Impact of Gender on Ad Processing: A Social Identity Perspective, The

Academy of Marketing Science Review, 2003 by Tansuhaj, Patriya, Muehling, Darrel D

Rachel Maldonado (Ph.D., Washington State University) is Assistant Professor of Marketing, 316 Kingston Hall, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 99004-2419, Phone: (509) 359-6742, E-mail: rmaldonado@ewu.edu. Her primary research interests are consumer acculturation, social group influence on consumer behavior, unconscious processing, and marketing issues related to social responsibility and community development. Patriya Tansuhaj (Ph.D., Oklahoma State University, Stillwater) is Professor of Marketing and International Business at the International Business Institute, 501 Johnson Towers, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-4851, Phone: (509) 335-0940, E-mail: tansuhaj@wsu.edu. Her research interests are: International marketing strategy, gender issues, and cross-cultural consumer behaviors. She is an editorial board member of Psychology & Marketing and has published numerous journals and proceedings such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, and Advances in Consumer Research. Darrel D. Muehling (Ph.D., University of Nebraska - Lincoln) is Professor & Chair of the Department of Marketing, 367 Todd Addition, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. 99164-4730, Phone:(509) 335-7302, E-mail: darrel@wsu.edu. His primary research interests focus on various aspects of information processing and advertising/communications theory and practice, including attitude-toward-the-ad, message involvement, advertising disclaimers, and toy-based programming. He has published more than 65 articles in over 25 journals and proceedings, and is Past President of the American Academy of Advertising, having served as President in 2000. This article is part of a special issue on "Gender Issues in Consumer Research" edited by James Gentry, Seungwoo Chun, Suraj Commuri, Eileen Fischer, Sunkyu Jun, Lee McGinnis, and Michal Strahilevitz.

The Impact of Gender on Ad Processing: A Social Identity Perspective

Advertising is typically thought of as one of many external influences on buyer behavior. Some may argue that it does not always have as much impact on behavior as other external influences such as salespeople, culture, family, reference groups, and social and situational influences. Additionally, as consumers become bombarded with more and more advertisements, many claim that ads have little or no influence on their judgments or actions. In spite of these criticisms, advertising is considered an efficient way of reaching many consumers. Therefore, marketers continue to seek ways to increase the influence of advertising on their audience. For instance, an ad could be linked to another source of external influence such as one's gender group. While most external influences have been well studied, the potentially powerful influence of gender group identity has received little attention. The question becomes, how can the activation of a gender group identity result in favorable ad and brand judgments? This paper provides a theoretical foundation and conceptual model explaining how ads may influence attitudes and purchase intentions by activating an identity with one's gender group.

The model in Figure 1 depicts the process by which ads may activate a gender group identity and thereby influence ad and brand judgments. The discussion of the first box in the model addresses the question: Can an ad activate a gender group identity? A gender group identity is an example of a social identity in which one sees oneself as a member of the gender group. It is possible that such an identity could be activated through exposure to ads that pair a brand with members of one's gender group. The activation of a gender group identity is thought to result in that identity gaining salience over other existing identities. Given that individuals hold many social identities simultaneously, it is necessary that the context (ads) bring the desired social identity to the forefront. In other words, the ads must make a gender identity salient in order to have the desired effect. The second box focuses on the issue of salience and the internal consequences of a salient gender group identity. The third box indicates that salience may be influenced by how strongly one identifies with one's gender group. Finally, the discussion of the fourth box addresses the question of whether or not the internal consequences of a salient gender identity can influence ad and brand judgments. This paper proposes that ads which activate identification with one's gender group will have a more favorable impact on future brand and ad judgments than ads that do not activate this identity. The foundation for this proposed influence is based on social identity theory, ad processing, and gender research.

FIGURE 1 Proposed Model of Social Identity Activation on Ad Effectiveness

GENDER GROUP IDENTITY ACTIVATING ADS

We begin our discussion of the dynamics involved in using gender group identity to influence ad and brand judgments by providing a theoretical underpinning for the notion that ads can prime identification with a gender group and cause that identity to become salient. This requires an understanding of the concept of gender identity from a social identity perspective.