (2) women do not make important decisions; (3) women are dependent on men; and (4) women are depicted primarily as sex objects.

But why are stereotypes still frequently used? Economically speaking, it is beneficial for the corporation to portray exaggerated and unrealistic female bodies in advertising, because as a result, the majority of women will never be satisfied with their appearance and hence are more likely to spend money to meet the advertisement standards (Hunt, 2017). However, in the long run, this is not sufficient anymore. Consumers increasingly criticize the inaccurate portrayal of genders (Lundstrom and Sciglimpaglia 1977; Zimmerman and Dahlberg, 2008) which also results in negative consumer attitudes and purchase intentions and thus could not only harm the consumers but also the brand (Eisend et al., 2014; Feiereisen et al., 2009; Huhmann and Limbu, 2016).

The social role theory is often used to explain gender stereotypes. The theory argues that men and women are expected to have characteristics that enable them to perform their traditional gender roles and purposes (Diekman and Eagly, 2000). More specifically, women are expected to act nurturing to fulfil their role as mothers at home, while men are supposed to act as leaders to achieve their role as professionals in a business setting. As people adopt characteristics that are expected from them to meet the traditional gender role, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The gender-specific characteristics are integrated within society and promote the development and bolstering of specific traits for men and specific traits for women, which encourages gender stereotypes (Eagly and Wood, 2012).

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12 construct that changes as societies progress; they further conclude that stereotypes in advertising evolve accordingly. However, according to Eisend (2010) the frequency of the stereotypes of women as dependent and homemakers has decreased while the frequency of women concerned with physical attractiveness and women as sex objects has increased over the past years. This suggests that gender roles and stereotypes in advertising do change with society, but it is debatable if this is a positive development.

The above argument by Diekman and Eagly (2000) represents one side of the prevailing debate on whether advertising reflects society and shared values and simply follows these as suggested before or if advertising shapes society. These conflicting arguments are further discussed in the following section.

2.2 Mould vs. Mirror

When looking at the effects of advertising on society, two opposing arguments need to be considered: mirror and mould. According to the mirror argument, advertising reflects the universal values in a society. As a result, gender portrayals reflect society's expectations towards gender Eisend (2010). Even though advertising does not accurately represent the entity of life by emphasizing some aspects and under-representing others, it is nonetheless shaped by society rather than the other way around. This means that if the content of advertisements changes, it is likely to correspond to changes in society. Such changes (e.g., progressed views of gender roles) regularly occur in societies, and hence advertisers adapt the images and messages in advertisements accordingly. Holbrook thus argues that the impact of advertising on the value system of a society is virtually non-existent. As most advertisers are aware of the lack of influence of ads, they use existing values to promote their brands or products instead of attempting to change these values (Holbrook, 1987).

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13 same time cumulative and significant. More specifically, it is argued that repeatedly watching TV can cultivate viewers' perceptions and beliefs to be more congruent with the depicted world than with the real world (Gerbner et al., 2002). McGhee and Frueh (1980) further state that TV consumption contributes to gender stereotypic views amongst children and hence does shape values and beliefs in a society.

Döring and Pöschl (2006) claim that the level and frequency of traditional gender stereotyping in advertising has not notably decreased despite social changes regarding gender roles. Eisend (2010) provides an explanation based on his meta-analysis: Traditional advertising rather mirrors female stereotypes and roles in society than challenging them. As a result, the female portrayals in advertisements do not reflect society at large because they tend to lag behind societal change.

However, it is essential to note that the two arguments do not necessarily contradict each other. Albeit the stereotype in ads does not reflect society as a whole, it is rather negligent to assume that advertising does not affect society and the prevailing belief systems. Even though the depicted stereotypes stem from the prevailing societal gender roles and not the other way around, the repetitive usage of such further enhances these and leads to consumers adapting these “realities”. Advertisements reflect and shape culture simultaneously. Hence, social gender roles are created, shaped, and reinforced by the repetition of advertisements and their persuasive nature (Ganahl et al., 2003a; Ganahl et al., 2003b). Consequently, it can be assumed that attitudes and behaviour in everyday social lives are influenced and formed by what is presented by the media, on the supposition that the audience learns from the media (Eisend, 2010). As a result, advertising has the power to shape how viewers see themselves and society in total (Rajagopal and Gales, 2002).

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14 2.2 Femvertising as a solution

As a response to societal changes and the corresponding increase in rejection of gender stereotypes in advertising, the concept of Femvertising was introduced. The term Femvertising was introduced by SheKnows Media in 2014 and is defined as “advertising that employs pro-female talent, messages, and imagery to empower women and girls”. Becker-Herby (2016) identifies in her research on Femvertising that most of these campaigns embrace five pillars: (1) The utilization of diverse female talent; (2) messaging that is inherently pro-female; (3) pushing gender-norm boundaries/stereotypes and challenging perceptions of what a woman/girl ‘should’ be; (4) downplaying of sexuality (sexuality does not cater to the male gaze); and (5) authentically portraying women.

This particular stream of marketing, which seeks to improve a company’s performance while simultaneously helping a social cause (Varadarajan and Menon, 1988), challenges gender stereotypes in the media and raises awareness for issues that females of all ages are facing (Wallace, 2015). By creating a responsible, inclusive, and gender non-conforming imagery, it is applauded for changing the way the advertising industry has been (Acharya and Ristimäki, 2019). Femvertising is not solely a marketing approach; it utilizes the common feminine trope with the ultimate objective to challenge these, and with this, gives depth and complexity to the female existence (Hunt, 2017).

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3. Literature review on the effects of Femvertising

The following section critically reviews the literature on the effects of Femvertising. Accordingly, hypotheses are deduced which are tested within this study to answer the proposed research questions.

3.1 Femvertising and attitude toward the ad

As argued before, the portrayal of women in advertising has an impact on the consumers' attitudes toward that particular ad. Attitude toward the ad (Aad) has previously been defined as “predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to a particular advertising stimulus during a particular exposure situation" (MacKenzie, Lutz and Belch, 1986, p.130). It contains both affective reactions such as positive feelings as well as evaluations (MacKenzie, Lutz and Belch, 1986).

As discussed before, stereotypes and sexist representations of women in advertising are rejected by the majority of the targeted women. Younger generations in particular feel that these representations are not authentic, and they do not feel addressed by them. On the other hand, self-confident appearances of women in advertising, which deviate from prevailing beauty standards and stereotypes, generate positive reactions among recipients (Holtz-Bacha, 2008). Attitudes towards advertising are more negative if consumers assume that advertising reproduces stereotypical gender roles (Åkestam et al., 2017; Huhmann and Limbu, 2016). Åkestam et al. (2017) further argue in their study that Femvertising results in reduced ad reactance because it exerts less pressure on women to behave according to the prevailing societal gender stereotypes. The reactance when receiving stereotypical or sexist advertising causes the individuals react negatively to the shown stimulus, which in turn results in a low degree of persuasion.

Conversely, one can assume that advertising that is directed against the stereotypical or sexist representation of women results in positive attitudes of the recipients. Hence, Femvertising is perceived more positively than traditional advertising which contains traditional gender roles and stereotypes.

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16 3.2 Femvertising and feminism

Femvertising can promote gender equality both visually and rhetorically, and as a result, it makes feminist language accessible to a broad audience. Nevertheless, as it is still a marketing tool, it also encourages consumption, which creates tension between the two forces of capitalism and feminism (Abitbol and Sternadori, 2016). It is often argued that those two aspects cannot work jointly and that Femvertising demonstrates how commodity feminism can harm a movement by watering it down and manipulating those within (Johnston and Taylor, 2008). Commodity feminism was introduced by Goldman et al. (1991) and argues that advertisers are attempting to link the liberalisation of women to the sale of corporate goods and services and thus redefine feminism through consumerism and purchasing behaviour. It implies that if a woman wants to be powerful and be perceived as such, she must purchase the promoted product. The consumers' worth is, therefore, determined by making the correct consumer choices (Crouse-Dick, 2002; Hunt, 2017; Benet-Weiser, 2012).

Social movements are often complex and rarely neat and consumable; therefore, when engaging in Femvertising advertisers often pick the parts of feminism that are rather simple and catchy. They focus on a diverse cast, authentic portrayals (including the lack of retouching), but steer away from heavy political goals such as the fight against rape culture (Hunt, 2017). Although Femvertising does empower women, it cannot be considered as a viable conduit for the movement to reach new audiences and promote their underlying cause because the advertisements do not accurately represent the movement in all its facets (Hunt, 2017). This is reflected in Drake’s (2017) findings that show that Femvertising does not have a positive influence on women’s perception of gender role portrayals but results in higher purchase intentions – indicating that the overall success of Femvertising is rather measured in terms of financial gain than in promoting a cause.

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17 ads and brands, especially when a product is explicitly mentioned and an attempt is made to persuade consumers to make a purchase (Abitbol and Sternadori, 2016).

However, Lavine et al. (1999) studied the moderating effects of feminism on the impact of advertising on consumers and found that women who describe themselves as feminists perceive sexualised advertisements more negatively than those who do not share feminist views. These findings support previous research claiming that recipients with feminist orientations toward gender roles are more likely to be aware of sexism in ads and reject these as compared to recipients with traditional values (Henderson-King and Stewart, 1994, Henkin and Fish, 1986; Moore, Griffiths and Payne, 1987). In turn, it is expected that feminists react more negatively to traditional advertising than non-feminists. Since women and men with traditional gender-related attitudes are less likely to identify and reject sexist content (Lavine et al., 1999), it is assumed that they perceive traditional advertising more positively. Further, studies have shown that attitudes towards gender stereotypes influence how particular ads and brands are perceived by the consumer (Eisend, Plagemann and Sollwedel 2014; Lysonski and Pollay, 1990; Orth and Holancova, 2004). Accordingly, the social judgment theory by Sherif and Hovland (1961) implies that people judge every new action by comparing it with their current attitudes. When applied to the context of Femvertising and gender stereotypes, this may mean that if advertisements use counter-attitudinal appeal, it could be rejected and cause the ad effectiveness to decrease. Thus, it is expected that the effects of Femvertising are influenced by individual feminist attitudes.

In conclusion, it is estimated that consumers with feminist values are more critical of traditional advertising because they are more prone to detect gender stereotypes and sexism, which they reject. Albeit they are critical of the utilization of feminism as a marketing tool, they approve of the message and perceive it as a step in the right direction. Hence, it is hypothesized that the attitude toward feminism positively influences how the advertisement is perceived.

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18 3.3 Femvertising and gender

Among the few studies that have been conducted in the field of Femvertising, the focus has almost solely been on how it influences the female consumers’ perception, to some extent proving that there are positive effects in terms of brand attitude and purchase intentions (Drake, 2017; Åkestam et al., 2017; Abdallah et al., 2018). However, previous studies have overlooked how female-empowering messages in advertisements impact the male audience. This is relevant for companies that target both genders and hence need to understand how their customer base as a whole receives their activities and, ultimately, their brand. Since the rise of Femvertising and its overall success, an increasing number of companies that offer traditionally male-oriented products (e.g., Gilette, RAM) are also starting to harness the concept (Madu, 2017). Men are not only indirectly impacted by these ads but also directly included in empowering ads that involve both male and female perspectives such as the "Daughter" spot by Audi that depicts a father's concern for his daughter's future due to the prevailing gender inequalities (Tsai, et al., 2019).

Additionally, it is even more crucial to understand the effects of Femvertising in terms of contributing to social transformation regarding gender roles. Changing or shaping the male perception is especially important because even recent research, such as that of Jenkins (2013), states that femininity is still restricted by what men find attractive, and therefore women’s worth is defined by how well they fit into the arbitrary mould constructed by patriarchy. Femvertising is supposed to question and further reshape these social constructs that determine femininity against masculinity (Hunt, 2017).

In general, men tend to react more positively to sexualized and stereotypical female portraits. This can be explained by the opposite-sex-effect, which was confirmed in studies and purport that female recipients react more positively to sexualized representations of men than to those of their gender, and vice versa (Sawang, 2010). Following this theory, it can consequently be assumed that men react less favourably to the empowering depiction of women than the female audience because they perceive the lack of female-empowering depictions to be less negative than women.

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19 Consequently, it can be assumed that men are less emotionally impacted by Femvertising due to the lack of identification with the presented character and hence are not as receptive of it. In conclusion, it is expected that men react more positively to traditional advertising than women while reacting less positively to femvertising than women do.

H3: Gender of recipients moderates the effects of Femvertising on the attitude toward the ad. 3.4 Femvertising and culture

Advertisements often reflect the varied dimensions of culture, which is why cultural models are often used to understand consumer behaviours and advertising effectiveness (Morris and Waldman, 2011). However, the studies on Femvertising mentioned so far widely neglect the socio-cultural context and social changes. Without these aspects, however, the advertising effect cannot be adequately described (Rust, 2015).

In the context of national cultural differences, one cannot ignore Hofstede’s contribution to this field to understand which values shape a society and how these differ from country to country. Hofstede’s study (1980, 1984 quoted from An and Kim, 2007) resulted in five significant dimensions characterizing different societies (cultures):

• Power distance – Societal desire for hierarchy or egalitarianism

• Individualism – Societal preference for a group or individual orientation

• Masculinity – Gender-role differentiation

• Uncertainty avoidance – Societal resistance to uncertainty

• Long-term orientation

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20 Accordingly, An and Kim (2007) confirm the importance of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions regarding international marketing decisions and consumer behaviour. Masculinity impacts, for example, sex-role portrayals in that particular society (Milner and Collins, 1998). Therefore, the dimension “masculinity vs. femininity”, which describes the gender of a country (An & Kim, 2007), is the most relevant when comparing cultures in regard to gender roles in advertisements, and therefore the most relevant when studying the effects of Femvertising in different cultural surroundings.

Masculinity versus femininity, as a societal and not an individual characteristic, conceptualizes the distribution of values between genders. High masculinity contributes to a society preferring assertiveness, heroism, achievement, and material reward for attaining success while femininity relates to a preference for modesty, cooperation, quality of life, and caring for the weak (Hofstede, 2011).

Research indicates that the cross-cultural differences in gender role portrayals are connected to masculine/feminine value orientation. Masculine countries (e.g., Germany, USA) are more likely to severely differentiate between women and men in terms of gender roles than feminine countries (e.g., The Netherlands, Sweden). Thus, gender-role differences portrayed in advertising would be more present in masculine societies, and as a result, the deviation from traditional gender roles would be more likely rejected (An and Kim, 2007).

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21 representation, Femvertising is perceived more positively in feminine societies than in male societies. In turn, traditional advertising is perceived more positively in masculine countries than in feminine countries.

More specifically, those with more traditional values are more likely to form positive attitudes toward traditional advertising (Dutta-Bergman 2006) because these utilize traditional gender stereotypes consistent with those values (Ganahl, Prinsen and Netzley, 2003; Paek, Nelson and Vilela, 2011).

H4: The degree of masculinity of a society moderates the effects of Femvertising on the attitude toward the ad.

3.5 Attitude toward ad and attitude toward brand

As argued before, the existence of female-empowering messages, or the lack thereof, in ads, impact the consumers' attitude towards that advertisement. It is further assumed that the positive or negative perception of Femvertising directly impacts the consumers' attitude toward the brand (Bissel and Rask, 2010; Cinelli and Yang, 2016; Biehal et al., 1992; Kapoor and Munjal, 2019).

Positive attitudes towards ads, in turn, are confirmed to positively impact consumer behaviours such as buying intentions, resulting in increased sales (Biel and Bridgwater, 1990; Fishbein and Middlestadt, 1995; MacKenzie et al., 1986). This has been confirmed by Drake (2017) in the context of Femvertising, showing that the ad attitude directly impacts the purchase intentions – which complements previous findings claiming that most women have purchased a product because of favourable female portrayals in the ad (SheKnows Media, 2014). Consequently, it should be assumed that the attitude toward the ad further impacts the consumer’s attitudes toward that particular brand. This is confirmed by the results of Åkestam et al. (2017) which indicate that lower levels of ad reactance caused by Femvertising lead to higher attitudes towards the presented brand and product.

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22 complements the claim that the attitude toward ads is the mediating attribute in the relationship between advertisements and brand attitudes (Gresham and Shimp, 1985; Mitchell and Olson, 1981, MacKenzie, Lutz and Belch, 1986).

Keller (1993) further claims that attitudes towards the brand can also be altered by pointing out a brand’s relationships to particular social groups or causes. In the context of Femvertising this may result in an improved attitude toward the ad due to female empowering messages in the advertising.

Therefore, it can be assumed that ad attitudes directly impact the consumers' attitude toward the brand.

H5: The attitude toward the ad positively influences consumers’ attitudes toward the brand. Based on the described previous research and the corresponding theoretical frameworks, the following research model was conducted:

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4. Methodology

Within this chapter a quantitative study is developed which investigates the effects of Femvertising on consumer attitudes toward the ad and brand. First the underlying research philosophy and the corresponding research design is outlined.

4.1 Research Philosophy

Considering the previously mentioned research questions, this study anticipates testing cause-and-effect relationships in the context of Femvertising (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). In particular, the direct effects of Femvertising on attitude toward the ad (Aad) for Femvertising in comparison with traditional advertising are investigated. Further, the effects of attitude toward the ad on brand attitude is determined. Based on the cause-and-effect relationships, this research is regarded as conclusive research with a quantitative nature (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Consequently, a deductive study approach is applied (Bryman and Bell, 2011). In this context, prior literature and empirical findings in the field of Femvertising and traditional advertising, as well as the theoretical concepts of attitude toward ad, attitude toward brand, and cultural values, were used to establish hypotheses, which were statistically tested (Bryman and Bell, 2011). It is presumed that the concepts mentioned above exist independently of this research and are hence treated as real phenomenon, albeit difficult to measure under real-life conditions. Thus, a questionnaire was utilized as a data collection method to measure consumers' internal attitudes and behaviours. In this case, it is assumed that it is feasible to capture the needed information and translate it into quantitatively measurable data. As a result, statistical tests and analyses allow for the acceptance or rejection of the hypotheses (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson, 2015). In conclusion, a positivist epistemology and internal realist ontology research approach is adopted (Holden and Lynch, 2004).

4.2 Research Design

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24 (traditional or Femvertising), was manipulated to study the effects on the dependent variable (DV), the attitude toward brand (Sreejesh et al., 2014). As every respondent was randomly assigned to one treatment, two groups were formed: the experimental and the control group. The experimental group received the treatment (Femvertising), while the control group received the control condition (traditional advertising) which functions as the benchmark to which the results of the treatment can be compared (Sreejesh et al., 2014). For such between-group comparisons, post-treatment measurements are the most appropriate. In summary, a random independent group design was chosen, which concentrated on the comparison of the results of the experimental and the control group after the exposure (Malhotra and Birks, 2003).

4.3 Sampling

The target population was formed by the elements that are most relevant for the researcher and meet the research needs (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). As described before, this study seeks to investigate if the effects of Femvertising differ depending on gender and the masculinity/femininity of their society.

Hence, the target population for this study consisted of Dutch (feminine society) and German (masculine society) citizens who were 18 years or older. The two countries represent a feminine society and a masculine society according to Hofstede’s (2001) findings. However, except for this one dimension, the two countries are rather similar in terms of cultural values. Both countries are similar in their demographics, religious beliefs, and ethnicities, which avoids any additional extortion factors. Thus, these two countries (societies) are appropriate in this context to measure how the masculinity score by Hofstede influences consumer attitudes.

The convenience sample size was targeted to be around 200 participants, 100 from each country with an approximately equal number of female and male participants. It was anticipated to have a sample consisting of at least 25 respondents of each gender exposed to each stimulus.

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25 been encountered, and the representativeness of the results obtained from the study cohort may have not been extrapolated to the underlying population.

4.4 Survey development

Based on the literature review and the identified required information to answer the research questions, a questionnaire and stimuli are developed and tested before the survey distribution.

4.4.1 Questionnaire Design

The required information needed to be translated into measurable variables that could be integrated into a questionnaire. These items were deduced by operationalizing the underlying concepts. Here, it was crucial to carefully choose appropriate scales to accurately measure these concepts (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson, 2015). All selected measurements and scaling techniques, as well as the questionnaire flow, are described in the following.

Demographic Information

The first block of the survey consisted of the demographic variables of nationality, gender, age, education, and the number of female family members to define a sample profile and to measure moderating as well as confounding effects. According to Glynn and Sen (2015) individual’s attitude toward feminism and gender roles correlates with having a daughter. Hence, it was controlled if the number of females in the immediate family function as a confounder. Further, it is also assumed that the age of consumers affects their attitude toward gender roles and their consumer behaviours (Lundstrom and Sciglimpaglia, 1977). This was controlled for in this study.

All questions except for the number of females were closed questions with a pre-defined list of answers (Wilson, 2006). As a result, nominal values were generated. Due to the pre-defined answers, all respondents that did not meet the requirements are excluded (under 18 years old, neither German nor Dutch).

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26 The variable nationality functioned as a proxy to identify either a feminine society or a masculine society, which is justified by the empirical support within and between country differences (Hofstede, 2001; Steenkamp, 2001; as cited in Shumann, 2009). However, Yoo et al. (2011) argue that despite culture being defined at a national level, conclusions cannot be drawn for individuals of such nationality. Nevertheless, there is often a taboo around the masculinity dimension, meaning that this dimension often touches unconscious values (Hofstede, 1998 quoted from Hofstede, 2011). As a result, respondents may not be aware of their underlying feminine or masculine values. Hence, to measure the impacts of cultural values on a societal level, the variable nationality is appropriate and will be used in the context of this study.

Moderating variable: attitude toward feminism (Afem)

The variable Afem was explored by using the attitudinal inventory scale by Renzetti (1987). This scale measures traditional attitudes toward gender roles, feminist attitudes toward gender roles, the awareness of gender inequality, and the attitude toward the women’s movement. It consists of 22 statements in total, four of which have been removed for this study due to irrelevance or sensitivity of the topic (e.g. abortions). This scale is frequently used in research in general, and in the field of marketing and the role of women in advertising; hence, the scale is considered to be appropriate in the context of this study. The statements were measured using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The mean score of all items was used to describe the attitude toward feminism, where a high score (>3) equals a positive attitude, and a low score (<3) equals a negative attitude. To accurately explore the attitude, the unfavourable statements were reverse coded from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree).

Control variables: brand familiarity & attitude toward brand (pre)

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27 Depending on the response to the above questions, the recipient was either directly exposed to the stimuli or was asked to evaluate the brand.

The brand attitude was measured with a four-item, five-point differential scale, anchored by bad–good, low quality–high quality, unappealing–appealing, and unpleasant–pleasant (Campbell and Keller, 2003).

Mediating variable: attitude toward ad (Aad)

After randomly receiving either the treatment or the control condition, the respondents were asked to evaluate their feelings and opinions toward the ad.

The emotional quotient scale defined by Wells (1964) was used to measure the consumers' attitudes toward the ad. The scale consists of 12 descriptive statements based on consumers' positive and negative reactions to advertisements, which have been tested multiple times within Wells’ study to ensure validity.

The statement “I would probably skip this as when featured in a magazine” was adjusted to meet the purpose of this study following Kapoor and Munjal (2017), who also used the scale to measure the effects of Femvertising. All statements were measured with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The unfavourable statements were measured in reverse from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) to allow for an average score measuring the positive attitude toward the ad.

Control variable: attitude toward female role portrayal in ad (Arole)

In addition to the general attitude toward the ad, the respondents were asked to rate how women were portrayed in the particular ad, which is highly relevant in the context of the study. It was expected that these two variables correlate with each other. However, a separate analysis is presented to allow for a more differentiated discussion and to test for a successful manipulation.

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28 Dependent variable: attitude toward brand (Ab)

After the exposure to the stimuli, the respondents were asked to (re-)evaluate their attitude toward the brand. The same measurement is used as for the pre-exposures variable.

Table 4.1: Final variables and corresponding items for survey after pre-test

Variables Items Source Measurement

Demographics Gender Male/Female/Other Age 18-24/25-34/35-44/45-54/55-64/65 and over Nationality Dutch/German Level of education

< high school diploma/high school degree/Vocational training/Bachelor’s degree/Master’s degree/Professional degree/Doctorate

Number of females in immediate family Parents/Siblings/Children/Household Attitude toward

feminism 1. For a woman, marriage should be more important than a career.1

2. Most men are better suited emotionally for politics than are most women. 1

3. For a woman to be truly happy, she needs to have a man in her life.1

4. If a husband and wife each have an equally good career opportunity, but in different cities, the husband should take the job and the wife should follow.1

5. A wife should willingly take her husband's name at marriage.1

6. There are some jobs and professions that are more suitable for men than for women.1

7. Women should take care of running their homes and leave running the country up to men.1

8. For a woman in college, popularity is more important than grade point average.1

9. Career women tend to be masculine and domineering.1

10. A woman should not let birthing and raising children stand in the way of a career if she wants it.2

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29 12. When you get right down to it, women are an

oppressed group and men are the oppressors. 13. If women want to get ahead, there is little to stop them.1

14. Many women who do the same work as their male colleagues earn substantially less money.

15.Things are much easier for girls growing up today than they were for girls growing up 10 years ago.1

16. Men tend to discriminate against women in hiring, firing, and promotion.

17. In general, I am sympathetic with the efforts of women's liberation groups.

18. I consider myself to be a feminist.

19. Many of those in women's rights organizations today seem to be unhappy misfits.1

20. Women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers.1

Brand

familiarity Are you familiar with the brand “RAM Trucks”? Dichotomous nominal scale (Yes/No) Attitude toward

brand (1) Unappealing –- Appealing Low-quality – High-quality Unpleasant – Pleasant Bad – Good Campbell and Keller, 2003 4-item, 5-point differential scale Attitude toward

ad 1. This ad is very appealing to me.

2

2. I would probably skip this ad when I see it.1 2

3. This ad does not interest me.1 2

4. This ad makes me feel good.2

5. I dislike this ad.1 2

6. This is the kind of ad you forget easily.1 2

7. This is a wonderful ad.2

8. This is a heart-warming ad.2

9. I’m tired of this kind of ad.12

10. This is a fascinating ad.2

11. This ad leaves me cold.1 2

12. This ad makes me want to buy the brand it features.2

The Emotional Quotient Scale (Wells, 1964) 5-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree; 5= strongly agree) Attitude toward female role portrayal

1. The ad shows women as they really are.

2. The ad accurately portrays women in most their daily activities.

3. The ad shows women fundamentally dependent on men.1

4. The ad treats women mainly as “sex objects”.1

5. The ad suggests that women don’t do important things.1

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30 7. The ad suggests that women make important

decisions. Attitude toward

brand (2) Unappealing –- Appealing Low-quality – High-quality Unpleasant – Pleasant Bad – Good Campbell and Keller, 2003 3-item, 5-point differential scale 1_{reverse coded} 2_{adjusted wording} 4.4.3 Experimental stimuli

Two different kinds of stimuli were used in this study: Femvertising and traditional advertising. This research seeks to investigate the effects of Femvertising on both females and males; therefore, a product category that targets all genders is most appropriate. As it is anticipated to research the effects in the context of a higher-involvement purchase section, the automotive industry seemed appropriate.

4.4.3.1 Treatment: Femvertising

The spot “Courage is Already Inside” by RAM was shown to the experimental group. The 60-second spot has encouraging messages that show women that they have what it takes to break stereotypes and achieve their goals. Accomplished women are shown dealing with daily activities, struggles, and achievements while a voiceover narrates: "Have you ever thought, 'I could never do that?' Have you ever thought, ‘I could never climb a mountain’…or compete against that? You ever thought – you just didn't have anything left in the tank? You can break a stereotype. Throw it into a whole 'nother gear. Because the courage is already inside.”

4.4.3.2 Control condition: traditional advertising

The second ad by RAM “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” is used as a control condition. The advertisement shows life in the city versus life on the farm while the song “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” is performed. While the ad is not overtly sexist or offensive, it does cater to traditional gender roles.

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31 are overall portrayed performing traditional female activities such as taking care of children and cooking. They are also shown focused on their appearance and being dependent on men. 4.4.3.3 Stimuli test

The two advertisements were tested with a group of eight respondents: four Germans, and four Dutch. They were asked to watch both advertisements and answer two questions after watching each clip (see Appendix 4). The first question displayed the pillars of Femvertising identified by Becker-Herby (2016), and the respondents were asked to pick all statements that were true for the ad (e.g., “The ad portrays women in an authentic manner”).

The second question displayed statements that describe the most common stereotypes in advertisements, as identified in section 2.1 (e.g., “A woman’s place is the home”). The respondents again were asked to pick all statements that apply to the ad.

Finally, the respondents were provided with the definition of Femvertising and were asked to categorize both ads as either Femvertising or traditional advertising.

The stimuli test revealed that all participants were able to identify the “Courage is Already Inside” ad as Femvertising and the “Country Boy” ad as traditional advertising accordingly. Hence, the two advertisements seemed to be appropriate for this study

4.5.1 General structure of the survey

The online survey began with an introduction to the research topic and provided information on the content of the study as well as relevant details on data handling and how to contact the researcher. A consent form that entailed the general terms and conditions of the study was displayed. The conditions of the study complied with the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. This ensures data protection and the complete anonymity of the participants. An agreement to the consent form was necessary in order to conduct the questionnaire that was developed in the previous section.

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32 ad). Additionally, it was explained that the respondent was either part of the control group or the experimental group, depending on the ad they watched. The contact information was also provided to ensure that respondents were able to contact the researcher if necessary 4.5.3 Pre-testing

The survey was pre-tested before distributing it to improve the questionnaire and eliminate any possible problems (Malhotra and Birks, 2003).

As the respondents of pilot testing should be part of the overall sample population (Wilson, 2006), both Dutch as well as German respondents of all genders were questioned.

Based on Grimm’s (2010) suggested questions, the respondents were asked about the clarity of questions, the accurateness of answering options, willingness to answer each question, understanding of instructions, perception of potential bias within the formulation of questions, logical flow of questionnaire and if the duration to complete the survey felt reasonable. In addition, the overall perception of the questionnaire and additional comments or remarks were asked for (shown in Appendix 3).

The pre-test revealed that recipients preferred a Likert scale over a semantic differential scale to measure the attitude toward ad as it allowed them to express their attitude more accurately. Hence, the emotional quotient scale (Wells, 1964) was used in the final questionnaire. The brand attitude was initially measured using the semantic scale by Spears and Singh (2004); however, the respondents criticised that the pairs were too similar, and as a result, they tended to rate all pairs similarly. The respondents preferred the shorter more diverse semantic scale by Campbell and Keller (2003) over the scale by Spears and Singh. As a result, the former scale was used in the final questionnaire. Based on the feedback, slight adjustments in the wording of a few statements were made to make them more transparent and to eliminate the possible risk of data collection errors (Burns and Burns, 2008) which is reflected in Table 4.1.

4.5 Data collection

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33 population (Wilson, 2006). The online tool Qualtrics was used to collect the data. The survey was the same for all respondents except for the type of stimuli. The tool enabled a random assignment of stimuli based on the nationality of the respondents. This assured that in both groups (Dutch and German), the respondents are equally assigned to one of the treatments. Additionally, the order of the statements for the variables Afem, Aad, and Arole was randomized for each respondent to avoid any bias or distortion of the results. To distribute the survey, it was shared in the researcher’s social network and utilized a snowball system to collect the convenience sample. After the data collection, the data was exported and statistical analyses were performed using SAS® software, version 9.4.

4.6 Sample profile

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34 Table 4.2: Overview of sample profile for both groups

4.7 Data Analysis

Before the hypotheses could be tested, the scales needed to be assessed for validity and reliability. Based on the results, average scores of each scale were calculated which were used in the statistical hypothesis testing.

Femvertising (n=141) Traditional (n=131) Total (n=272) p-value Gender n (%) n (%) n (%) 0.801 Male 60 (42.6) 54 (41.2) 114 (41.9) Female 80 (56.7) 75 (57.3) 155 (56.99) Other 1 (0.7) 2 (1.5) 3 (1.1) Nationality n (%) n (%) n (%) 0.991 NL 58 (41.1) 54 (41.2) 112 (41.2) GER 83 (58.9) 77 (58.8) 160 (58.8) Age n (%) n (%) n (%) 0.332 18-24 77 (44.0) 62 (47.3) 139 (51.1) 25-34 53 (37.59) 60 (45.8) 113 (41.5) 35-64 11 (7.8) 9 (6.9) 20 (7.4) Education n (%) n (%) n (%) 0.801 < High School 2 (1.4) 1 (0.8) 3 (1.1) High School 29 (20.6) 27 (20.6) 56 (20.6) Training 8 (5.7) 9 (6.9) 17 (6.3) Bachelor 64 (45.4) 56 (42.8) 120 (44.1) Master 37 (26.2) 34 (26.0) 71 (26.1) Professional 1 (0.7) 2 (1.5) 3 (1.1) Doctorate 0 (0.0) 2 (1.5) 2 (0.7) Females in family n (%) n (%) n (%) Parents 0.272 0 5 (3.6) 1 (0.77) 6 (2.2) 1 127 (90.1) 120 (91.6) 247 (90.8) >1 9 (6.4) 10 (7.6) 19 (7.0) Siblings 0.722 0 58 (41.1) 56 (42.8) 114 (41.9) 1 67 (47.5) 52 (39.7) 119 (43.8) 2 14 (9.9) 19 (14.5) 33 (23.4) >2 2 (1.4) 4 (3.1) 6 (4.3) Children 0.532 0 128 (90.8) 122 (93.1) 250 (91.9) 1 9 (6.4) 3 (2.3) 12 (4.4) >1 4 (2.8) 6 (4.6) 10 (3.7) Household 0.912 0 68 (48.2) 68 (51.9) 136 (50.0) 1 44 (31.2) 28 (21.4) 72 (26.5) 2 19 (13.5) 21 (16.0) 40 (14.7) 3 8 (5.7) 8 (6.1) 16 (5.9) >3 2 (1.4) 6 (4.6) 8 (2.9) Feminism (mean ± SD) 3.77 ± 0.58 3.71 ± 0.61 3.74 ± 0.69 0.433

Brand pre (mean ± SD)

3.02 ± 0.70 n=58 3.09 ± 0.77 n=54 3.05 ± 0.73 n=112 0.613 Demographics Attitudes

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35 4.7.1 Validity

According to Burns and Burns (2008), the concept of validity is concerned with the question of the extent to which the testing instrument actually measures the concept or variable it seeks to measure. Two aspects need to be considered when assessing the overall validity, namely, internal and external validity (Burns and Burns, 2008). The internal validity evaluates to which degree the manipulation of the independent variable is caused by the dependent variable (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). In general, internal validity is regarded as very high for experimental design studies with control and experimental groups (Easterby-Smith et al., 2015). Further, Bryman and Bell (2003) state that internal validity is given when respondents are randomly assigned to treatments.

Consequently, this research is considered to have high internal validity. On the other hand, external validity describes if the findings of the study can be generalised to the overall population (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Due to the experimental nature of the study design and convenience sampling, the findings do not reflect the general population; thus, this study has rather poor external validity.

To ensure construct validity, both convergent as well as discriminant validity need to be assessed (Campbell and Fiske, 1959). Exploratory factor analysis was used to measure and assess construct validity for this study. For selecting the number of factors, the Kaiser criterion was used, which is one of the most commonly used methods and is a default criterion in SAS. This method retains factors with Eigenvalues >1. As shown in Tables 4.3-4.6, for each of the investigated scales, it was found that only one factor component was selected based on this criterion, which confirms the proper grouping of the items within the scales as suggested by the respective researchers (Wells, 1964; Campbell and Keller, 2003; Renzetti, 1986; Lundstrom and Sciglimpaglia, 1977). All factors show a sufficiently high load of >0.5, which exceed the suggested absolute value of at least 0.4 (Stevens, 2002). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (KMO) verified the sampling adequacy for the analysis, revealing that each scale has a KMO larger than 0.79 (KMOAfem= 0.933; KMOAad= 0.954; KMOArole= 0.873; KMOAb= 0.796),

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36 Table 4.3: Factor loadings from the factor analysis on Afem

Table 4.4: Factor loadings from the factor analysis on Aad Items Factor 1 Fem1 0.57883 Fem2 0.56551 Fem3 0.70572 Fem4 0.77109 Fem5 0.66088 Fem6 0.71702 Fem7 0.50664 Fem8 0.60074 Fem9 0.60122 Fem10 0.56629 Fem11 0.74943 Fem12 0.63343 Fem13 0.58661 Fem14 0.67153 Fem15 0.62124 Fem16 0.72592 Fem17 0.69062 Fem19 0.54706 Attitude toward feminism (Afem)

Notes:

Bold numbers indicate that the item loaded on

the factor (factor loadings > 0.4) Extraction method: Principal Components Rotation method: Oblim with Kaiser Normalizations Items Factor 1 AAD1 0.85216 AAD2 0.7568 AAD3 0.79582 AAD4 0.80841 AAD5 0.82016 AAD6 0.81429 AAD7 0.77234 AAD8 0.84654 AAD9 0.81549 AAD10 0.7585 AAD11 0.67091 AAD12 0.69174

Bold numbers indicate that the item loaded on the factor (factor loadings > 0.4) Extraction method: Principal Components

Rotation method: Oblim with

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37 Table 4.5: Factor loadings from the factor analysis on Arole

Table 4.6: Factor loadings from the factor analysis on Ab

4.7.2 Reliability

All measurement scales which were used in the study have already been tested in terms of validity and reliability within prior research; hence, they are assumed to be beneficial to use (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Nevertheless, the reliability of the scales needs to be measured in the context of this study to ensure internal consistency. As such, a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of at least 0.7 and an item-to-total correlation of at least 0.3 are required. Table 4.7 displays the results of the reliability analysis. All scales indicate a high alpha coefficient (a>0.7); however, the two items “If women want to get ahead, there is little to stop them”

Items Factor 1 Arole1 0.65679 Arole2 0.82741 Arole3 0.79813 Arole4 0.85009 Arole5 0.8649 Arole6 0.78906 Arole7 0.64554

Attitude toward female role (Arole)

Bold numbers indicate that the item

loaded on the factor (factor loadings > 0.4)

Extraction method: Principal Components Rotation method: Oblim with Kaiser

Items Factor 1

Ab21 0.88843

Ab22 0.71041

Ab23 0.91077

Ab24 0.91393

Attitude toward brand post (Ab)

Bold numbers indicate that the item

loaded on the factor (factor loadings > 0.4)

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38 and “For a woman to be truly happy, she needs to have a man in her life” of the Aad scale show weak correlation with the total score. These items were eliminated from the scale and were not considered in the statistical analysis. The remaining values exceed 0.7, which signals an excellent internal consistency and therefore reliability of the scale. No substantial increase or decrease of the alpha coefficient can be observed when one of the remaining variables is deleted.

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39 Table 4.7: Results of Reliability test

Based on the Factor analysis and the Cronbach’s alpha values, a total variable for each scale was conducted by calculating the average scores of all remaining items loading high on its respective factor (see 4.6.1).

Variable Item Mean SD

Correlation with

Total deleted variableα with α A woman can live a full and happy life without marrying. 4.36 0.89 0.520 0.902 When you get right down to it, women are an oppressed group and men are the oppressor. 2.90 1.07 0.534 0.902 For a woman, marriage should be more important than a career. 4.36 0.81 0.647 0.899 Most men are better suited emotionally for politics than are most women. 4.04 1.11 0.716 0.897 If a husband and wife each have an equally good career opportunity, but in different cities, the husband

should take the job and the wife should follow. 4.15 0.96 0.598 0.900 A wife should willingly take her husband's name at marriage. 3.96 1.05 0.669 0.898 A woman should not let birthing and raising children stand in the way of a career if she wants it. 4.04 0.98 0.451 0.904 Many women who do the same work as their male colleagues earn substantially less money. 3.72 0.95 0.536 0.901 Men tend to discriminate against women in hiring, firing, and promotion. 3.35 0.94 0.544 0.901 There are some jobs and professions that are more suitable for men than for women. 2.64 1.15 0.510 0.902 Women should take care of running their homes and leave running the country up to men. 4.58 0.74 0.692 0.897 For a woman in college, popularity is more important than grade point average. 4.00 0.99 0.573 0.901 Career women tend to be masculine and domineering. 3.61 1.07 0.523 0.902 In general, I am sympathetic with the efforts of women's liberation groups. 3.84 0.89 0.621 0.899 I consider myself to be a feminist. 3.27 1.15 0.569 0.901 Many of those in women's rights organizations today seem to be unhappy misfits. 3.60 1.09 0.678 0.898 Woman should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers. 4.51 0.88 0.640 0.899 If women want to get ahead, there is little to stop them. 2.94 1.03 0.195 0.910 Things are much easier for girls growing up today than they were for girls growing up 10 years ago. 3.61 1.21 0.458 0.903 For a woman to be truly happy, she needs to have a man in her life. 3.29 1.19 0.181 0.910

Unappealing – Appealing 2.81 1.04 0.549 0.831

Low-quality – High-quality 3.38 0.84 0.556 0.828

Unpleasant – Pleasant 2.93 0.86 0.725 0.752

Bad – Good 3.08 0.88 0.809 0.711

This ad is very appealing to me. 2.92 1.01 0.814 0.935 I would probably skip this ad when I see it. 2.51 1.25 0.710 0.939

This is a heart-warming ad. 3.10 1.04 0.748 0.938

This ad does not interest me. 2.92 1.14 0.766 0.937

This ad makes me feel good. 3.15 1.02 0.776 0.937

I dislike this ad. 3.53 1.02 0.768 0.937

This is a fascinating ad. 2.95 1.06 0.724 0.938

This is a wonderful ad. 3.00 1.03 0.807 0.936

I'm tired of this kind of advertising. 3.21 1.14 0.773 0.937

This ad leaves me cold. 3.19 1.06 0.709 0.939

This ad makes me want to buy the brand it features. 2.26 0.89 0.616 0.942 This is the kind of ad you forget easily. 3.10 1.04 0.639 0.941 The ad shows women as they really are. 2.86 1.03 0.613 0.855 The ad accurately portrays women in most their daily activities. 2.59 0.96 0.272 0.890 The ad shows women fundamentally dependent on men. 3.86 1.00 0.699 0.846 The ad treats women mainly as “sex objects”. 3.90 1.02 0.699 0.846 The ad suggests that women don’t do important things. 3.73 1.05 0.742 0.841 The ad suggests that a women’s place is in the home. 3.80 1.12 0.746 0.841 I find the portrayal of women in the advertising to be offensive. 3.68 1.03 0.703 0.845 The ad suggests that women make important decisions. 3.14 1.08 0.550 0.862

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40

5. Findings

5.1 General findings

Generally, it can be observed that the Femvertising group scored substantially higher on all post-exposure variables as compared to the group exposed to traditional advertising (p≤0.0001) which is demonstrated in Table 5.1. Specifically, the mean difference for Aad and Arole are 0.7 and 1.0 respectively, which is a prominent magnitude on a 1-5 measurement scale.

Further, the Femvertising group also indicated an increased attitude toward the brand (Ab) after the exposure to the ad (Δ=0.45) as compared to the control group (Δ=-0.05). It is to remark that around 40 percent of the respondents (n=112) were familiar with the brand prior to the study. The pre-exposure score indicates that these respondents had a neutral (M=3.05) attitude toward the brand RAM.

Table 5.1: Average score for outcome variables in both groups

Concerning Ab, it is observed that females with a positive attitude toward feminism (>4) perceived the brand less positively after being exposed to Femvertising (M=3.66) than those who had lower feminism scores (M=4.00) which is displayed in Table 5.2. On the other hand, men who had low Afem scores perceived traditional advertising more positively (M=3.12) than those with high scores (M=2.52). In general, it is noticeable that the total sample scored rather high on the Afem scale (M=3.81). However, it is to say that 66 percent of the female respondents received an average score larger than four, while this only applied for 18 percent of the male respondents.

Variable Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Pr > |t|

Attitude toward ad 3.31 0.76 2.63 0.76 2.99 0.83 <.0001

Attitude toward female portrayal 4.03 0.58 3.07 0.73 3.57 0.81 <.0001

Attitude toward brand (post) 3.63 0.77 3.02 0.88 3.34 0.88 <.0001

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41 Table 5.2: Stratification for outcome variables by gender, group and Afem

Before testing the hypotheses, all variables were tested for pair-wise correlation by conducting a Pearson’s correlation test shown in Table 5.4. Regarding pre-exposure correlations, the attitude toward feminism unsurprisingly correlates with gender (R=0.48); further correlations, if any, are of small magnitude (R<31). This allows for succeeding multivariable analysis without multicollinearity impacts. The selected outcome scores however, show a substantial correlation (R>60), which is not unexpected or unintended.

Table 5.3: Correlation analysis for pre- and post-exposure variables

5.2 Analysis of attitude toward ad

In principle, four hypotheses were formulated to investigate the effects of Femvertising on attitude toward ad, which are analysed in the following. The following presentation includes elements of univariable descriptive analysis, followed by stratification and multiple

Gender Group Afem N Aad Arole Ab

High 59 3.41 4.2 3.66 Low 21 3.6 3.99 4 High 43 2.62 3.03 3.04 Low 32 2.62 3.15 3.05 High 9 3.3 4.14 3.58 Low 51 3.1 3.83 3.46 High 12 2.41 2.8 2.52 Low 42 2.79 3.15 3.12 M Femvertising Traditional Traditional F Femvertising

Gender Nationality Afem Age Education Siblings Household _familiarityBrand Aad Arole Ab

Gender 1

*indicates significance at the p ≤0.05; **p ≤0.001; ***p ≤0.0001; significance level Method: Pearson's correlation test

The Effects of Femvertising on Consumer Attitude