Men and women watching and reading: Gender and information processing opportunity effects in advertising

Abstract

This study examines gender differences in responses to advertising for low-involvement products. I argue that when an opportunity for detailed information processing is present, females will be inclined to use it and engage in systematic consideration of message content, whereas males will tend to ignore it and instead process an ad in a heuristic manner. I further suggest that this difference in cognitive styles will have implications for advertising effectiveness. In line with predictions, two experiments supported moderation effect of processing opportunity on behavioral intentions in responses to advertising. After viewing the ad in the conditions that allowed extensive elaboration on message arguments, females were more willing to engage in word-of-mouth (WOM) communication about the advertised product compared to males. No gender differences were observed when the opportunity for ad processing was low. Cognitive responses to advertising mediated the gender by processing opportunity interaction effect on WOM intentions.