Research report on Gender Orientation in Advertisements

INTRODUCTION:

What is Advertising?

Advertising can be defined as a process of conveying a product/service to the attention of current existing customers and future prospects.

Advertising is focused on one specific product/service only therefore an advertisement plan for it will be unique and different from the advertisement of other products and services.

Advertising is basically done with direct mail, email messages, brochures, sign boards, commercials, personal contacts i.e. word of mouth and now a day’s social media is also used to spread the word.

What is Promotion?

Promotion can be defined as a procedure to keep the product and services in the customers / consumers’ mind.

It involves continuous advertising and publicity especially on print media.

The main characteristics of promotion are advertising, sales and public relations.

What is Marketing?

Marketing can be defined by Kotler and Armstrong is typically based upon a simple process of exchange by recognising the importance of products/services value to the consumer.

Marketing is the process by which company not only creates value for customers but also built a strong customer relationship.

It is the wide range of activities involved in making it obvious that company is continuously meeting its target i.e. recognizing the needs of their customers and in return gaining value.

Marketing plan of one product/service does differ from the other and it is a must ‘Do’ for making product/service unique and differs from other. Therefore it can be said marketing is usually focused on one product or service. Marketing creates brands.

Marketing activities includes following;

Inbound marketing i.e. marketing research.
Outbound marketing i.e. promotion, advertisement, public relations and sales.

This research work is based on Outbound marketing of mobile phones.

MOBILE PHONES:

A mobile phone is a device which is just like a telephone as being able to move over a wide geographical area also known as a cellular phone, cell phone or a hand phone. It is connected to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator allowing access to the public telephone network.

Now a day’s mobile phones are also offering general computing capabilities which are known as smart phones.

Today’s mobile phone is not only used as telephonic conversations but also have following features;

Text messages.
Email,
MMS,
Internet access,
WAP,
Short-range wire-less communications i.e. infrared, Bluetooth.
Business applications,
Gaming
Photography etc

In Pakistan following companies are providing their cell-phones.

Q mobiles.
Sony ericsson.

Mobile phones are used for different purposes like keeping in touch with family members, conducting business and sharing pictures, emailing, capturing a moment (camera), business purposes and even for banking purpose etc.

Mobile phones are also displayed as a high cultural context. People do display their social status.

In today’s era mobile phones are very common and are available on all prices (low prices to high prices).

GENDER / SEXUAL ORIENTATION:

By the term ‘gender / sexual orientation’ it means an enduring guide of attraction that can be emotional, romantic, dramatic or any combination of these.

This term mostly refers to a sense of any person of ‘personal and social identification based on those attractions mentioned in above lines and behaviours expressing all the above mentioned activities.

GENDER / SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN ADVERTISEMENT:

This has been always a burning issue for the critiques that should advertisement represents sexual / gender orientation in advertisement. Especially feminine sexual orientation in advertisements of products for males like bikes, motor cycles, after shave lotions and razors has been in a discussion of critiques, morning shows and even in psychology lectures.

How to gain attention to the advertisement of any specific product is always been a matter of critical attention for all marketers and to answer this query, marketers put their best efforts to present a certain stimuli to attract customers and gain their attention. These stimuli are influenced by three different categories.

The specific characteristic of product that enhance the message i.e. enhancing the perception of femininity or masculinity of the product.
Enhancing the characteristics of the individual that can affect and drag the attention to the product i.e. gender-role orientation.
Situational factors can also be used to enhance the message of product.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH:

This research work has been performed to seek the answer of following question;

Is sexual / gender orientation is necessary in the advertisement of cellular / mobile phones?
As cellular / mobile phones are used by both genders than does it is necessary to have a male model / female model to advertise the particular product.
One more point of discussion is can gender role orientation can enhance the message of particular cellular / mobile phone?
And more importantly I have studied the perception of general public about sexual orientation in advertisements of cellular / mobile phones. And this is the main question and main topic of my research.

So for this purpose I have put my best efforts to analyse and understand the impact of sexual orientation on the message of the advertisement of cellular/ mobile phones.

As the advertising has been the underlined topic for marketers since decades therefore this research work possesses high importance for the young marketers to learn more about advertising especially regarding sexual orientation in advertisements.

Furthermore this research work can be used as a helping aid by the students of advertising, marketing and media.

And last but not the least my research work will attract the students of consumer behaviour as well as I am studying the perception of consumers in this research.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

The research work is basically focusing on the perception of consumers about gender / sexual orientation in advertisement of cellular / mobile phones, therefore the problem statement of the research work is;

Studying and analyzing the impact of sexual orientation in the advertisements of cellular / mobile phones on the perception of consumers about the certain product.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

This research work carries detailed analysis of the perception of the consumers of cellular / mobile phones about the sexual orientation in the advertisement of cellular / mobile phones. For this purpose I have interviewed many consumers. As mobile phone is a commonly used product and now usually not restricted to specific age as now a day’s school going children are also have their personal cellular phone but I have interviewed individuals above the age of 20.

This research is totally bound to Pakistan i.e. I will only discuss the sexual orientation used in advertisement of cellular phones in Pakistan.

Although in chapter # 03 i.e. literature review I will surely bring some international studies in light about the topic of this research work.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:

The research study is performed with the aim of understanding and analysing the perception of consumers regarding the sexual orientation in the advertisements of mobile / cellular phones but due to following limitations study remains limited and superficial.

This is totally based on the responses I received from the consumers of mobile phones.
It is very time consuming as people having busy life style and most of them are not at all serious about my research work.
Time constraint is the main reason of studying and presenting the results on limited sample size for such a vast research
The findings are based on the responses of respondents and there is a possibility that respondents may not be able to understand the question.

RELATED LITERATURE:

To get genuine and factual results in the end of this research I have gone through different internet websites for understanding the core value of advertisements by studying different authors. For the concrete illustration of true image of sexual/ gender orientation in advertisement of cellular / mobile phones I have extracted very useful material from various websites as well as Facebook pages. Some international research studies have been also taken to consideration and reviewed to understand the efficiency of sexual / gender orientation in advertisements. The output of those research studies has been extracted in this chapter. Not only the research papers are taken into review but I have also represented extract of the expert opinions about the topic in this chapter.

DEFINITION OF CELLULAR/MOBILE PHONE:

Today’s mobile phone is not only used as telephonic conversations but also have following features;

Text messages.
Email,
MMS,
Internet access,
WAP,
Short-range wire-less communications i.e. infrared, Bluetooth.
Business applications,
Gaming
Photography etc

And not only these above mentioned features are provided by a single device known as cellular / mobile phone but now a day’s mobile phones are also offering general computing capabilities and those cellular phones are known as smart phones.

In Pakistan following companies are providing their cell-phones.

Q mobiles.
Sony Ericsson.
I phone
Blackberry

Mobile phones are also displayed as a high cultural context. People do display their social status by using high quality and high priced cellular / mobile phone

In today’s era mobile phones are very common and are available on all prices (low prices to high prices). (wordiq, 2010)

Cellular / mobile phone service is available in urban and rural areas and along major highways in general. As the cellular/ mobile phone user moves from one coverage area to another, the mobile phone is efficiently passed on to the local cell transmitter (wordiq, 2010).

BRAND PREFERENCES AND ADVERTISEMENT:

Customer / consumer learn about cellular / mobile phones from many different sources, these sources can be

A word of mouth, mostly from friends and families.
Through different advertisements, on print and electronic media and on billboards.
From their personal experience.

a promotion and advertising do have an ability to hurt or help a brand i.e. to make or to destroy brand. That is why the making of advertisement needs a lot of attention and concentration along with creative ideas. The significance of advertisement is still an under-researched topic but it has its huge importance for any brand. (Mela, Gupta & Lehman, 1997)

In the long-run, advertisements help brands by making consumer less price sensitive and more loyal. Exposure of an advertisement is very crucial to be effective in changing consumer knowledge, attitude, perception and behaviour. (Evan, Moutinho & Raaj, 1996)

Advertising can have a very strong impact on consumers’ perception. It can change the perception of the consumers in terms of product’s attributes, content and features. A good advertisement can also influence consumers to change their tastes about the certain product. It can increase the market value as well as enhance the rate of the purchase of a particular product / service. (Gwin & Gwin, 2003)

According to few researches conducted by some expertise it has been found that females pay more attention to the details of the character of an advertisement especially if the character in advertisement is some celebrity endorsing that particular product / service. (Hogg & Garrow, 2003)

According to the research study done by Biehal, Stephens and Curlo in the year 1992 no matter consumers like or dislike an advertisement it does not essentially lead to brand acceptance or rejection. So, even though consumers may like the advertisement that they see, it does not necessarily mean that they will go out and buy the brand advertised.

THE EFFECTS OF PROMOTIONS ON BRAND IMAGE:

Brands now a day’s have achieved great significance in society and have also become a strategic business asset for all those companies who want to compete in today’s competitive market as a high worth and attraction brand strength the company by providing them a competitive advantages.

Marketing researches have also suggested the brand image is a crucial and essential factor for brand equity, because as marketing practices have become more intricate base their purchase decision on global ideas and impressions of the company, the brand.

As a result, companies are increasingly investing more in creating a brand image and they need a theoretical base that systematises and defines the dimensions that significantly influence brand image and value. (Aaker, 1996)

Some researchers have discussed about the effects of promotions. According to them effects may depend on the promotion type or the product category. According to the researchers the product type has a reasonable role in the effects of promotional activities on its image in the consumers’ mind. The advertisement of some product groups can more effective than the same promotion with the other group. Some of the researchers verified that there are considerable and extensive distinctions between monetary and non-monetary advertisements. (Teresa Montaner, José-Miguel Pina, University Of Zaragoza, Spain, 2008)

BRAND PREFERRENCE AND PRODUCT ATTRIBUTE:

According to marketers attributes can be define as features and characteristic of a product / service, these features could be intrinsic and extrinsic characteristic of a brand. Customers do look for a product/ service that would be a complete solution of their problem or to fulfil their needs or requirements. (Mowen & Minor, 1998). In one research study, experts tried to seek out the answer of a question i.e. why a customer selects a product based upon its attributes? And understanding this phenomenon, experts understand consumer preferences and consumer behaviour towards their buying behaviour as well as getting influenced by different kinds of promotional activities. (Gwin & Gwin, 2003). The Lancaster model of consumer demand also known as the product features and characteristics model or product attribute model is used for the measurement of brand success and also used to evaluate positioning of the brand.

This model presumes that consumers’ choice on the characteristic / attributes / features of a brand. Each product is a combination of different features / characteristics and the selection of certain brand is based on how it fulfils the utility / satisfaction as maximum level in the consumers’ limited and fixed budget.

But it doesn’t mean that this model does not have any limitations. It has two limitations which are written as follows.

This model is static.
This model does not explain how the consumer preference is formed on the base of products’ features.

The research study also didn’t mentioned or display a clearer picture about the role of consumers past experience with a particular product on consumer buying behaviour and their preferences. (Mela, Gupta & Lehman, 1997)

DEFINING GENDER/ SEXUAL ORIENTATION:

By the term ‘gender / sexual orientation’ it means an lasting conduct of attraction that can be emotional, romantic, dramatic or any combination of these.

This term mostly refers to logic of any person of ‘personal and social identification based on those attractions mentioned in above lines and behaviours communicating all the above mentioned activities. It may also be taken as a gender identity i.e. a social type is activated to promote certain product/ service. (Ademola, 2009)

Certain critics group has been taken it negatively as according to them the display of gender orientation is not necessary for the promotion. These critics has mostly pointed that advertisements of cigarettes, after shave lotions, razors etc i.e. a masculine product does not need any female model to endorse it.

GENDER / SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN ADVERTISEMENTS:

This has been always a very critical and crucial issue for the critiques that should advertisement represents sexual / gender orientation in advertisement as I mentioned above. Especially feminine sexual orientation in advertisements of products for males like bikes, motor cycles, after shave lotions and razors has been in a discussion of critiques, morning shows and even in psychology lectures understanding human behaviour.

According to psychologists, female models in the advertisement of products totally designed for males like razors and after shave lotions etc is simply to attract and gain attention of male customers and celebrities in the advertisement help the marketers to gain attention of female especially housewives. Even if a product is endorsed by any morning show gets huge attention of the viewers of that particular morning show.

How to seek attention of the target audience to the advertisement of any particular product / service is always been a matter of critical attention for all marketers and to answer this query, marketers put their best efforts to present a certain stimuli to attract customers and gain their attention. These stimuli are influenced by three different categories.

The specific characteristic of product that enhance the message i.e. enhancing the perception of femininity or masculinity of the product.
Enhancing the characteristics of the individual that can affect and drag the attention to the product i.e. gender-role orientation.
Situational factors can also be used to enhance the message of product.

In the advertisement on electronic media i.e. television gender stereotyping is likely a strongest mode of promotion as the target audience is normally of huge amount either male or female, popular in all ages and also have a tendency to capture attention rapidly. According to few researches this trend has been reduced in the recent years but the pattern has been remained and followed by the advertisers and marketers.

According to research study men in advertisement are represented and depicted as more independent and self governing roles. Men are shown in occupations more than women. Whereas women in advertisement are represented and depicted mainly as a housewives in fact as a home maker mostly like busy mothers. (Ademola, 2009)

Men are more depicted to be shown in outdoor environment or in a business setting / office setting whereas females are shown in more domestic settings like buying groceries, in kitchen, serving food to family and many more like these. Males are more often shown as the authorities in office whereas females are shown as the authorities at home i.e. making decision what is best for her family etc.

But now as the trend is changing females are also shown in job settings like nursing, doctors, teaching and as a student. (Ademola, 2009)

According to the researches gender roles have gone through different changes in recent years, but still the individual differences cannot be ignored and differences in people perception of the behaviour is the also main factor that should remain in minds of all marketers. Society does have some perception and behaviour model which is according to the culture and religion where various groups defines masculinity and femininity differently according to the age, social class, ethnicity, sexuality and gender-roles.

So this mean there is no single masculinity and femininity but multiple masculinities and multiple femininities. Not all men are alike which means not all can act like a leader, not all men are aggressive, not all men are worriers, not all men are independent, not all men are risk-taker and list goes on and on. And same case is with the females; not all women are affectionate, loving, not all women are emotional, not all women are dependent, not all women are gentle, not all women are nurturing, and not all women are sympathetic. Qualities vary from person to person. Individuality remains a high importance in all domains. (Ademola, 2009)

SEXUAL / GENDER ORIENTATION IN CELLULAR ADVERTISEMENTS:

Cellular / mobile phone is a unisex product i.e. it is not remained to single gender i.e. it can be used by either male or female.

Both genders require cellular / mobile phone for different purposes like business conversations, family chats, to convey messages, sharing pictures and other files etc.

In Pakistan Nokia, Samsung, Motorola has grabbed a good remarkable market share and as these companies haven’t introduced any new series of their cellular phones that is why they are not having any advertisements on television. Whereas Q mobiles a new player in cellular / mobile market is advertising on televisions.

According to the marketers companies who have successful brands under their umbrella, does not advertise on televisions continuously and when they advertise they just remind consumers about their brand etc.

Whereas, the new entrants in mobile / cellular industry do utilize this medium i.e. advertisement via television, to spread awareness about their brands. Through advertisements they convey the detail about their mobiles’ features and prices etc that is why they advertise on television. (Allan Mathew, 2009)

By reading this research I understood why Samsung has not utilized this medium i.e. advertisement via television for its ‘Samsung Galaxy’ as it does not requires it, people are already well aware of its quality and one ad in newspaper and via bill-board was sufficient to inform their consumers as well as customers that they are back with the new model.

On the other hand a Q mobile is advertising their every model via television. They are offering all kinds of cell phones from low prices to high prices, from cellular / mobile phones offering simple cellular functions to smart phones.

In the next chapter of ‘findings and analysis’ I have surveyed about the advertisements of ‘Q mobile’ and gathered a data and analysed it.