Queer eye for a gay guy: Using market‐specific symbols in advertising to attract gay consumers without alienating the mainstream

Although advertisers have flooded gay and lesbian print media in recent years, it is estimated that more than half of the gay and lesbian population does not read gay media. Hence, this study addresses the question: How may marketers target gays and lesbians in mainstream media without alienating heterosexual consumers? As such, this study assesses responses of both heterosexual and homosexual consumers to advertising content that includes mainstream imagery, implicit gay and lesbian imagery, and explicit gay or lesbian imagery to provide advertisers with a better understanding of how to effectively crossover into mainstream media with gay‐targeted advertisements. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Gay Family in the Ad: Consumer Responses to Non-traditional Families in Marketing Communications

This paper investigates consumer responses to gay families portrayed in advertising, drawing on critical visual analysis, reader response analysis and queer theory. Twenty-five consumers were interviewed about a selection of family oriented ads. Several themes emerged from the interviews, including straightening up – reading apparently gay images as heterosexual, or straight, despite rather overt gay signals. This important interpretive phenomenon seems to "interfere" with processing of apparently gay imagery, revealing interesting interpretive strategies. Findings are discussed within the advertising as representation research tradition, and illuminate interpretive strategies that consumers use when confronted with culturally sensitive images in advertising.     

Nature Imagery in Non-Green Advertising: The Effects of Emotion,Autobiographical Memory,and Consumer's Green Traits

Images of pristine nature constitute frequent elements of visual advertising design. Research on the effectiveness of such imagery has been scarce, however. Which psychological processes are involved? Do all individuals react equally to nature advertising imagery? Based on environmental psychology theory, the present research analyzes the effectiveness of the use of nature imagery in non-green advertising and the underlying processes involved. We conduct three experimental studies, two with student samples and one with a representative population sample, to test the effects of visual advertising stimuli featuring nature versus urban and indoor scenery. Findings contribute to research in two ways: First, emotional ad responses that are similar to the feelings experienced in nature as well as the retrieval of positive autobiographical memories are identified as intervening processes by which nature advertising imagery increases attitude toward the ad (Aad) and brand (Abr). Second, results indicate these processes are moderated by consumers’ green traits, with green consumers being more susceptible to the persuasive effects of nature advertising imagery even though advertisements were non-green. The processes are further moderated by the accessibility of memory of past nature experiences. These findings enrich our knowledge on the effects of specific visual appeals and provide practical implications for visual advertising effectiveness.     

From overt to covert: Exploring discrimination against homosexual consumers in retail stores

This research examines discrimination against homosexual consumers in several stores located in a Colombian shopping mall. Further, this research assesses retail conditions in Colombia, which is dealing with conflicts arising from issues related to its legalization of same-sex marriage. In the past, homosexual consumers experienced overt discrimination from retail employees typically in the form of finger pointing, negative stares, laughing, and refusal of service. This research reveals that overt discrimination against homosexual consumers seems to have abated across several indices, primarily in terms of waiting time for assistance from employees. The data reveal that gay male and lesbian couples remain susceptible to covert discrimination by retail employees, compared with their heterosexual counterparts, typically in the form of negative glances, refusal of service, and laughter. This research reveals that homosexual consumers may not realize the full value potential of marketplace exchanges, despite the waning of overt discriminatory practices by retail employees.     

Sexual orientation and consumption: Why and when do homosexuals and heterosexuals consume differently?

The increasing visibility of homosexuality in society, combined with the lesbian and gay community's considerable buying power, has triggered marketers and researchers' interest in understanding homosexual consumers' consumption patterns. Prior research on whether homosexual consumers behave differently from heterosexual consumers has yielded mixed results, and researchers and practitioners still do not know whether any substantial differences exist, what these differences look like, and how they can be explained. The findings from a meta-analysis reveal that sexual orientation explains on average <1% of the variation in consumption behavior across 45 papers, indicating only slightly different consumption behaviors. Findings from a moderator analysis contradict conventional wisdom and lay theories, while partly supporting assumptions that are rooted in evolutionary and biological theories that show consumption differences decrease with age; they increase when comparing homosexuals and heterosexuals of the same gender. These findings, which question long-held beliefs about homosexual consumers, help marketers to successfully adjust their strategies.     

The Effect of Gay-Friendly and Non-Gay-Friendly Cues on Brand Attitudes: A Comparison of Heterosexual and Gay/Lesbian Reactions

This study sought to evaluate responses of gay and heterosexual consumers to gay-friendly and non-friendly cues and the resultant effects on the variables of brand satisfaction, brand commitment, and attitude toward the brand. Variables for predicting brand commitment based on Rusbult's Investment Model are explored. Results suggest that heterosexual consumers, while noticing gay-friendly cues in brand communications, do not develop negative attitudes as a result of exposure to those cues. Further, as gay and lesbian consumers react positively and strongly and heterosexual consumers react neutrally, it is a reasonable strategy for brands to pursue gay-friendly marketing.     

Does gay-themed advertising haunt your brand?

This study is designed to investigate the effect of gay-themed advertising as well as consumers’ gender, tolerance towards homosexuality (low vs high tolerance) and consumers’ brand commitment (low vs high commitment) on attitude towards ad and attitude towards brand. The study result suggests that people exposed to non-gay-themed ads had more positive attitudes towards the brand than did people exposed to gay-themed ads. The study findings suggest that ads featuring homosexual imagery could lead to negative brand evaluation. The study finds that heterosexual males exposed to such ads had less favourable attitudes towards the advertising and brand as well. The study finds that subjects with high tolerance towards homosexuality have more positive attitudes towards the ad and brand, and have higher purchase intention than do subjects with low tolerance. Furthermore, the results suggest that people with high brand commitment had more favourable attitudes towards ad and brand. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Consumer myths and the gay men and women who believe them: a qualitative look at movements and markets

Using focus group data from six different conversations in two U.S. cities, this study examines how advertising, corporate policies toward sexual minority employees, and sponsorship of events and charities central to the gay and lesbian community affect the perceived “gay‐friendly” status of brands and companies. This study also explores how gay and lesbian respondents understand their role as distinct consumers in relation to gay social movements. In contrast to cultural critiques that argue that constructions of gay consumer markets are antithetical to gay social movements, this study shows how actual gay and lesbian consumers not only understand this dialectic, but also use it as both self‐validation and as leverage in achieving social gains. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploring the Importance of Gay‐friendliness and its Socialization Influences

Gay men and lesbian consumers are increasingly representing a desired target audience for brands seeking to build brand loyalty in an under‐tapped market. The existing literature on marketing to gay men and lesbians suggests that brands targeting this market should position themselves as gay‐friendly. Nevertheless, little is known about consumer perceptions of gay‐friendliness, its antecedents or the socialization processes relevant to establishing a brand's gay‐friendly claim. This paper attempts to fill this void by reporting the results of a survey of gay men and lesbian consumers. The survey assessed the factors involved in perceptions of gay‐friendliness, socialization sources and the relationship between gay‐friendly brand claims and attitudes towards the brand.     

Noticing Cultural Differences: Ad Meanings Created by Target and Non-Target Markets

Abstract

Target marketing is an increasingly crucial component of marketing strategy, particularly given the expanding cultural diversity of the nation's population. Prior research suggests marketers need to consider the nontarget market (consumers who perceive themselves not to be the target of an advertisement) as well as the target market. Further, researchers have called for a more meaning-based approach to understanding advertising and consumer behavior. The authors therefore explore the meanings created by target and nontarget viewers of advertising targeting black, white, and gay / lesbian cultures. Their results show that asymmetries in cultural expertise, power, distinctiveness, and stigmatization among those cultural groups influence the meanings created by target and nontarget viewers of ads targeting those groups.     

The impact of creative media advertising on consumer responses: two field experiments

Abstract

Creative media (CM) advertising is an advertising strategy wherein a non-traditional medium is creatively used for advertising purposes. This novel advertising strategy is gaining marketers’ interest; however, little is known about its persuasive effects on consumers’ cognitive, affective and behavioural responses and the processes that underlie them. Therefore, to convey a genuine experience to consumers, two field experiments with a one-factor (advertising type: creative vs. traditional) between-subjects design were conducted within a supermarket context. Results showed that creative (vs. traditional) media ads not only improve consumers’ affective and behavioural responses but also consumers’ cognitive responses. Even though no mediations were found through perceived surprise or perceived persuasive intent, results do provide evidence for the notion that perceived humor and perceived value are the underlying mechanisms through which affective and behavioural responses to creative media advertising can be explained.     

Negotiating subcultural authenticity through interpretation of mainstream advertising

This paper explores how subcultural authenticity is constructed and negotiated as members of a subculture interpret mainstream advertising images. A reader-response theory approach was adopted, and empirical material was conducted through open-ended interviews of homosexual women. Four processes through which ‘lesbian authenticity’ are constructed were identified: (1) defining proper lesbian look; (2) problematising both heterosexualised and oversexed media representations of homosexual women; (3) constituting being lesbian as an intrinsic part of one’s being; and (4) constructing heterosexual women as the Other.     

The influence of visually dynamic imagery on purchase intentions: The roles of arousal and lay rationalism

The presence of motion is increasingly common in online advertising. Despite the increase in spending on digital advertisements and decades of academic research on dynamic imagery in advertising, our understanding of this phenomenon remains limited. The dynamic default hypothesis posits that animated imagery should generate more arousal than comparable static imagery. However, research on advertisements containing dynamic imagery reveal inconsistencies in their ability to stimulate arousal. A potential explanation for these inconsistent findings lies in the behavioral urgency hypothesis, which postulates that not all motion is weighted equally in terms of its ability to generate arousal. We conduct three experiments to test this proposition. Interestingly, our findings show that imagery appearing to loom closer to consumers stimulates greater levels of arousal than either static or imagery appearing to recede away from consumers. Additionally, our work identifies moderating effects of lay rationalism which can work to strengthen or attenuate these effects. Together, this work provides a more comprehensive explanation for the varied findings in the literature.     

Understanding gay consumers’ clothing involvement and fashion consciousness

This study’s primary objective was to provide a better understanding of gay consumers’ clothing involvement and fashion consciousness. Personal in‐depth interviews were conducted with 13 gay professionals in Canada. One hundred and forty‐five usable survey questionnaires were also collected from gay consumers. The Fashion Involvement Index Scale (FII scale) was adapted for this study. Interview participants indicated that, in general, gay men tend to be more fashion conscious than heterosexual men. Survey results also indicated two dimensions, fashion interest and fashion awareness that were found to be stronger for this group of gay consumers than for heterosexual men. The FII value for the survey participants also resulted in a sum score mean value of 11.2, a medium level of fashion involvement that is a slightly higher level than has been found for heterosexual consumers. Interestingly, this study does not provide strong evidence of gay consumers’ involvement in cutting‐edge fashion trends.     

Political issues in advertising polysemy: the case of gay window advertising

This study draws on minority consumers’ interpretations of purposefully polysemic commercials to explore political issues in the consumption of advertising, and highlights the sociopolitical role of niche-targeted advertising as a powerful cultural institution in informing and defining identities. The study focusses on how lesbian, gay male, and bisexual consumers make sense of gay-oriented, yet strategically polysemic, gay window commercials. Findings suggest that participants understood these messages through the lens of their unique subcultural sensitivity and in relation to their closeted experience and consciousness of marginalization. The political meanings of niche-targeted advertising are accentuated as these minority consumers negotiate the cultural tensions of their subcultural identity and their struggle between seeking subcultural validation and seeking mainstream assimilation.     

How do 3-dimensional images promote products on the Internet?

The study investigates 3D virtual advertising as it affects the online shopping environment. It examines the vividness of mental imagery as a mediator, and consumers' need for touch and product type as moderators of the effects. An experiment conducted with 207 study participants and two product types, a watch and a jacket, indicates overall that 3D advertising outperforms 2D advertising in effectiveness. The vividness of mental imagery appears to directly influence attitudes and intentions by mediating the effects of 2D versus 3D. As expected, the 3D and 2D formats consistently differed more in their effects for geometric products than for material products. Consumers' NFT affected only intentions to revisit, interacting with product type and site type. For the watch product, 3D advertising is more persuasive for both high and low NFT consumers. Comparatively, for the jacket product, 3D strongly impacts low-NFT consumers only, but has no significant difference for high-NFT study participants.     

Effects of ethnic advertising on consumers of minority and majority groups: the moderating effect of humor

The effects of portrayals of ethnic endorsers in advertising are ambiguous. These portrayals strengthen the ethnic identity of ethnic minority groups, thus leading to positive responses toward the ad. They can lead to negative responses, because these portrayals can be perceived as stereotyped. Humor is a tool that can increase positive effects of identity-building and reduce negative effects of stereotyping. In this study, we investigate how humor moderates the effects of ethnic advertising on consumers from ethnic minority and majority groups. We find that humor supports the effects of traditional portrayals for both groups. Moreover, the effect of traditional portrayals combined with humor is strongest for the minority group. These findings provide evidence for the positive effects of humor in ethnic advertising and thus provide new insights to the stereotyping, ethnic advertising, and humor literature. The findings have practical implications for advertising using ethnic endorsers, humor, or targeted at ethnic minority groups.     

Advertising effects on consumer welfare: Prices paid and liking for brands selected

The effect of advertising on consumer welfare has been the subject of dispute among economists, arising largely from disagreement among scholars regarding the persuasive versus the informative role of advertising. This paper reports two experiments that explore the welfare implications of advertising effects. Experiment 1 shows that the same advertisements can either increase or decrease prices paid for selected brands, depending on the degree to which the choice situation requires brands to be recalled in order to be considered. However, an increase in prices paid caused by advertising does not necessarily imply detrimental effects on consumer welfare. Experiment 2 shows that, even under circumstances in which differentiating advertising leads consumers to select brands with higher average prices, it can provide useful information to consumers that allows them to make purchases that are more in line with their personal tastes than are the choices of consumers not exposed to the advertisements.     

Consumer processing of foreign advertisements: roles of country-of-origin perceptions,consumer ethnocentrism,and country attitude

This paper reports the findings of a study that examined the impact of consumers’ three cross-national individual difference variables — country-of-origin perceptions, consumer ethnocentrism, and country attitudes — on their responses and attitudes toward foreign advertisements and advertised products. A model of consumer processing of international advertising has been proposed that consolidates a dual-element thesis comprising research on consumer processing of advertising, and several streams of research on cross-national individual difference variables. Empirical analysis of the hypothetical model through structural equation modeling yields supportive results: positive effects of consumers’ country attitudes on their responses to the creative presentation of international advertising, and positive effects of consumers’ country-of-origin perceptions on their responses to the buying proposal of international advertising. However, the hypothesized negative effects of consumer ethnocentrism on their responses to international advertising was not confirmed. The study contributes to our understanding of cross-national individual difference variables that precede and determine consumers’ attitudes toward foreign advertisements. It has practical implications for standardization versus localization of international advertising strategy.     

Women and Advertising

The most vocal critics of advertising are the better-educated, more sophisticated consumers who are, in fact, the best customers for many products and services. They particularly resent condescension and sex-object imagery. There is much suggestive evidence that advertising which consumers find irritating erodes the quality and credibility of brand images. There is also evidence that advertising which they like has a positive effect on brand images. The problem seems to stem from a narrow definition of ‘advertising effectiveness’ and institutionalized advertising research procedures. This paper suggests that the solution lies in expanding our definition of effectiveness to include emotional response. It also suggests that we may be rescued by the explosion of change in media technology. As the media context changes, the dimension of liking could be a crucial criterion of advertising effectiveness.