Marketing Communication Receivers’ Perceptions of Source-Self Similarity: Some New Findings

This study examines how the sex of an advertising source and the sex role orientation of the appeal affect receivers’ perceptions of their similarity to the source. The results suggest that receivers’ gender schematicity affects whether or not they attend to sex-related cues when assessing source-self similarity, and that their sex affects what types of sex-related cues they attend to. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.