Introduction
The push for marketers to modify products to match consumer needs emanates from the interpretation of customers’ perception regarding what they desire. Producers integrate consumer market insights into their services and commodities in order to maintain a competitive edge. As such, organizations respond to specific cultural values and design their product lines accordingly in order to appeal to their target market. Cultural values describe the ideals that different communities subscribe to. This discussion identifies and describes how companies use the understanding of changing gender-based cultural values to create and implement their marketing strategy.
Interrelationship between Consumer Behavior and Gender-Based Marketing
Gender-based marketing is the economic use of sex specific differences in the placement, promotion, and pricing of products and services. It is the use of biology as a factor in market research and packaging of products. Companies that subscribe to this marketing policy develop different products for men and/or women to correspond to their different needs and behaviors. It is a significant method of selling products and services since it appeals to and connects with the very nature of consumers. Culture plays a very significant part in influencing consumer buying behavior, and all societies are defined by gender. Since gender is a filter through which people interact with their environment, it is reasonable to believe that their consumer activities are essentially gendered.
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"Gender-based Marketing and Consumer Behavior".
The use of gender-based marketing is a response to the need for different development, distribution, and communication of commodities for women and men. Companies often use this market segmentation strategy due to three main reasons: gender is straightforward and easy to identify, information on its segments is easily accessible, and the size of these segments is sizeable and, thus, very profitable (Darley & Smith, 1995). Several stereotypical traits and behaviors fundamentally differentiate gender (men and women), enabling for easy identification, customizations, and targeting of consumers based on these differences.
Darley and Smith further suggest that women process information objectively, subjectively, and are receptive to subtle cues while men process information selectively, are more heuristic, and miss subtle cues. The areas likely to be targeted by marketing include decision-making, language, and personality traits. In terms of decision-making, men are very structured and make purchases that reflect their status in society. They simplify purchase decisions, do not thoroughly examine advertisements, and are less active in information sharing (Wolf, 2007). Women, on the other hand, are intense and expressive in making purchase decisions. They are more analytical and share purchase information widely. Regarding character traits, men are independent, confident, risk-taking, and externally motivated. Women are more impulsive and compulsive but analytical, therefore, taking less risks. Language-wise, women attach a lot of intimacy and connections to products and purchase and either like or dislike. However, men detach emotions from purchases and are more neutral about products.
Case Analysis
Axe products, by Unilever, are predominantly designed and marketed to appeal to men. As a producer of body wash, deodorant, sprays, and other freshening products, the overbearing message is that of drawing young men towards beautiful women. The poster shown below is an advertisement of its black chill body shower gel. It depicts a young man bathing and an attractive, sexualized woman side by side. The message “The Cleaner You Are; The Dirtier You Get” is an assertion that young men who use the product will attract beautiful women.
The advertisement is an enticement to young men who are looking for relationships with attractive young women. The company has used a cause-and-effect plow to show the target group, men, that using the product (cause) will get them unlimited female attention (effect). This shows the company’s understanding of the stereotypes, logical fallacies, ad hoc reasoning, and preferences of young men. This strategy plays on the insecurity of young men to persuade them into making purchases.
- Ads of the World. (2012). Axe whip. Retrieved from https://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/axe_whip
- Darley, W., & Smith, R. (1995). Gender differences in information processing strategies: an empirical test of the selectivity model in advertising response. Journal of Advertising, 24(1), 41-56. doi: 10.1080/00913367.1995.10673467
- Wolf, T. (2007). Effects of gender marketing on consumer behaviour. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
