Female Consumers' Perceptions of Advertising

Abstract

This study explored both younger and older female consumers' perceptions of advertising. Previous studies have indicated that several factors influence one's view of advertising including: cohort membership, cognitive age, self-perception, and the viewer's preconceived notions of attractiveness. The above factors were reviewed in detail to determine the relationship and level of influence they have on perception of apparel advertisements by both older and younger consumers. Methods included paper-based and web-based questionnaires. Subjects reviewed one of five randomly generated advertisements containing older models and answered a series of questions to determine if relationships do exist between the above factors and advertising or product perceptions. Results showed that weak relationships do exist between the tested variables. When looking directly at chronological versus cognitive age, findings did show a minor elevation in positivity existed when a model was perceived to be 10-19 years younger than the participant, in turn supporting previous research. However, cognitive age did not differ greatly from chronological age results in regards to the positivity factor associated with model perception overall. Likewise, self-perceptions had little influence on perceptions of the advertising models. Younger consumers conformed less to the opinions of their cohorts suggesting that the diversity characteristic of the post modern environment may be reflected in their decisions. Lastly, results supported previous research indicating that as the perceived age of a model increased the perception of attractiveness decreased.