How Chinese young consumers respond to gendered advertisements

Purpose ― The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of advertisements with different female role portrayals in a second-tier city with “first-class opportunities”. Chinese girls and women represent a huge market for personal as well as household goods. Design/methodology/approach ― An experimental study was conducted using a convenience sample of 216 male and female participants aged 17 to 21 in Changchun, China. Participants were asked to respond to print advertisements using traditional and modern female images including housewife, cute female, female with classical beauty, sporty, career-minded, and neutral (tomboy). Findings ― Results revealed that female participants responded more favorably towards advertisements using female images than male participants. There was no difference in the responses to the six different female images among both male and female participants. Research implications ― Young consumers in China are not sensitive to the different female images used in the print advertisements. Advertisers can therefore enjoy flexibility in the selection of female gender roles for advertisements. Originality/value ― Little is known about how marketers and advertisements can best communicate with young adults in China using advertisements with different female images. This study fills this literature gap.