Female consumers nowadays are increasingly empowered, through their rising spending power and amplified presence and influence on digital platforms, such as social media. The use of social media by women has been a key factor in reducing gender inequality and catalysing meaningful change, as it gives them a voice and opportunities to learn and connect with like-minded others. For instance, the #MeToo movement has had a transformative impact not only on females but on society as a whole.
Despite this shift, advertising practices have been slow to adjust and tend to perpetuate gender stereotypes that challenge female consumer empowerment. For instance, females are commonly depicted in demure or decorative roles that limit attention to, for instance, their physical appearance or beauty, while males are more likely to be portrayed as capable, powerful, or successful. It is thus important to better understand how to develop effective communication strategies that resonate with female consumers, in particular, to boost their advertising-based inclusion and equity.
This study draws on regulatory mode theory, which proposes the differences between goal pursuit orientations of assessment – which focuses on making the “right” decision – and locomotion – which motivates one to “act” to initiate and continue their goal pursuit. These orientations can be intrinsically and/or extrinsically shaped, for instance, as driven by one’s personality vs. advertising content.
The gender stereotype reflects female consumers as often exhibiting an assessment orientation, for example, when they compare stores or advertising content to find the best value products. However, this study argues that if advertisers can shift female consumers away from their stereotypical assessment regulatory mode, like by using social media advertising content that instead induces locomotion, females can be more empowered and advertising-based inclusion, equity, and diversity can be enhanced. In result, this empowerment effect can benefit not only the consumers themselves but also the firm’s bottom-line (financial) and double bottom-line (social) performance.
These propositions were empirically tested by four studies, which examined the effects of female consumers’ locomotion (vs. assessment) regulatory mode on their empowerment, which in turn boosts their brand engagement, as measured through their social media sharing, willingness to pay, purchase intention, and word-of-mouth intention.
Method and sample
Studies 1a and 1b used secondary field data to examine social media engagement in terms of consumers’ sharing behaviour of brand-generated Facebook posts. All posts from the official Facebook pages of female-targeted (vs. male-targeted) brands were chosen for each study: Venus (N=948) vs. Gillette (N=1,021) razors in Study 1a (N=1969 in total); Moby Wrap (N=3,560) vs. Mission Critical (N=1,038) baby carriers in Study 1b (N=4,598 in total).
The next two studies, which adopted experimental designs, then established causality and demonstrated the role of empowerment in driving consumer’s direct engagement in terms of willingness to pay (Study 2) and intentions to purchase (direct contribution) and spread word-of-mouth (indirect contribution; Study 3). In Study 2, 403 participants in the US were recruited from Prolific for a 2 (regulatory mode: locomotion, assessment) x 2 (gender: male, female) between-subjects experiment. Likewise, Study 3 involved 402 female participants from the US, recruited from Prolific, in a 2 (regulatory mode: locomotion, assessment) x 2 (empowerment: heightened, control) between-subjects design.
Key findings
- By activating female consumers’ locomotion regulatory mode, brands can boost consumer engagement in the context of social media-based advertising, as shown in Studies 1a and 1b,
- Results from Study 2 and 3 also highlight the importance of empowering female consumers through advertising. Empowerment can be achieved through marketers’ adoption of locomotion-inducing advertising content, in turn fostering enhanced advertising-based inclusion, equity, and diversity.
- Overall, brands can contribute to positive societal change by empowering their female consumers through the adoption of locomotion-based advertising messages, which in turn can boost these consumers’ inclusion and equity. By raising these individuals’ brand engagement, the firm is also expected to benefit in terms of its financial (i.e., bottom-line) and social (i.e., double bottom-line) performance.
Recommendations
Based on the findings, this study recommends brands to adopt a locomotion focus when creating social-media advertising content. This can be achieved by using action words like “initiate,” “start,” “go,” “get,” and “act,” in their posts for offerings targeted at female consumers. Marketers should also conduct regular market research with relevant target consumers to decide which locomotion-inducing words to use. Research has found that consumers’ locomotion orientation is likely to be higher at certain times (e.g., in the morning or during summer), so it is important to select optimal timing for locomotion-inducing posts. Moreover, marketers are advised to segment their female audiences displaying elevated locomotion (vs. assessment) orientations, allowing them to develop more targeted communications for these respective consumer segments.
In addition to social media posts, managers should also equip their brands targeted at females with an overall locomotion positioning in their integrated marketing communications strategy. Brands like Nike (“Just do it”), Energizer (“It keeps going, and going, and going”), and Microsoft (“Where do you want to go today?”) have successfully adopted a locomotion-inducing positioning. Such a positioning can empower (female) consumers and increase brand engagement.
However, for some brands and/or product categories, using locomotion-inducing language and/or positioning may be less appropriate. For example, when making critical healthcare or financial decisions, consumers may assume that companies who move fast may also break things. In these contexts, consumers may be empowered in other ways, such as by providing product personalisation options or unambiguous information about consumer rights (e.g., return policies). Through these, brands can still capitalize on the predicted effect of empowerment on consumer engagement, even without locomotion-inducing marketer- generated content where appropriate.
The findings of this study extend well beyond the realm of financial profits, also covering benefits to the firm’s social, or double bottom-line, performance. Therefore, the study should not be seen as an endorsement of profit-seeking at the expense of any group (e.g., female consumers). Instead, it has substantial applicability beyond the bottom-line performance of a firm. For example, by using locomotion language and positioning that empowers potential donors or volunteers, not-for-profit organizations may be able to raise engagement with their causes. Similarly, policymakers may wish to apply these findings to develop public service announcements that empower their citizens to act on important issues, such as public health, environmental protection, or social justice.
Researcher
More information
The research article is also available on eprints.