Studies of “how women want to see themselves represented in advertising and the

This chapter deals with the main questions of how women want to see themselves represented in advertising campaigns and how women as customers react toward various advertising messages.

Firstly, it is essential to mention that nowadays women are in a position to make important purchasing decisions on their own. In other words, the distribution of roles between men and women with regard to buying decisions is undergoing significant change. This means that decisions which were being made by men ten years ago, such as for example, the decision for buying cars are now often made by women or by both.^{245 246}

To illustrate the prevalent depiction of roles in present-day life, emphasis is placed on the family cycle by Gilly and Enis (2003). In particular, variables such as age, family status and the number and age of children living in the household are used.²⁴⁷ Results demonstrate that nowadays more and more people are living in a single household.

This kind of development leads to the fact that changes with regard to the understanding of roles of families and of women have occurred.²⁴⁸

Secondly, it is necessary to state that according to Barletta (2006), focussing especially on her studies in the book of “marketing to women: how to increase your share of the world´s largest market”, roles of women as customers are changing with their entrance into and escape out of various phases of life. In other words, buying behaviours of women vary depending on whether they are, for example, in a working position or if they are solely housewives. Hence, one way of defining the

243 cf. Holtz-Bacha (2011), p. 97

244 cf. Holtz-Bacha (2011), p. 97

245 cf. Kroeber-Riel/Weinberg (2003), p. 475

246 cf. Reni Cavallari (2008), p. 16

247 cf. Kroeber-Riel/Weinberg (2003), p. 451

248 cf. Kroeber-Riel/Weinberg (2003), p. 452

consumption potential of female customers is to evaluate them according to the stage at which they are in the cycle of their life.²⁴⁹ One main aspect with regard to female customers is that advertising campaigns should mirror their current phase in life, meaning, depiction of women in advertising should place its emphasis on the totally female nature where women are represented in their daily routine. However, despite their multiple responsibilities, women in advertising should not be depicted in a stressed manner. On the contrary, they want to have realistic advertising campaigns where active women manage to deal with the daily chaos with humour and ease.²⁵⁰ In other words, the target group of woman wants to see normal, natural women of each age in advertising campaigns as most of them cannot identify with perfect supermodels that are forever young.²⁵¹

A third main point is that women react toward personalised advertising and direct marketing campaigns increasingly positively. In particular, values should be transmitted with which women can identify with in everyday life. Even technical products should be advertised in a way in which humaneness is across. What advertising experts should be careful of beyond this is that products are not compared to or even put on a par with women.²⁵²

Furthermore, for women it is not enough to represent advertising messages in a manner that puts emphasis on warm and positive thoughts only. It is also necessary to focus on the depiction of emotions in various advertising campaigns, because women obviously prefer such kind of representation over simple and sterile product presentations. In particular, women prefer advertising campaigns that show the depiction of female friendships as the attribute of being together is a fundamental premise for the target group of woman.²⁵³ Women want to see clear benefits when buying a product. Hence, advertising messages should focus on the various advantages that a certain product has. Advertising campaigns should not only be entertaining, but should also give sufficient information about the product in order for the customer to be in a position of having a clearer picture.²⁵⁴

249 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 97

250 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 97

251 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 96, 213

252 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 99

253 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 100, 214

254 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 98

Another reputable author with regard to the topic of how women want to see themselves represented in advertising and the media is Assig (1993) who has published extensive studies in her book entitled “Zielgruppe Frauen – erfolgreiche Konzepte für effektives Marketing”. In line with the arguments brought forward by Barletta (2006), she also supports the statement that advertising campaigns should mirror women´s current phase in life. Assig (1993) states that an adequate depiction of the reality of women in advertising is one of the most crucial criteria for a positive reaction towards advertising campaigns. In other words, women want to be respected as they are²⁵⁵ and hence, advertising campaigns should turn away from gender-based approaches and avoid sexual issues.²⁵⁶ In particular, women want to be wooded and they have left traditional role models far behind. Traditional families where the husband is the only bread-winner are nowadays a minority. Besides this, statistics show that every third marriage ends in divorce, the number of single mothers is growing and the number of single people has tripled in the last twenty years.²⁵⁷ As a consequence thereof, advertising messages showing female protagonists, female voice-overs or employed housewives are perceived by women in a positive manner. Furthermore, the role of working women in advertising is also evaluated positively by housewives.²⁵⁸

According to Jaffé (2005) with various studies in the book “Der Kunde ist weiblich:

was Frauen wünschen und wie sie bekommen, was sie wollen”, another essential point is that the perception of female customers does not depend solely on roles women represent in advertisements, but often on how closely the various roles fit to the product. This means that opinions with regard to the representation of women in advertising will vary from person to person, from product to product and from segment to segment. In this sense, Jaffé (2005) demonstrates that demands, desires, and therefore also needs of women which are, on the one hand, derived from their biological circumstances, and on the other hand, defined by social influences, are as varied as women are themselves. As a result of the prevailing complexity of the women´s market it is therefore not possible to clearly define generally accepted criteria what women want.²⁵⁹

255 cf. Assig (1993), p. 9ff.

256 cf. Schmerl (1992), p. 281ff.

257 cf. Assig (1993), p. 9ff.

258 Assig (1993), p. 15

259 cf. Jaffé (2005), p. 152

The main problem in this context is that the ideas of how women want to see themselves represented in advertising campaigns and the messages of advertising campaigns are in most cases incongruent.²⁶⁰

As women not only report about negative experiences, but also positive ones, they recommend products and services to others and thus develop themselves into loyal and satisfied customer.²⁶¹ This phenomenon in the marketing jargon is called, word-of-mouth, and applies to companies as a very effective, persuasive and most importantly, free marketing tool. As a consequence thereof, positive word-of-mouth reinforces the creditability of products and establishes a positive image of the company on the market. In other words, satisfied and newfound customers thus set in motion a multiplier effect whereby news, warnings or recommendations can be spread more rapidly.²⁶²

Marketing - and advertising experts therefore have to bring their advertising campaigns into line with the requirements and desires of women in their diverse phases of life.²⁶³²⁶⁴

260 cf. Assig (1993), p. 9ff.

261 cf. Jaffé (2007), p. 173

262 cf. Jaffé (2007), p. 173

263 cf. Assig (1993), p. 9ff.

264 cf. Barletta (2006), p. 97