Selling Equality, Reproducing Hierarchies? Gendered Responses to Femvertising and Femwashing in Automobile Advertising

This study explores the effectiveness of femvertising and femwashing in automobile advertising among young Chinese consumers. Drawing on a between-subjects laboratory experiment (N = 223), the study revealed significant gender differences in participants’ responses. Women perceived the brand associated with femvertising (vs. femwashing) as more authentic, which in turn was associated with more positive attitudes toward the ad and the brand, as well as higher purchase intentions. In contrast, men showed little differentiation between femvertising and femwashing in their evaluations. Concerningly, the findings also provide tentative evidence that, despite their female empowerment message, both femvertising and femwashing may be associated with more traditional work-domain gender role attitudes: femvertising among men and femwashing among women. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on brand allyship by demonstrating that consumer responses to allyship messaging are shaped by their position within existing power structures. Moreover, it challenges the assumption that feminist branding is inherently empowering, suggesting instead that such strategies may have more complex and sometimes unintended ideological implications.