Gender Differences in Responses to Emotional Advertising: A Social Desirability Perspective

Two studies examine gender differences in responses to advertising with emotional content that varies on agency-a fundamental component of the male, but not female, stereotype. As hypothesized, males reported a less pleasant viewing experience and a less favorable attitude toward the advertisement (A_ad) when a low-agency emotion (i.e., stereotype-incongruent) ad was viewed with another male, while their responses were not affected by the presence of another person when they were exposed to a high-agency emotion (i.e., stereotype-congruent) ad. Males' and females' private responses were not significantly different, and females' responses were invariant across social contexts and type of ad.