Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Gender and beauty in the cosmetics sector

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the use of a male decorative model, so called Kkot Minam in Korean, can be effective in Indonesia as well as in Korea, and whether consumers from different cultural and religious backgrounds will respond differently to this kind of advertisement.Design/methodology/approachA personal interview survey was used to collect the data. The respondents, 159 Koreans and 149 Indonesians, were female consumers in their twenties. They represent the target market of “The Face Shop” brand, whose advertisement was used in this research. Structural equation model was employed to test the hypotheses.FindingsOverall results indicate that the use of Kkot Minam in cosmetics advertisement is effective in Indonesia. The findings also showed that religiosity affects Indonesian consumers’ attitudes toward Kkot Minam. However, when attitudes toward Korean wave were used as a moderating variable, the negative effect of religiosity on attitudes diminished.Practical implicationsCompanies in emerging markets may use decorative male models in advertising once the social and economic status of women reaches a certain level.Originality/valueThe present study investigates the effect of a decorative male model on the attitudes of consumers with different cultural and religious backgrounds, using Korean wave as a moderating variable in the same research setting.