ISSN: 1550-7521
ISSN: 1550-7521
Dr. Kulveen Trehan1*, Daisy Bhardwaj2
Global communication and technology India
Citation: Trehan K, Bhardwaj D (2023) Does Femvertising create Emotional and Behavioural Connect with Indian Youth? A Response Study w.r.t. High/ Low Cause Fit Brands. Global Media Journal, 21:64.
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Brand advertising is encoding women issues in its messages, breaking away from gendered tropes to create women centric ads now. Concurrent trend to show/tell stories of women and from her point of view indicates a shift towardsfemvertising, more so in the personal care products. This study explores femvertising and brand cause-fitstrategy by analysing the data collected fromtwo targetsegments of youth in India. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted, wherein two groups of Generation Z and Millennial consumers were exposed to three test adsfollowed by a structured questionnaire on the basis of the Tri-component model of attitude. Findings suggest tha urban youth’s ideology, stance, gender literacy is directly related to their response to femvertisements. Further, it was found that a positive influence of high cause-fit brand might result in a positive purchase decision as well as low cause-fit brand strategy isn’t deemed to have negative influence on people. Therefore, it can be recommended to the people in the concerned industry and agencies to take up femvertising advertisements and handle the issues with sensitivity and care which definitely helps creating awareness about the brand and softens the consumer’s attitude towards the same and if it is high cause-fit, might also result in product purchase. It is simply important for brands to align with the issues they are taking up and not become indifferent towards the same issue post the release of such an ad, as people already have a perception that these brands are incorporating femvertising advertisements in order be in vogue and create enough buzz around their brand, it becomes for the brand to portray any message in a way to make the consumers believe in what they’re projecting themselves to be
Femvertising; Women-Centric Advertisements; Attitude; Perception; Purchase Behaviour; Brand Cause-Fit Strategy
In the commercial break, A 20-year-old Sarika (name changed) was irked by her 25-year-old brother’s smug reaction to VoltasBeko’s dishwashers’ advertisement #TestedByMoms clearly gendering kitchen work as a women’s job. Wait, quick to follow was the PregaNews advertisement #SheIsCompleteInHerself centred around breaking the infertility trope provides strength to Sarika as she had seen her elder sister taunted by her in-laws on the same issue. This duality of ‘women in advertising’ where ads on one hand continue to perpetuate gender stereotypes, yet on the other, reframe women issues and feature women as equal, and/ or in empowering ways opens up space for understanding the influence of the latter on audiences [1].
In the last one decade, as voices for gender equality grew louder, criticisms against portrayals of women in advertising gained ground. Advertising Standard Council of India in its recent study prescribed guidebook to enable the brands to be gender sensitive, drawing our attention to a specific term called Femvertising, coined by women’s lifestyle and digital media company, She Knows Media at the time of Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign launch in 2004. Elisa Becker-Herby’s (2016) defines it as “advertising that seeks to empower women” and “it is changing the way that marketers and advertisers reach female consumers.”. Femvertising can be described as women empowering advertisements or advertisements which convey a pro-feminist stance, strong, unconventional images of women and breaking the stereotypes or by raising gender issues in society. “Many femvertising ads have been setting new records by winning awards and accolades for their creative and empowering depiction of women.” [2 ] Brands are redressing the problematic aspects of women objectification to empowerment for in their communication. Some of the femvertising campaigns are part of moment marketing often released during women’s day while other concerted efforts to re-approach ‘women who form their primary target segment across the geodemographic. Drawing from the feminism scholarship detailing the fundamental struggle between women and the world for an equal status for the former substantially began with Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of Rights of Women in 1792, Since then, the society globally has witnessed three significant waves dealing with different stages for the empowerment of women and helping them acquire what they deserve, i.e., equal rights and status while the fourth wave is said to be an on-going one. Femvertising is considered to be a new weapon for the advancement of this social issue and has become a rising trend in the market. That brands need to progress towards active engagement with issues that dominate public life has been a vociferous call increasing the clamour for brand activism. Kotler and Sarkar, in “Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action” define it as “an attempt by firms to solve the global problems which its future customers and employees care about which is expressed through the vision, values, goals, communication, and behaviour of the businesses and brands towards the communities they serve.” In advertising, brand activism is when brands try to pick up trending social, political, or cultural, legal issues sub classified as legal activism, business activism, economic activism, political activism, environmental activism and social activism (p. 30) in the message strategy and execution. Femvertising is a form of social activism where a desirable change in the society is aimed at with the help of demonstrations, online or offline, petitions, debates, or discussions gender equality, discrimination, taboos, stereotypes and women’s rights, showing the stereotypes, sexism, racism or any other political or social stance related to women. It often helps the brands to stand out in the public eye and therefore, help in the promotion of their products.
Ella Howard, a historian, claims that movements like secondwave feminism influenced marketers' attitudes toward female customers and attracted advertisers. Contrastingly, progressive brand activism actually tries to bring forth some kind of societal change that is deliberately needed. A recent ad campaign by Kotex intends to bring change in social perception of people who think women when on period act crazy, bossy or irrational and women themselves by blaming it all on their period often invalidate their emotions and opinions. Although both the campaigns promote women equality but the latter promotes a positive face of the social cause [3-5 ].
Profitability of fem advertising for advertisers is being established in terms of purchase and co-alignment of policy goals [6]. Eyada (2020) in “Brand Activism: The Relation and Impact on Consumer Perception: A Case Study on Nike Advertising”, recommended to strengthen activism advertising which can provide policymakers, marketers and advertising creators with keen strategies that can have a strong positive impact on brand images and purchase decisions.
One of the salient features of The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women in 2001 “Media will be used to portray images consistent with human dignity of girls and women. The Policy will specifically strive to remove demeaning, degrading and negative conventional stereotypical images of women and violence against women. Private sector partners and media networks will be involved at all levels to ensure equal access for women particularly in information and communication technologies. The media would be encouraged to develop codes of conduct, professional guidelines and other self-regulatory mechanisms to remove gender stereotypes and promote balanced portrayals of women and men.” Hence, persuading the corporate sectors to take up the issue of femvertising as CRM or CRS programme as both the programmes have been for long serving the arena of subjects like education and environment. In “Digital India as if women matter: A policy discussion paper”, Gurumurthy and Chami (2018) discuss how digital India can advance up their programme for the development of women. This gave the marketers an opportunity to use the gendered lens. Certain brands like Proctor & Gamble’s Whisper in #KeepGirlsInSchool partnered with UNESCO, a classic case of high brand-cause fit, other product segments too are using fem verts, even if their brand is low cause fit [7-10 ].
Besides brand image and social responsibility, studies show that the femvertising does have an effect on the purchasing behaviour of the consumer as well. Marketers should employ creativity in their efforts to build CRM campaigns by looking for a common thread that connects their company or brand to the cause being pushed [10 ]. Hence, we must know if consumers have a more positive take towards high-fit cause brand advertisements than a low-fit cause brand advertisements or is it just the social message being conveyed that is counted irrespective of the brand being high-fit or low-fit.
High/Low brand-cause fit can play a key role in creation of femvertisements. A fit between the cause the brand’s related activities, and eventually the consumer’s willingness to get involved into the campaign is critical to the propagation of the message. The concept of brand-cause fit, or how a brand and a social issue 'complement' conceptually, has piqued people's curiosity and therefore, has been increasingly used in causerelated marketing campaigns and advertisements. Simmons and Becker-Olsen (2006) argue that “sponsorships with a high fit between the sponsoring firm and the sponsored cause, because of compatibility is likely to increase brand equity, but sponsorships with a low fit can detract from it.” While high fit brands base their femvertising campaigns on certain selected themes which basically propagate the message that using their ‘feminine’ brands will help women to feel better about them and get over their insecurities. Although the target audience for the low fit brands are not just women but their advertisement campaigns have found to have a better influence [7-9]. Consumer attitude is known to be boosted by high levels of perceived brand-cause fit contradicting Hoeffler and Keller’s (2002) contention that choosing a cause that is at odds with the brand has advantages. High-fit brands, for example, may be perceived as self-centred and lacking in individuality since they only care about themselves and their own interests. By tackling a subject that isn't immediately related to their products, a low fit brand may be perceived as knowledgeable or well-rounded. Therefore, the cause-fit related campaigns being undertaken by several brands have to be viewed and understood individually.
Studies worldwide on femvertising and consumer’s purchase intention provided us with themes of message development and effectiveness especially targeted at female consumers. Elisa Becker Herby in her 2016 study named, “The Rise of Femvertising: Authentically reaching female customers concluded that in femvertising, brands need to frame female leadership and employee benefits more. Amidst brands nowadays incorporating women centric issues into their campaigns, concerns regarding woke washing too have been documented [11]. Scholars argue that any brand following brand activism can be considered to be authentic only when their message aligns with the brand’s already set cause.
Third-party certification and public-private partnerships further provide the brands with the needed boost in their evaluation from the consumers. Scholars in other part of the world found that femvertising is directly related with brand cause fit. Rachel Benner (2018) in her study lends credence to brand activism research with an emphasis on along with ‘doing good’, the brands ought to ‘be good’ as well. Bassant Eyada (2020) brought out that consumers are now active participants and they believe brand needs to align themselves with messages which are suitable for them. Thus, “their ethical responsibility” needs to be proven “by linking themselves to social causes, follow the concept of cause marketing and activism, in relevance to the company’s mission, vision and values.” In an impact study of brand activism on consumers’ perception of the brand image, profit margins and the cause supported by them of the Nike’s campaign. In the Indian context, Kumar (2020) corroborates with similar findings that in a survey suggest consumers want brands, especially the eminent ones, to support socio-political issues for more than corporate profits and such brands were found to have garnered more loyalty from their consumers.
Of great interest to advertising scholarship in India is the effect of femvertising on purchase intention. Drake (2017) in his study presented that millennials are more connected to that female empowering advertisements do have more emotional value and form a connect with the audience in comparison to a traditional non-empowering advertisement resulting in positive correlation between femvertising and purchase intention. A direct positive correlation between femvertising and high purchase intention and positive self-referencing was seen in India as well [12-14]. However, Kapoor & Munjal (2019) in another survey on women’s attitudes towards such ads found that feelings of consumers do influence attitudes towards femvertising; however no influence on purchase intention towards the brands’ products was observed.
As research on femvertising gained volume, the quest for appropriate theoretical frameworks to examine its content and influence grew. In a study by S. Pillay (2020) tri component model was used to analyse the consumer attitude and perception towards femvertising by beauty brands. Within this, it was also being studied to compare its relevance and resonance amongst consumers in high and low brand cause fit . Champlin et al (2019) identified that high-fit brands have five key messaging themes (overt femininity, fixing the self, being a girl is a struggle, actors on set, and let's talk about it), while low-fit brands have four key messaging themes (low femininity, breaking stereotypes, reminders that women and men do the same activities, and getting men on board), in their women centric advertising messages.
A few studies tried to explore the influence on consumers of brands w.r.t. femvertising campaigns in India, more audience response research through specifically designed creative women centric advertisements based on identified themes of high and low brand cause fit is required as femvertising finds resonance with the new age Indian consumer.
1. To know the effect of demographic and psychographic variables (age, attitude and beliefs on urban young Indians perception of femvertising in apparel category
2. To find out which brand-cause fit strategy w.r.t femvertising develops a more positive attitude of the consumers towards the brand amongst the millennials and Gen Z
3. To gain insight into the inter-relationship between predominant use of emotional appeals around women issues and purchase intention of the target audience.
Based on the literature reviewed, pilot study undertaken and our objectives, following hypotheses were formulated:
H1: There is no gender difference amongst the millennials and Gen Z in their favourable perception of femvertising.
H2: High-Cause fit brands have a positive influence on people and consequently, on their purchase intention.
H3: There exists an inverse relationship between high emotional appeal and positive purchase after exposure to femadvertisement.
cognitive, affective and conative. Component wise, awareness/ information/knowledge about women’s issues/women’s role in society during ad exposure will be the cognitive aspect of the model [15]. How emotions come into play post watching a femvert campaign would be the affective element of the model, followed by emotions shaping a person’s behaviour towards the brand and its services as the conative element of the model.
It was a quasi-experimental design with a purposive sample of subjects selected through a pre-testing poll. A poll was conducted to select the respondents who have seen/ or are familiar with femvertising. The sample of respondents was from drawn from millennials and Gen Z as these two cohorts are strongly inclined towards social change and accountability as reported in the Delloite Global Survey 2021. Out of 130 subjects, 90 participants volunteered for the study. They were divided equally; Group A- Millennial and Group B- Gen Z, with each group having 45 participants each.
Three mock print ads were designed for a high cause fit brand (mock brand: Lakme) high and low cause fit brand (mock brand: Tata Motors) that embodied themes of femvertising prescribed by Chaplin, 2019. The three test ads were made incorporating the concept of femvertising, one being high brand-cause fit (Fig. 1) and the other being low-brand cause fit (Fig 2). Three themes incorporated in high brand cause-fit- were: fixing the self, being a girl is a hardship and let’s talks about it and 2/4 key themes included for low cause-fit brand were: breaking stereotypes and getting men on board. The two women centric ads dealt with domestic violence, widely reported at the time of pandemic in India. One non-fem advertisement test ad based on rational appeal was created to convey information about the product (Figures 1-4).
Figure 1: Test Ad 1(High Cause-fit Brand Ad).
Figure 2: Test Ad 2 (High Cause-fit brand Ad).
Figure 3: Test Ad 3 (Low Cause-fit Brand).
Figure 4: Test Ad 4 (Informative/Rationale Ad).
Respondents in Group A comprised of millennials in the age group questions regarding femvertising, brand cause-fit and ad appeals which lead to positive purchase intention whereas Group B participants were exposed to test ads for the brands Lakme and Tata Motors fulfilling the criteria for both high cause-fit and low cause-fit femvertising static advertisement. Both groups were briefed about the whole process, maintaining a complete anonymity of these participants in this research study. Although email ids were collected during the process, no identifiable data has been used in the study. “To maintain confidentiality and anonymity, all participants were referred to with numbers, for example, Participant 1, Participant 2 and so on.” [16]
Data was collected with a help of a structured questionnaire. Participants in Group A & Group B were invited via online videoconferencing platform Google meet. Link to questionnaire on a Likert scale was shared after exposure to test ads at a timed interval of five minutes each through emails as well on their personalised closed messaging apps id. The data collected was submitted to SPSS for descriptive analysis and interpretation.
Group A (n=45) consumers were within the age bracket of 26- 41, thus fulfilling the criteria of the group being millennial and in Group B (n=45) participants from within the age bracket of 10-25 years as per the criteria for the group participants to be Gen Z.
The average time spent on advertising is 3-7 hours by the sampled respondents with majority of people (97.3%) being aware of Lakme and Tata motors (whose test ads with elements of femvertising were shown) as high and low cause fit brands respectively. Comparatively, the respondents preferred femvert ads (Test ad 1& 2 that showed fixing the self, being a girl is a hardship and let’s talk about it as elements ) and Test ad 3 (getting men on board) over mere informative brand advertising. Test ad 1, 2 &3were received favourably than Test ad 4 which did not have femvertising as message strategy.
The data reported higher levels of mean for attitude towards feminist advertisement and low standard deviation for both group A & group B respectively (Group A: [awareness], M= 4.57 SD=.75; M=4.37 [interesting], Group B: [awareness] SD=.86 & M=4.4 and SD=.867; M=4.6, SD=.91[interesting] which makes the sample close to the normal distribution. Both the groups found femvertising ads as ‘attention grabbing’ attention grabbing [M=4.7, SD=.57 & M=4.02, SD=1.25]
Femvertising was perceived as an effective message strategy in consumer decision making porcess. Both, Liking and Preference reported positive influence on the consumers. Both group A and group B samples reported liking and preference for femvertising as a message strategy. Higher mean value and low SD was found for Group A [empowering: M=4.1, Sd=.79]; [social relevance: M=4.7, SD=.52]
With regards to purchase intention, difference between group A and group B was reported. Higher mean value for group A indicates normal distribution (Mean=3.2) while group B reported lower mean value (Mean=1.5).
For analysis, Paired Samples T-Test was performed. As far as immediate influence of the message strategy is concerned, no significant difference was found in the group A (which was not exposed to test ads ) and group B ( exposed to test ads ) hence H1 is gained (Tables 1,2).
| Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
| Pair 1 | High cause-fit brand has a positive influence on me (Group A) | 3.8667 | 45 | 1.07872 | 0.16081 |
| High cause-fit brand has a positive influence on me post exposure to test ads (Group B) | 3.8889 | 45 | 1.07073 | 0.15962 | |
Table 1. Paired Samples Statistics.
| Paired Samples Test | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paired Differences | t | df | Sig. (2-tailed) | ||||||
| Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference | ||||||
| Lower | Upper | ||||||||
| Pair 1 | High cause-fit brand has a positive influence on me (Group A) – High cause-fit brand has a positive influence on me post exposure to test ads (Group B) | -0.02222 | 1.42205 | 0.21199 | -0.44945 | 0.40501 | -0.105 | 44 | 0.917 |
Table 2. Paired Samples Test.
The test shows a difference of -.022 between the means of both the groups in their opinion about high cause-fit brand having a positive influence, there’s no significant difference post exposure to test ads in Group B’s results with the value of t being 105.
b) To see if there is a relationship between exposure to femvertisements and purchase behaviour, Paired Comparison t-test results show that there is difference of 200 between the means of both the groups in their opinion about high cause-fit brand having resulting into positive purchase decision, there’s no significant difference post exposure to test ads in Group B’s results with the value of t being .451 (Table 3-6).
| Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
| Pair 1 | High cause-fit brand ads make me want to buy/use their product (Group A) | 3.2 | 45 | 1.30732 | 0.19488 |
| High cause-fit brands make me want to buy/use their product post exposure to Test Ads (Group B) | 3.4 | 45 | 1.13618 | 0.16937 | |
Table 3. Relationship between exposure to femvertisements and purchase behaviour.
| Paired Samples Statistics | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paired Differences | t | df | Sig. (2-tailed) | ||||||
| Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference | ||||||
| Lower | Upper | ||||||||
| Pair 1 | High cause-fit brand ads make me want to use/buy their products (Group A) - High cause-fit brand ads make me want to use/buy their products post exposure to Test Ads (Group B) | -0.2 | 1.76584 | 0.26324 | -0.73052 | 0.33052 | -0.76 | 44 | 0.451 |
Table 4. Significant difference post exposure to test ads in Group B’s Result.
| Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
| Pair 1 | Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence (Group A) | 2.3333 | 45 | 1.02247 | 0.15242 |
| Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence post exposure to test ads (Group B) | 2.7778 | 45 | 1.27723 | 0.1904 | |
Table 5. Paired Samples Statistics (ads have a negative or no influence).
| Paired Samples Test | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paired Differences | t | df | Sig. (2-tailed) | ||||||
| Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference | ||||||
| Lower | Upper | ||||||||
| Pair 1 | Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence (Group A)- Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence post exposure to test ads (Group B) | -0.44444 | 1.67272 | 0.24935 | -0.94698 | 0.0581 | -1.782 | 44 | 0.082 |
Table 6. Paired Samples Test Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence.
The test shows a difference of -.44 between the means of both the groups in their opinion about low cause-fit brand ads having negative or no influence, there’s no significant difference post exposure to test ads in Group B’s results with the value of t being -1.782, although the value of p is 0.082 which is closer to the considered value of 0.05 (Table 7, 8).
| Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
| Pair 1 | Informative ad or emotional ad, influences my purchase decision (Group A) | 3.9111 | 45 | 1.16428 | 0.17356 |
| Informative ad or emotional ad influences my purchase decision post exposure to test ads (Group B) | 3.8222 | 45 | 1.05073 | 0.15663 | |
Table 7. Informative ad or emotional ad, influences my purchase decision Result.
| Paired Samples Test | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paired Differences | t | df | Sig. (2-tailed) | ||||||
| Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference | ||||||
| Lower | Upper | ||||||||
| Pair 1 | Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence (Group A)- Low cause-fit brand ads have a negative or no influence post exposure to test ads (Group B) | -0.44444 | 1.67272 | 0.24935 | -0.94698 | 0.0581 | -1.782 | 44 | 0.082 |
Table 8. Samples Statistics (exposure to test ads-Group B).
We found that the value of purchase decision variable to ad’s positive influence is 3.981, sig 0.00 (sig le 0.05) which indicates that there exists a positive relation between the two variables and the coefficient can be used as a predictor for the variable. (Group A) The value of purchase decision variable to ad’s positive influence is 6.272, sig 0.00 (sig le 0.05) which indicates that there exists a positive relation between the two variables and the coefficient can be used as a predictor for the variable. (Group B)
Hence, H2 is tested and accepted (Table 9).
| Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
| Pair 1 | Informative ad or emotional ad, influences my purchase decision (Group A) | 3.9111 | 45 | 1.16428 | 0.17356 |
| Informative ad or emotional ad influences my purchase decision post exposure to test ads (Group B) | 3.8222 | 45 | 1.05073 | 0.15663 | |
Table 9. Paired Samples Statistics.
The value of the chosen tata ad by audience variable to informative vs emotional ad for purchase decision is 3.104, sig 0.03 (sig le 0.05) which indicates that there exists a positive relation between the two variables and the coefficient can be used as a predictor for the variable. (Group B)
With respect to the Tri-Component Model Framework, emotional dimension is more prioritised by the participants in both Groups A as compared to group B that connects more with cognitive dimensions of a brand communication.
RO1: To know the cause-and-effect relationship of age, attitude, opinion and beliefs on response to femvertising.
In both the groups , irrespective of gender , consumers had a positive attitude towards . With reference to the tables 7 and 8, the researcher has proved that both the population spends at least 3-7 hours on web and remain aware about their respective surroundings as quoted before to justify the population undertaken. It was discovered that such audience found femvertising advertisements to be more interesting making a better and more successful statement than the traditional form of advertisement (refer to table 19 & 20 ).
H1: Millennial and Generation Z, irrespective of their gender, with a feminist ideology are more attracted to femvertising advertisement is tested and supported by Pearson’s correlation values of both Group and B, along with the Feminist and Gender Cross Tabulation with different opinions on fem ad.
The phenomenon of femvertising, as per the audiences’ response, releases a better and more interesting and positive influence on people. This can be further confirmed with the respondents’ choice of Test Ad 1 and 2, followed by test ad 3, to have successfully made a statement and impact on them. All the three concerned ads were fem static ads. Another variable which further confirmed of the H1 is that respondents from both the group by and large strongly agreed that such femvertising ads is significant in putting forth social issues but also grabs everyone’s attention equally, irrespective of their age and gender.
Another thing that came into notice was that not only the respondents find fem ads to be empowering to an extent but also think that more and more brands should take up femvertising which is siginificantly a different response from the pilot study where although the brand equity had gotten better but respondents weren’t really fond of the idea of brands taking up fem issues for their own benefits.
RO2: To analyse which brand-cause fit strategy helps to develop a more positive attitude of the consumers towards the brand.
It was observed that the participants whole-heartedly agreed that the high cause-fit brands ads have a positive influence on them and also push them towards a positive purchase decision; however, this variable saw a change post exposure to test ads to Group B. While the researcher observed Group A’s respondents to have a positive influence of the brand due to high cause-fit brand ad but did not see a positive response to the purchase decision following it. This consequently changed with Group B’s exposure to test ads who stated while high cause-fit brand ads might help them to accentuate to have a positive influence towards the brand but also might result in a positive purchase decision. It was also noticed that
H2: High cause-fit brands have a positive influence on the customer about the brand and leads to positive purchase decision is tested and supported by linear regression of multiple regression analysis.
There has been found a significant relation between the two variables through multiple regression analysis- linear regression testing as already mentioned above in Data findings and analysis.
The cross tabs and frequency data and its’ inferences further confirm the same.
Some of the comments by the respondents which further help us to understand their mind set while choosing Test Ad 1 & 2 to have made a successful statement and also received majority of positive responses for encouraging to use their brand;
-“Strongly explains the need to raise voice against the ill deeds rather than concealing them.”
-“The brand ad brings out the message in a strong way and adds to the social cause.”
-“Felt more relatable.”
-“Domestic violence is a serious crime that is very often concealed by people. When brands that Target women talk about such issues they have a larger chance of reaching audiences that might be going through something similar and encourage them to not be silent victims but be survivors.”
-“Femvertising has the tendency to often be forced (trying too hard to be relatable) into the campaign, but this seems a little more genuine. Feminism isn't an advertising tactic, it is based on real issues, and there is a need to recognise it as such, which ads often overlook.”
However, the sample paired t-test shows that there isn’t significant difference between the pre-test and post test results for the same as the p-value remained more than 0.05 for both the variables. Hence, it has become clear that high-cause brand strategy is indeed a positive one to follow for the brands.
However, since some time now, the audience has started noticing the cause that the brand is standing for instead of particularly picking up a certain brand. The same was tried to observe when the respondents were asked if a low-cause brand ad would affect them negatively or wouldn’t influence at all; the respondents were rather against the statement, rather strongly responded in favour of all brands taking up femvertising. However, at the same point of time, it was also noticed that certain people would prefer if a brand catering to women issues would stick to femvertising rather than every brand taking it up. Let’s take a look on a few comments about the respondents’ notion on the same:
-“All brands irrespective of their target audience should focus on social issues like this.”
-“No, i do not think that only women-catering brands should do targeted ads. All brands should do so, irrespective of any audience. However, it is also important to note that these ads should not be marketing gimmick and should be advertised without any strings attached. People may not be motivated to buy the products after seeing such ads but the effect they can have should also not be underestimated.”
Hence, it has become clear and confirmed that audience would like more brands to take up such issues, provided the ad is inclusive of the message tended to and should be delivered with sensitivity.
RO3: To inquire the inter-relationship between pre-dominant use of appeals (Informative or Emotional) on purchase intention of the target audience.
It was observed in the pilot study that although emotional appealing ads soften the attitude of the consumer towards a certain brand, it doesn’t always convert into a positive purchase decision but while collecting and interpreting the data for the current research, the researcher observed a high-cause brand ad might consequently result into a positive purchase decision as well. However, when the respondents were given a choice between an emotional and a radical Test Ad, they chose later, reason being;
-“For automobile brands I would want to look at the specs of the product.”
-“Test ad 4 is more descriptive of the product than the other one.”
-“Relevant information to the product. As a standalone PSA or advocacy the 3rd ad is good but if it has to influence my buying decision then it needs to give me relevant info regarding product not a social cause.”
-“If I want to buy a car, then I would need it’s details and textures but the 3rd makes TATA’s stand and belief clear, not their products.”
It has to be noted here that the difference between the choice has 60-40, the latter being the emotional ad did receive some important comments;
“Shows that the brand supports causes which need our attention which tells me that the brand has a strong social conscious.”
“Feel that the brand is more reliable.”
“The message given has better influence on my mind about the brand.”
Hence, although more than the average of the group has chosen an informative ad to be more influential, emotionally appealing ads build up the brand reputation which in the long run helps in sales of their product.
H3: There exists an inverse relationship between high emotional appeal and positive purchase after exposure to advertisement has been tested and approved with the support of two variables; informative vs. emotional ad data and further to confirm the Tata test ads which has influenced the purchase decision. With a correlation test and linear regression though multiple regression test, it has become clear that the variables are positively connected. The data of these two variables further confirm the hypothetical statement that there exists an inverse relationship between high emotional appeal and positive purchase [17-20].
Feminism and gender issues, in the recent years, have been able to grapple the attention of many at a global level. There has been no going back since it’s the concept came into being as feminists all around the world have tried out various mediums to carry out their struggle against the set gender norms and the patriarchal mind-set. Femvertising is a weapon of the 21st century feminists and brand managers, trying to create awareness about several different gender issues and their products/services respectively.
A topic of never-ending debate and deliberation in the media, women-empowering advertisements and their effects on society along with the role high cause-fit brands strategies and low cause-fit brand strategies play in reality in a diverse country like India, has been tried to uncover in the undertaken research study. The current study has tried to comprehend if people who understand the term ‘femvertising’ term themselves as feminists and further extend a supporting hand to the phenomena or not. The researcher has also tried to understand if age or gender affects the choices of the people regarding femvertising or being a feminist essentially. We’ve tried to gage some answers which tells us if it helps the brand equity and purchase intention of the consumers. With a quasi-experimental design being undertaken, one of the group was explained the term of brand causefit strategy but not shown any kind of visual stimuli, and then another group was exposed to static visual stimuli to understand the brand strategies employed.
While it was observed that the ideological inclination to feminism has nothing to do with age and gender as both the groups, Millennial and Gen Z recognised to be feminists who have an inclination towards femvertising and its benefits, to the society and the brand as they believed that such ads are not just empowering, putting forth significant social issues while grabbing everyone’s attention equally but also help in building a better brand equity of the brand if the latter aligns itself with such a social cause which needs the society’s attention at all costs. Another fact that came up is that high cause-fit strategy for a brand proves successful in influencing the audience positively which eventually also results in positive purchase decision but an assumption that proved to be wrong was that low cause-fit brand strategy might hurt the brand in a negative way or has no influence on the audience. The audience has come to count the thought behind the ad promoted by the brand and scrutinize these in the current times, and hence, the messages have to be delivered in a relatable and sensitive manner with more and more of the audience expecting brands to be socially conscious and take up these issues. Something that had been discovered by the researcher in the pilot study was the inverse relationship between highly emotional appealing ads and purchase decision which has been tested to be true as people do prefer informative ad of a brand over an emotional ad, especially if it comes to automobile or gadget industry which has a lot at stake. Thus, through the study and the consequent analysis, it becomes clear that fem ads help to better the brand position in the eyes of the consumers and any both cause-fit strategies can be employed as long as a relatable cause is included. Furthermore, it was established that femvertising adverts help in bringing forth issues which need to be in the public eye for them to revolutionize. It has been observed that fem ads has been successful in making strong and bold statements and are stated to be more interesting, bringing an authentic change in the representation of women and consequently making some kind of change in the society. In a traditionally and culturally rich environment, many gender issues are either considered to be a taboo or not fit enough to be discussed openly but femvertising helps in propagating such issues which might help in creating a ‘better tomorrow for women’ of our society. Consumers have agreed that these ads have definitely opened portals for discussion which is the very first step towards any change and that is the prominent reason as why the audience agreed so strongly for all brands to take up such issues while not making it a marketing gimmick. However, marketers and brand managers have to be careful while putting forth sensitive topics as any wrong representation will do more harm than good.
Hence, it can be concluded that ideology plays a strong role in forming opinions about the rising number of femvertising might help and act as a catalyst for any change, irrespective of anybody’s age or gender. High cause-fit strategy can lead to positive purchase decision but at the same time it is not necessarily true that low cause-fit have a negative effect. However, it is to be noted that emotional appealing ads do not automatically lead to positive purchase decision.
This research on femvertising advertisement campaigns put a spotlight on SDG-5 which need our attention currently and definitely hep in forming a better brand reputation if the ad is created with gender equality themes. Findings suggest that customers are counting the thought behind each and every advertisement and thus sustainable branding needs to align itself with SDGs of which gender equality is potentially most visible. Therefore, even a low cause-fit brand ad will do create a positive liking and preference similar to a high cause-fit brand with femvertising as the dominant message strategy. With high cause-fit strategy, there’s a consequence of a potential positive purchase decision. Therefore, this research might help the brand managers, agencies, advertisers to get an idea that these fem ads might attract the audience to get to know their brands and create awareness about the same. Also, emotional ads might not convert into positive purchase decision/intention immediately but helps in the long run of brand reputation building which furthers into brand recognition, loyalty and sales at a later stage. So if emotional advertisements could be integrated with information and rationale reasoning of why the audience should choose the brand and its product, then both attitude formation and purchase intent can be ascertained for social activism strategies like femvertising.
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