Effects of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter and Product Type on Advertising Effectiveness

European Journal of Scientific Research
ISSN 1450-216X Vol.35 No.4 (2009), pp.537-543
© EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2009
http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm


Effects of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter and
Product Type on Advertising Effectiveness


Owolabi Benjamin Ademola
University of Ado –Ekiti, Nigeria
E-mail: labdem2005@yahoo.ca


Abstract

This paper experimentally examined the effect of gender-role orientation, sex of
advert presenter and product type on advertising effectiveness. A total of three hundred and
twenty (320) University undergraduates were used for the study. Two products were
advertised: one masculine and one feminine with a manipulation of the sex of the advert
presenter. Psychological instruments measuring gender-role orientation and advertising
effectiveness were also administered. Result shows that gender-role orientation does not
have a significant effect on advertising effectiveness but the result revealed an interaction
effect of gender-role orientation and sex of presenter on advertising effectiveness, i.e when
there is congruence between the gender-role orientation of the audience, the sex of advert
presenter and product type advertising becomes more effective.


Keywords
*gender-role orientation
*sex of advert presenter
*product type
*advertising effectiveness
*attitude towards advertised product
*intention to try advertised product

Introduction
Most times, when we open pages of newspapers or listen to radio or when we turn on the television we
see marketers of products and services spending huge amount of money on advertisements in order to
convince consumers to buy their product and services. This is based on the belief that advertising is
essential to the success of products and services. Advertising techniques ranges in complexity from the
publishing of simple, straightforward notices on slates to the classified advertising columns of
newspapers and the concerted use of magazines, television, radio, direct mail and other communication
media for advertising campaigns.
The attention to, and the elaboration of advertising stimuli by individuals are influenced by
three categories of factors. First, certain characteristics of the stimulus itself may enhance or hamper
the elaboration of the message, e.g perception of femininity or masculinity of the product. Second,
certain characteristics of the individual can affect attention to, and elaboration of, the message, e.g
being traditional or non-traditional in gender-role orientation. Third, situational factors may be
important. Several types of situational factors can be discerned. The environment of the subject at the
time of exposure may influence message elaboration.

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Effects of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter and Product
Type on Advertising Effectiveness
538

Gender-role orientation is an example of such category. It may be that, if a gender identity (a
social category) is activated, then the product depicted in the advert may become linked to the
category, thereby triggering the use of category attributes, in the evaluation of the product. In this case,
the perceiver would be responding to the category level rather than the individual attributes of the
product (Sujan, 1985).
In television advertisements, gender stereotyping tends to be at its strongest because the target
audience is frequently either male or female. There has been some lessening of this in recent years but
the general pattern remains (Brown, 1998). In adverts, men tend to be portrayed as more autonomous.
They are shown in occupations more than women; women are shown mainly as housewives and
mothers. Women are more likely to be used in advertising domestic products. While men are more
likely to be shown outdoors or in business settings, women are shown more in domestic settings. Men
are more often portrayed as authorities. As far as adverts are concerned, men seem to gain authority
with age, whilst women seem to disappear (Chandler, 2004).
Even though gender roles have undergone many changes in recent years, there are still
individual differences in people’s perceptions of the behaviours and pronouncements considered
acceptable for men and women, especially among the Africans. Gender-roles vary according to culture.
Even within a culture, various group, may define masculinity and femininity differently according to
ethnicity, age, social class and sexuality. In this sense, there is no single masculinity and femininity,
but rather multiple masculinities and femininities. Not all men are “leader like”, aggressive
“independent” “risk- taking” and so on; and not all women are “affectionate”, “gentle”, sympathetic”,
dependent”, “emotional”, “nurturing” etc. Such qualities are found in varying degree in people.
Brown, (1998) noted that some changes in the direction of increase in equal representation of
men and women in advertising have occurred over the past 20 years; however, gender-typed portrayals
still predominate. For example, men are more often portrayed in career activities and more often shown
outdoors than women (Cantor, 1988). When depicted as buyers, women are most often shown
purchasing relatively inexpensive items, such as cosmetics and cleaning products, whereas men are
more likely to be shown making weighty or expensive purchases, such as automobiles or financial
services (Klassen, Jasper and Schwartz, 1993). When women are shown as experts on an advertised
product - most often when endorsing women’s product on television – the advertisements are typically
backed by an authoritative male, thus giving men the final word in such commercials (Lovdal, 1989).
Morrison and Shaffer (2003), using Bem’s Sex Role Inventory, have studied how gender-role
portrayals in advertising were likely to be received by individuals with varying degrees of gender role
orientation. Findings revealed that participants with traditional gender-role orientations clearly
expressed more favourable product evaluation and stronger intention to purchase for products that
appeared in traditional advertisements compared with their evaluation of the same products endorsed
by nontraditional advertisements (Morison and Shaffer, 2003).
This study is an attempt to investigate the combine effect of gender-role orientation, sex of
advert presenter and product type on the effectiveness of the advertisement. It was hypothesized that
participants will rate advertisement in which there is an agreement among the gender-role orientation
of the participant, sex of the advert presenter and product type as more effective than when there is no
agreement.


Methods
Desing
It is essentially an experimental design with some elements of an ex post facto design. The between-
subject design was used to assess two of the independent variables involved in the study at two levels
each. Advertising effectiveness was the dependent variable, measured by attitude towards the advert
and intention to buy the advertised products.

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Owolabi Benjamin Ademola
Setting
This research work is a laboratory experiment. Two laboratories of the Department of Geography and
Planning Science, Faculty of the Social Science, University of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State were used for the
study for to their relative seclusion from the other laboratories, lecture theatres and offices. The
laboratories guaranteed more silence than others.

Subjects
The research participants were three hundred and twenty (320) university undergraduates drawn from
the Faculty of the Social Science, University of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Like most other advertising
research studies (e.g. Knoch and McCarthy, 2000; Fieldling et al, 2006; Shenge, 2003; Morison et al,
2003) this study was conducted using undergraduate students, but, unlike those studies, the participants
were not paid for participating in the research; neither did they receive any credit on any course for
their participation. Prospective subjects were randomly selected from the departments in such a way
that an equal number of males and females were obtained. The mean age of the subjects is 22.05 years
with a standard deviation of 2.7.


Advertised Products
A pilot study was conducted to select products for use in this research. Seventy-five (75) undergraduate
students participated in the pilot study. A list of 35 items was generated. Participants were later asked
to cross out any product that they believed were not used at least to some degree by both men and
women. This phase provided a total of 26 products that participants believed to be traditionally
masculine or traditionally feminine but used by members of each sex.
In phase two, 45 additional undergraduates completed a survey in which they were asked to rate
on a 7 point scale how traditionally masculine or feminine each of the 26 products seemed to them,
from extremely masculine to extremely feminine. The rating was analyzed and two products were
selected for the final study; the product with the highest rating for masculine (shoe polish) was chosen
and the product with the highest rating for feminine (perfume) was chosen.
Ostensibly new types of polish and perfume, with the brand names DECK polish and ORTEX
perfume, were presented. To arrive at complete and ostensibly realistic new products, computer colour
designs and printed labels of the presumed new products were made and neatly cut to size and pasted
on the label portion of an existing polish (NUDE) and perfume (MALAZIA). The presumed new
products appeared like new products on the screen.


The Advertisements
Specifically designed adverts were used for this study. Two undergraduate actors recruited through
theatre organizations on a university campus served as the presenter of the adverts, one male and one
female. At the end, four adverts emerged, (i) male advertising masculine product, (2) male advertising
feminine product, (3) female advertising masculine product and (4) female advertising feminine
product.


Insruments
The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) developed by Bem (1974) was used to measure gender-role
orientation. It is one of the most frequently used instruments for measuring gender-role orientation
Attitude towards using advertised product was measure using a modified form of Belch’s (1981)
Semantic Differential Scale. For reliability, Attitude Toward Using Advertised Product Scale had a
standardized coefficient alpha of 0.81, coefficient alpha for part 1 (five-item) split-half alpha of 0.65,

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Effects of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter and Product
Type on Advertising Effectiveness
540

coefficient alpha for part 2 (five-item) split-half of 0.68, split-half of 0.74 and overall reliability
(Spearman-Brown) coefficient of 0.85. (Shenge, 2003). For validity, there was a least correlated item-
total correlation of 0.36 and a highest correlated item-total correlation of 0.61.
Intention to try advertised product was measured using a ten-item set of opposite-in-meaning
evaluative factor adjectives earlier used by Shenge (1996). It measures subjects’ intention to try the
advertised product, which in real life advertising practice, is also viewed by the advertiser as equally
being instrumental to the audience’s final purchase of the advertised product. For reliability, the
Intention To Try Advertised Product Scale had a standardized coefficient alpha of 0.75, coefficient
alpha for part 1 (five-items) split-half coefficient alpha of 0.61 for part 2 (five-items) split-half of 0.57,
split-half of 0.62 and overall reliability (Spearman-Brown) coefficient of 0.77.
For validity, there was a least correlated item-total correlation of 0.33 and a highest correlated
item-total correlation of 0.48; also, a factor analysis result on intention showed that there was a high
degree of agreement among the intention scale items (Shenge, 2003).


Results
Summary of 2x2x2 ANOVA showing the effects of gender-role orientation, sex of advert presenter,
product type on advert effectiveness

Source SS
d
f
MS
F
P
S A P (A)
126.920
1
126.920
3.922
0.5
Product type (B)
333.869
1
333.869
4.055
.05
G R O (C)
121.175
1
121.175
1.825
NS
A X B
38.934
1
38.984
3.590
.05
A X C
709.600
1
709.600
10.745
.001
B X C
2.582
1
2.582
0.039
NS
A X B X C
265.966
1
265.966
4.027
.05
Error 19020.135
288
66.04

Total 612722.00
319

KEY
S A P - Sex of advert presenter
G R O - Gender-role orientation

The result in the table above shows that gender-role orientation does not have a significant
main effect on advertising effectiveness, F (1,288) = 1.825; P >.05. The ANOVA result also shows that
there is a significant main effect of the sex of the advert presenter (1,288 = 3.922, P < .05) and product
type (1,288 =4.055,P < .05) on advertising effectiveness. It also reveals an interaction effects of gender
role orientation and the sex of the advert presenter (1,288) = 10.745, P <. 001; sex of advert presenter
and product type (1,288 = 3.590, P < .05) on advertising effectiveness. The three variables of sex of the
advert presenter, product type and the gender-role orientations of the audience jointly predict the
advertisement’s evaluation (1,288 = 4.027, P < .05).


Discussion
This study experimentally examines effect of gender role orientation, sex of advert presenter and
product type on advertising effectiveness. The result reveals that the three factors are important
predictors of advertising effectiveness. Even though gender role orientation does not have a significant
main effect on advertising effectiveness the result shows that, it is an important variable that is use
when audience are evaluating advertisement. Despite the fact that role are changing in the society, the
traditional ideal still dominate.
This finding is in consonance with Morrison and Shaffer’s (2003) finding that participants with
traditional gender-role orientation clearly expressed more favourable products evaluation and stronger

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Owolabi Benjamin Ademola
intention to purchase for a product that appeared in a traditional advertisement compared with their
evaluation of the same product endorsed by a non- traditional advertisement. The finding also concurs
with Leigh et al’s (1987) findings that advertising effectiveness is enhanced when role portrayals are
consistent with the role orientation of the receiver. Several studies also demonstrated that even though
participants often said that they did not prefer stereotypical depictions of men and women in
advertising or elsewhere, their reaction to advertisements and commercial spokespersons and their
purchase intention behaviours were more favourable in response to gender-stereotyped than to
nontraditional advertisements. Not only did these researches imply that traditionally gendered
depictions sell products, but they also implied that the public was more familiar and comfortable with
gender-stereotyped advertisements (Chatterjee, 2007).
This is in line with Whipple et al’s (1985) findings; they assert that effective role portrayals are
found to be a function of three factors –appropriate match between the gender of the depicted model
and the gender-image of the product; the setting of the portrayal; and the portrayals liberatedness and
realism.
The result that the congruency between gender-role orientation and traditionality or otherwise
of the advert affects advert effectiveness concurs with Leigh et al’s (1987) findings that advertising
effectiveness, as measured by attitude towards the adverts, the spokesperson, and towards buying the
product, is enhanced when role portrayals are consistent with the role orientation of the receiver.
Categorization theory holds that people naturally divide their world into categories that enable
them to efficiently understand and process information in the environment (Sujan, 1985). When a new
stimulus is encountered, the perceiver automatically attempts to match it with an evoked category
description. The evoked category attributes, links and exemplars, are then used to aid in the evaluation
of the new stimulus (Goodstein, 1993). Gender role orientation can be an example of such
categorization. It may be that if a gender role orientation is activated, then the product depicted in the
advert may become linked to the category, thereby triggering the use of category attributes in the
evaluation of the product advertised. In this case, it seems the participants were responding to the
category level rather than on the basis of individual attributes of the product (Sujan, 1985).
According to the theory of self-congruency, individuals prefer interaction with people and
things that resemble themselves. The ‘birds- of-a-feather-flock-together” principle decisively
influences human behaviour (Brehun, Kassin and Feen, 2005) in consumer behaviour. This is
expressed by a correspondence between the character’s features that are attributed to a brand and to the
personality of the consumer which leads to the attitude of “liking it”, “wanting it”, not wanting to loose
it”.
More general reactions to the difference between oneself and others are suggested by research
on similarity and attraction (Shroeder, 2006), that is, people prefer other people who share their
attitude, personal characteristics, behavioural inclination and emotional expressiveness (Sight & Ho,
2000) These researchers suggest that similar others are attractive, as they reinforce one’s belief and
identity, and that dissimilar others are correspondingly unattractive (Knapp & Hall, 2006).
The enhancement of advertising effectiveness by congruence also disproves a number of
postulations. First, Deberec et al’s (1986) findings suggest that a spokes-person’s gender cannot only
alter a product’s gender-image, but can also result in more positive attitudes and product usage
intention when the gender of the spokesperson and the product’s gender differ. Swartz (1983) also
revealed that the role portrayal preferred is not dependent on subject’s role orientation. In addition, the
study presents some evidence that a neutral role portrayal may provide advertisers of most products,
with the best spokesperson

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Effects of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter and Product
Type on Advertising Effectiveness
542

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