Attitudes Toward Homosexual Imagery in Advertisements: An Examination of Moderating Variables

Abstract

This study considers how consumers respond to advertising with explicit homosexual imagery and what factors may moderate the response. A post-test only with control group experiment used Target brand ads – one with heterosexual imagery and one with explicit homosexual imagery – as the stimuli for the data analysis. Through a series of pre-existing scales, participants responded to survey questions regarding their individual attitudes toward the Target brand, attitudes toward lesbians and gays, and religious devoutness prior to stimuli exposure. Post-exposure, participants’ attitudes toward the ad, measured by Wells’ (1964) Emotional Quotient Scale, indicated that there was not a significant difference in the general population’s attitudes toward the ad with heterosexual imagery versus the ad with homosexual imagery. However, variables such as age, religiosity, attitude toward the brand and attitude toward lesbians and gays were all found to moderate participant attitudes toward the ad. Results are considered within the framework of Goffman’s (1979) hyper-ritualization theory, which argues that advertising reflects prevailing societal norms and serves as an educational tool by which cultural expectations are reinforced.