effects of advertisements on buying behavior a comparative study on male and female consumers

Effects of Advertisements on Buying Behavior

A Research Report on

EFFECTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS ON BUYING BEHAVIOR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON

MALE AND FEMALE CONSUMERS

Submitted by:

Md. Tajirul Haque

Id: 080343

Supervised by:

Rafia Zaman

Lecturer

Submitted to:

Coordinator

Internship Placement Committee

Management and Business Administration School

Khulna University

Date of Submission: September 18, 2012

1 A Comparative Study on Male and Female Consumers


September 18, 2012

The Coordinator

Internship Placement Committee

Business Administration Discipline

Khulna University

Subject: Submission of Research Report.

Dear Sir,

Here is the report on “Effects of Advertisements on Buying Behavior: A Comparative Study on Male and Female Consumers”. It was a matter of pleasure and a great opportunity to explore my knowledge with practical research experience on effects of advertisement on both males and females of Khulna city. Through the completion of this report and the study undergone, I have learnt how to undertake a research study and prepare a report in practice. This will surely help me in my future career and the further endeavor of such kinds.

I have exercised all my honest efforts and tried my level best to make this report flawless. Now, I have the honor to thank you for the opportunity.

Sincerely Yours,

_________________

Md. Tajirul Haque

ID No. 080343

Supervised By:

_________________

Rafia Zaman

Lecturer

Business Administration Discipline

Management and Business Administration School

Khulna University



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Preparing this research report on “Effects of Advertisements on Buying Behavior: A

Comparative Study on Male and Female Consumers” has been a challenging journey,

during which the final destination has at times seemed unattainable. Now, when it

came to an end, I finally have a chance to express my deepest gratitude to Almighty

Allah and all those people who have helped and guided me throughout the study.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Rafia Zaman, Lecturer,

without whom this report would have never been completed. She gave me enough of

her valuable time to prepare this research report. She guided me with all the details in

every step of the study with immense patience. As a novice, I was not aware of many

aspects of undertaking a research and preparing a research report. She made me learn

and understand everything I needed.

Thanks also go to my juniors and friends who helped me in the hard work of data

collections. Thanks to the respondents also, as without their help, I would have been

without any primary data.

Finally, I would like to thank the coordinators and the members of Internship

Placement Committee for giving me a chance to undertake this research.



Chapter 1.0: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study:

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential

customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service.

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential

customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service.

Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those

products and services through the creation and reinvention of the “brand image”. For

these purpose, advertisements sometimes embed their persuasive message with

factual information. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including

television, billboard, newspaper, internet, carrier bags, radio etc. Advertising is often

placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organization. Bauer

and Greyser (1968) provide evidence that overall attitude towards advertising and

reasons why certain ads are considered informative, enjoyable, annoying or offensive.

Men and women have different tendencies of being affected by advertisements. This

is why companies do not know exactly that which customer group, men or women are

easier to influence through marketing campaigns. Therefore, the advertising budget is

not spent accordingly to come up with a precise promotional campaign needed. If

targeting men is easier, then the marketing should be done accordingly and if

affecting women is easier, then the marketing campaign should be tailor made in

order to reach that customer segment in a more effective manner.

This shows that companies lack the awareness of whom to target through their

promotional campaigns. Whether females would be easier to effect through the

advertisements or males, this still hasn’t been proven according to the Bangladeshi

market. This is the motivation behind this study. The main purpose of this paper is to

study the effects of advertisements on male vs. female consumer buying behavior in

Khulna city.

The study is based on the exploratory research titled “Effect of Advertisement on

male vs. female buying behavior” conducted by some independent researchers



namely Anila, Muhammed Bashir, Fatima Syed, Moeeza Saeed, Syed Usman Wazir

and Zain Malik of National University of Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

using the sample of around 500 people within the chosen age bracket of 18-50years

for neutral products/services in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. This study is done using

responses of 180 samples [90 females and 90 males] for neutral products/services in

Khulna city excluding chosen age bracket of 18-50years.

1.1.1 Definitions of Important Terms Used in The Study:

Consumer Buying Behavior: As the main objective of this study is to

identify effects of advertisement on consumer buying behavior, Consumer

Buying Behavior is an important term we must clarify. Wilkie (1994) defined

consumer buying behavior as “the mental, emotional, and physical activities

that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using, and disposing of

products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires”. Consumer-buying

behavior according to Kotler (2004, p.601) is defined as “The buying behavior

of consumers – individuals and households who buy goods and services for

personal consumption.”

Brand Recall: Brand Recall has been used as an important indication for

identifying effects of advertisement on both male and females. Brand Recall is

the extent to which a brand comes to a consumer’s mind when any specific

product class is mentioned. In the market research, the term “Unaided Brand

Recall” is often used to find out the image of any particular brand.

Commonly, it is assumed that high level of Unaided Brand Recall is beneficial

for that particular brand. In short, Brand Recall is a qualitative measure which

is used to identify how well a brand name is related with a product class or

type of products by asking questions to consumers of that product class. Brand

Recall is frequently tested through interviews and surveys by asking

respondents questions like “Mention as many car models as possible” or “can

you clarify what Intel is?”



1.2 Objectives of the Study:

This research paper is basically intended towards identifying the general trend in the

effect that advertising has on the buying behavior of consumers. The consumers will

have been specifically studied in accordance to their respective gender. The research

objectives as follows:

To identify the distinction between male and female customers’ perceptions

towards advertisement.

To identify whether brand recall lead male and female customers to purchase.

To identify customers belonging to which genders have a better brand recall.

1.3 Scope of the Study:

The study has been carried on the male and female consumers in Khulna city based

on the exploratory research mentioned earlier. The said research focused on the

chosen age bracket i.e.18-50 years of around 500 [both male and female] samples for

neutral products/services in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. The present research is has a total

of 180 samples [90 females and 90 males] for neutral products/services in Khulna city

excluding chosen age bracket of 18-50years. The independent variable of the study is

the effect of advertisement and dependent variables identified are gender and brand

recall.

1.4 Rationale of the Study:

This research is beneficial, firstly, for the advertising agencies, as it will become

easier for them to formulate the exact integrated marketing strategies for their

customers so as to target the respective audience of the organization. It will also help

the organizations to optimally distribute their marketing expenditure over different

mediums of advertising, catering to their target group.

It will also provide a platform to the market researchers of the respective organization

to devise the marketing budget in accordance with a perfect balance between the



medium chosen and the audience targeted. This will support them in identifying their

target segment that they can influence and which can work in their favor. Hence

getting the maximum return on what they will invest for marketing their

product/services.

It will also guide the marketers to identify the factors that influence the audience

more effectively in any advertisement and so those can be worked on. Also it will be

analyzed that how men and women perceive advertisements differently and hence

what are the factors that lead to their purchase decision.

1.5 Limitation of the Study:

The research study has just been catered to the Khulna city.

Others may include the variables identified above.



Chapter 2.0: Literature Review

Advertising refers to a paid form of non-personal promotion of any goods, services or

ideas by an identified sponsor with the intention of disseminating information

regarding that specific product, service or idea. The main objective of advertisement

is to sell the product, service or idea advertised. Other objectives of advertisements

include preparing ground for a new product/service, creation of demand of that

product/service, facing competition, creating or enhancing goodwill, informing the

changes to customers etc. So, a product or service is advertised to make some positive

consumer behavior towards that product, service or idea. According to the Morden

(1991) advertising gives the knowledge about the product and create the idea in mind

about it. As Advertisement is a measure taken by companies to affect buying behavior

of consumers of that particular brand, the advertisers will certainly want to know

effectiveness of their advertisement efforts. Therefore, Consumer buying behavior is

an important area of research for marketers and business developers and they have

been studying on this for many years.

The importance of studying consumer behavior is imperative from the fact that most

product launch features, marketing strategies and positioning strategies are made

under the influence of consumer buying trends. These trends are further integrated

with regards to gender i.e. male consumer buying behavior vs. female consumer

buying behavior. In this regard the persuasiveness of a particular product is different

for each gender. This paper has been built on earlier papers to propose a model of

gender based buying behavior with regards to the impact of advertisements leading to

a higher brand recall.

Cobb and Hoyer (1986) found that women are more likely to plan their purchases

than men are. Supporting their statements, Block and Morwitz (1999, pp. 361-2)

attribute this tendency to three reasons. First, traditionally, females have been in

charge of grocery shopping. Second, because of such traditions, females tend to know

more about stores and products. Third, also due to their traditional role, females have

a better idea about inventory levels when they go shopping than males do. The study



of Block and Morwitz also found that the probability that a purchased product was

on a planned list was higher for females than for males. Women listed more objects

of sentimental value, while men chose more items relating to leisure and finances.

However, gender differences were pronounced in orientations towards sets of

material goods: by comparison, women saw their possessions as important because of

the emotional comfort they provide and the relationships with others they symbolize,

while, men referred more too use-related, activity-related and self-expressive features

of possessions. These differences can be interpreted as reflecting male and female

gender identity, because they echo the distinction between male self -oriented,

activity-centered identity construction and female other-oriented, relationship-

centered identity construction described in both the sociological and social

psychological literature Dittmar (1989, 1991). In support, Belch and Willis (2002)

reported that household purchasing decisions for items such as automobiles,

televisions, and financial planning are moving from being primarily male dominated

decisions to joint decisions. Household decision-making areas that were once

dominated by one gender were also becoming more influenced by the opposite

gender. Shoham A., Makovec Brenčič M. (2003) mentioned “Because of their

traditional roles as house-makers, females in the study were more likely to exhibit a

tendency for advertisement based purchasing. As house chores are split more evenly

in developed countries, the expertise of both husbands and wives may be more evenly

divided than it was in the past.

Thus, many advertisers and agencies believe that advertising creates “magic in the

market place” (Russell & Lane, 1996). Obviously advertisements have some effects

on consumer buying behavior. Men and women perceive advertisements in different

ways and thus both genders necessitate distinct persuasive techniques. This is

assumed by many that females are more affective by different advertisement efforts

of different brands. Wolin, and Korgaonkar (2003) suggest that males and females

exhibit different beliefs about and attitudes toward traditional media advertising along

with different advertising stimulated consumer behaviors. Furnham and Mac (1999)

focused on the portrayal of gender roles in television commercials in different



countries (i.e. U.K, U.S.A, Australia and Asia) to study trends and cross-national

differences and similarities. This study demonstrated that sex role stereotyping was

surprisingly consistent across these countries, especially in the mode of presentation,

such as male were consistently more likely voice-overs of the advertisements than

women, females were more often visually portrayed. A recent estimate indicates

(Shimp, 2007) that almost 20 percent of all advertisements worldwide use celebrity

spokespersons. (Cooper, 1984) argues that messages delivered by celebrities provide

a higher degree of appeal, attention, and possibly message recall than those delivered

by non-celebrities. Marketers also claim that celebrities affect the credibility of the

claims made, increase the memorability of the message, and may provide a positive

effect that could be generalized to the brand.

The study titled “Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having and, Being” conducted by

Solomon (2004) states that compulsive buying refers to consumers‟ repetitive

shopping, at times excessive, because of boredom, tension, or anxiety (Solomon,

2004), which both can then be attributed to brand recall and advertisement effect.

Advertisement plays an important role in brand recall. In support, Freling, and Forbes

(2005), subjects that a brand's personality will have a significantly greater number of

brand associations; significantly greater proportion of brand associations;

significantly greater unique brand associations; significantly greater proportion of

congruent brand associations; and significantly greater proportion of strong brand

associations. Rajagopal (2006), argues that there are many psychographic variables

like emotions associated with the brand image which constitute the personality of a

brand. In case typical product category advertisements are associated with negative

effect, the particular advertising functions act as a counter-attitudinal message, which

is more persuasive in the case of a mismatch rather than a match with the category

advertisements. However, a persuasive advertising may affect consumer preferences.

Previous research has shown that in line with the theoretical arguments, gender was a

significant predictor of buying behavior based on brand recall. Thus, this study has

provided additional support to earlier research on impact of advertisement on males



vs. females with regards to brand recall (Block and Morwitz, 1999) and leading to

buying decision (Cobb and Hoyer, 1986).



Chapter 3.0: Research Methodology

3.1 Research Type

The main form of the research is exploratory study because there is not much material

regarding this specific topic already available. The data already available is mainly

regarding the foreign markets. This research will be conduct in the domestic market,

which is Bangladesh.

3.2 Population

First hand research will be carried out by exploring the consumer characteristics in

this region specifically. So, population of the research is all male and female buyers

in Khulna city. The responses of the respondents are the sources of information.

3.3 Sample

The study is based on the primary data to analyze how advertisement affects male and

female consumers differently. Dependant and Independent variables were identified

as per the data collected. For this purpose, a sample of 180 (90 males and 90 females)

people in Khulna city has been chosen on convenient basis. The study has focused on

convenient sampling. Although age is not an issue in the research, we surveyed only

people over 18 regardless of their occupations.

3.4 Sampling Technique

Some of the techniques that will be used to collect the data for the research are mainly

qualitative as no previous data is available on such a topic especially for Bangladesh.

They are as follows:

3.4.1 Self-Administered Surveys: A sample size of 180 has been surveyed

constituting of both the female and male population with equal proportions through a

structured questionnaire based on three hypothesis of the research. Questionnaire

included personal information of the respondents, close ended and self- explanatory

open ended questions. This survey helped analyze how males and females respond

differently to different advertisements and how their attitudes towards products are



shaped. The surveys provided data directly filled out by the customer themselves and

the survey acted as the starting point for some of the variables that are studied. The

questionnaire is attached in the appendix.

3.4.2 Interviews: However, while conducting the surveys it was realized that most

of the respondents did not have the knowhow of how to go about it. So during those

sessions they (respondents) were not only administered but also interacted so as to

make things sensible and easier for them. In fact, a discussion with the customer can

sometimes uncover several factors, which could have previously missed out on.

Based on this data, the qualitative techniques have given an in-depth analysis that

leads to the research findings.

3.5 Data Analysis Method

Different descriptive statistical tools have been used – frequency, Mean, median and

mode using Microsoft Excel to apply various statistical tests for data analysis

purpose.

As the first four questions were designed to identify if males and females perceive

advertisement differently or not, respondents were asked to rate different

advertisement mediums and advertisement themes (5 being the highest, 1 the lowest).

For analyzing these two questions, the total percentage of both male of female rated

different advertisement mediums and themes and thereby, trying to find out how the

perception of male and females differs. The calculated mean, median and mode value

of each advertisement mediums and themes for both male and female has also been

analyzed. Similarly, percentage, mean, median and mode value of different answer

choices for question no 3,4,5,6 have also been calculated.

Although question no 7, 8 and 9 were open-ended and self explanatory, number of

correct responses have been identified and calculated percentage, mean, median and

mode value of different responses of those questions.



3.6 Data Presentation

The data after analyzing has been presented in tabular format. To help the visual, with

every table a bar chart has been attached. A short explanation follows the table and

the bar chart.


Numbers


Chapter 4.0 Analysis

This section covers the analysis based on questionnaires set to identify the objectives

of the study.

4.1 Question no. 1: Advertisement Mediums

Question no one was designed to find out perception of both male and female on

different advertisement mediums like TV, Billboards, Newspaper etc.

Table No: 4.1: Advertisement Mediums Ratings- Females and Males

Ad Mediums

Females Numbers

Ad Mediums

Males 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1

Tv 75 7 3 2 3 Tv 47 29 7 6 1Billboard 7 18 34 23 8 Billboard 2 22 37 17 12Newspaper 5 17 33 28 7 Newspaper 10 32 24 17 7Internet 8 11 11 25 35 Internet 9 5 27 29 20Radio 2 6 9 21 52 Radio 2 3 12 25 48Others 4 4 4 9 15 Others 2 1 0 13 31

5 4 3 2 10

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80 75

73 2 3

7

18

34

23

85

17

3328

7811 11

25

35

Tv

Billboard

Newspaper

Internet

Radio

Figure 4.1- Advertisement Medium Responses- Females



Table No: 4.2 Mean, Median and Mode of Advertisement Medium- Ratings

5 4 3 2 10

10

20

30

40

50

6047

29

7 632

22

37

17

810

32

24

17

795

27 2935

2 3

12

25

52

2 1 0

13 15

Tv

Billboard

Newspaper

Internet

Radio

Others

Figure

4.2 Advertisement Medium Responses- Males

Figure 4.3 Mean, Median and Mode of Advertisement Mediums- Females


Mean Median Mode

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5 4.565 5

2.92 3 32.83 3 3

2.242

1

1.72

1 10.9

0 0

TV

Billboard

Newspaper

Internet

Radio

Others

Mean Median Mode

Females Males Females Males Females Males

TV 4.65 4.26 5 5 5 5Billboard 2.92 2.83 3 3 3 3Newspaper 2.83 3.23 3 3 3 4Internet 2.24 2.48 2 2 1 2Radio 1.72 1.73 1 1 1 1Others o.90 0.78 0 1 0 0


Mean Median Mode0

1

2

3

4

5 4.265 5

2.83 3 33.23 3

4

2.482 21.73

1 10.78 1

0

TV

Billboard

Newspaper

Internet

Radio

Others

Figure- 4.4 Mean, Median and Mode of Advertisement Mediums-Males

Discussion on Question No: 1

The question was designed to find the most effective medium of advertising that

influences male vs. female customers buying behavior. The exposure of different

advertising mediums is different among both the genders. In terms of response

count, for females 75 out 90 respondents rate TV “5” while for male it is 47 out of

90. The percentage of women making TV as the most important was much more

than that of male (Female: 83.33%, Male: 52.22%). The percentage of female

ranking billboard as the most effective medium was much more than that of men

(Female:7.78%, Male: 2.22%) while male rank newspaper as the most effective

medium 11.11% and for female it is 5.56%. In a similar way, female ranking for

internet, radio and others as the most effective medium is 8.89%, 2.22%, 4.4%

respectively and for male is 10%, 2.22% and 2.22% respectively.

Thus, the ranking of most effective medium is as for female: TV-Internet-

Billboard-Newspaper-Radio-others and for male: TV-Internet-Newspaper-

Billboard -Radio-others in terms of percentage based on response counting. On

the other hand, on the basis of mean comparison ranking for female: TV -

Billboard-Newspaper-Internet-Radio-others and for male: TV -Newspaper-

Billboard-Internet-Radio-others. The differences between two rankings can be

interpreted in this way:

Since TV is the most popular medium, both male and female rank 1 st

which is reflected by both percentage and mean value.



In terms of percentage, Internet occupied 2nd rank both for male and

female. Social networking has become one of the mostly common

communication mediums. Surfing the web has just become a trend for

today’s generation. Both male and female are more passionate for being

connected by the internet to exchange ideas.

Female response towards billboard is higher than that of males. Though

males are more outgoing in nature compared to female, they are not

attracted by the billboard while now-a-days females are not limited to

home boundary. They are tending to keep pace with the age of time. They

are easily attracted by the gorgeous billboard advertisement since most of

them are posed by celebrities.

Male rank newspaper higher than that of female since males are tend to be

update always and the easiest source is the newspaper. While picking up

knowledge and information about variety of affairs worldwide and

searching for jobs, their attention goes to various advertisement published

in the paper.

Since this is the Digital age, the use of radio is suppressed by internet.

Though FM radio is very much popular now-a-days, it is just for

entertainment which is primarily based on audio and so they are not

effective medium of advertisement.

On the basis of mean value, Internet making is lagging behind billboard

and newspaper for both genders. This is solely responsible that the study

has been conducted in Khulna City which is yet to be digitally advanced

as like as mega city Dhaka. Here, internet connection is not available

every door to door. Thus, internet medium has lower mean value than

others.

So, from question no 1, it can be deduced that males and females of Khulna city have

considerable difference of perception regarding effectiveness of different

advertisement mediums.


Numbers


4.2 Question no. 2: Advertisement Themes

Question no two was designed to identify perception of both male and females

regarding different advertisement themes like humorous, informative, emotional

etc.

Table No: 4.3 Advertisement Themes Ratings- Males and Females

Ad Themes

Females Numbers

Ad Themes

Male 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1

Humorous 8 28 16 27 11 Humorous 23 21 20 14 11Informative 18 16 19 25 12 Informative 12 28 29 17 4Adventurous 7 8 21 25 29 Adventurou

s3 26 18 35 8

Emotional 42 22 11 7 8 Emotional 19 23 16 21 11Celebrity Endorsed

48 20 9 12 1 Celebrity Endorsed

9 15 22 21 22

Others (42 didn’t Ans)

6 0 9 8 25 Others 3 1 6 11 35

42 females and 35 males didn’t answer “Others”



5 4 3 2 10

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1816

19

25

12

7 8

2125

29

42

22

117 8

48

20

912

1

6

0

9 8

25

Informative

Adventurous

Emotional

Celebrity Endorsed

Others

Figure 4.5 Advertisement Themes Responses-Females

5 4 3 2 10

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2321 20

141112

28 29

17

43

26

18

35

8

1923

16

21

119

15

22 21 22

31

6

11

35

Humorous

Informative

Adventurous

Emotional

Celebrity Endorsed

Others

Figure 4.6- Advertisement Themes responses-Males

Table No: 4.4 Mean, Median and mode of Ad Themes Ratings

Mean Median ModeFemales Males Females Males Females Males

Humorous 2.94 3.31 3 3 4 5Informative 3.02 3.30 3 3 2 3Adventurous 2.31 2.78 2 3 1 2Emotional 3.91 3.20 4 3 5 4Celebrity Endorsed

4.13 2.61 5 3 5 3

Others 1.08 1.04 1 1 0 1



Mean Median Mode0

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.55

2.94 3

4

3.02 3

22.31

2

1

3.91 4

5

4.13

5 5

1.08 1

0

Humorous

Informative

Adventurous

Emotional

Celebrity Endorsed

Others

Figure 4.7 Mean, Median and Mode of Advertisement Medium Ratings-Females

Mean Median Mode0

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.55

3.313

5

3.33 32.78 3

2

3.2 3

4

2.613 3

1.04 1 1

Humorous

Informative

Adventurous

Emotional

Celebrity Endorsed

Others

Figure 4.2.4 Mean, Median and Mode of Advertisement Medium Responses- Males

Discussion based on question no 2:

The question was set to what kind of advertisement themes were preferred by males

and females. The analysis reveals that for female 53.33% rank celebrity endorsed

advertising as the most effective theme followed by 46.67% “emotional” and 20%

“informative”. For male 25.56% rank humorous theme as the most effective theme

followed by 21.11% “emotional” and 13.33% “informative” and 10% “celebrity

endorsed”. Actually, females are more affected by celebrity endorsed ad theme since

they are conscious about beauty and they like to follow celebs and their habituates as

well as cultural fusion often tends to influence females in our country towards them.

Overall, a beautiful model marketing a product would obviously be more attractive

than anything else. Females are more emotional since they are very sensitive in nature

and so for them, emotional advertisements are more effective. They are often more

affected by the emotional themes and also they are really aware about the information

being delivered in the ad and that is why that theme has not been ranked very high.

On the other hand, for male humorous theme are the most effective one. They aren’t



typically most serious in nature and they love to enjoy while emotion follows their

enjoyment. In fact, the emotional sense is growing up with them since now-a-days,

most of good advertisements of various companies are emotional appealing. Since

they are more interested in the facts and figures about everything and so obviously

informative advertisement is preferred and ranked 3rd in terms of percentages.

Thus, the ranking of most effective ad theme is as for female: celebrity endorsed-

emotional-informative-humorous-adventurous-others and for male: Humorous-

emotional-informative-celebrity endorsed-adventurous-others in terms of percentage

based on response counting. On the other hand, on the basis of mean comparison

ranking for female remain same: Celebrity Endorsed (4.13)-Emotional (3.91)-

Informative (3.02)-Humorous (2.94)-Adventurous (2.31)-Others ((1.08) and for male

ranking bit change: Humorous (3.31)-Informative (3.3)-Emotional (3.2)-Adventurous

(2.78)-Celebrity Endorsed (2.61)-Others (1.04) . The slight variation with mean

comparison for male reflects that though males have preference emotional appealing

ads that are few in numbers, curiosity or information seeking tendency suppress the

emotional them as a whole.

So, from here on Question No. 2, it can be deduced that there is a considerable

difference of perception on different advertisement themes’ effectiveness between

females and males.



4.3 Question no. 3: Perception Regarding Advertisement

In question no three respondents were asked to mention their perception if

advertisement gives a true picture of a product or service or not.

Table No: 4.5 Response Count on Question no 3

Answers

Numbers(Females) Numbers(Males)

Yes 47 52

No 14 27

Maybe 28 11

47; 53%

14; 16%

28; 31%

Question No 3- Females

YesNoMaybe

Figure 4.8 Question 3-Females

Figure 4.9 Question 3-Males


52; 58%27; 30%

11; 12%

Question No 3-Males

YesNoMaybe


Table No 4.6: Mean Median and Mode of Question no 3

Coming to question three, the respondents were specially asked what they thought

about advertisement giving a true picture of the products being marketed. A

significant percentage of male (57.78%) and female (52.22%) agreed that

advertisement were true. While about 15.56% female respondents and almost double

of it i.e. 30% male respondent confidently believe that the advertisements do no

portray the products very truly. This shows the differing perceptions very clearly.

About, 31% female and 13% male chose the option “may be” because they were not

really sure about advertisements’ authenticity. Yet once again a visible difference.

The recurring value (mode) for female is 1 score given to the response “yes” and for

male is 3 score given to the response “may be” which again reflects significant

difference among the gender.

4.4 Question no. 4: Personal Perception

In question no four respondents were asked to mention their perception how much

advertisement attract their personal attention.

Table No 4.7 Response Count and Mean, Median and Mode of Question no 4-Females


Question no 3 Females Males

Mean 1.78 2.45

Median 1 3

Mode 1 3

Answers

Numbers

Females

Numbers

Males

Extremely 28 5A lot 25 20Somewhat 31 53No 6 11Not at all 0 1


28, 31%

25, 28%

31, 35%

6, 7%

Question No -4 Females

ExtremelyA LotSomewhatNo

Figure 4.10 Question No 4- Females

5; 6%

20; 22%

53; 60%

11; 12%

Question No 4-Males

ExtremelyA LotSomewhatNo

Figure 4.11 Question No 4- Males

Table No: 4.8 Mean, Median and Mode of Question No 4

In the question number 4, respondents were asked to what extent advertisements

attracted their attention. About 28% female respondents chose the “a lot” option

whereas 22.22% male chose this option which is nearly the same figure. There was

also an option of “somewhat” for people who were not very confident about whether

advertisement did or did not attract their attention. A significant percentage

constituting 59% males resided to this option whereas about 34% females ticked it

too. These percentage differences between men and women clearly depict the


Question no 4 Females Males Mean 2.177 2.811Median 2 3Mode 3 3


differing perceptions that they about advertisements. The mean value and median

value also reflects the difference regarding perception of male and female.

In the previous question, about 30% male believed that advertisements did not

give a true picture of the products being marketed. Still around 59% said that

advertisements somewhat attracted their attention. This shows that male may

not believe that advertisements are true; still they attract their attention due to

possible reasons like males’ ranking the humorous-informative-emotional

advertisement very high.

So, from the question no 4, it is found that males and females of Khulna City have

considerable difference in their perception.

4.5 Question no. 5: Inert Feeling For Purchasing

In question no 5, respondents were asked “Did an advertisement ever create an inert

feeling to try out a product?”

Table No: 4.9 Frequency Count of Question No 5

AnswersNumbersFemales

NumbersMales

Yes 51 26No 4 20Sometimes 35 44


51; 57%

4; 4%

35; 39%

Question No 5: Females

YesNoSometimes


Table No: 4.10 Mean, Median and Mode of Question no 5


Mean 1.82 2.2

Median 1 2

Mode 1 3

In the question respondent were asked whether an advertisement ever created an inert

feeling in them to try out a product. About 29% said “yes” to this question while a


Figure 4.12 Question 5- Females

26; 29%

20; 22%

44; 49%

Question 5-Males

YesNoSometimes

Figure 4.13 Question 5-Males


visibly greater percentage of female (about 57%) chose this option. Therefore, it can

be induced that it is easier to attract female’s attention through advertising than male.

About 23% males chose option “No” while only about 4% female chose this option

since males are not confident enough to be convinced by advertisement as their

emotional quotient is lower than female. The most incurring value (mode) for female

is 1 score given to “yes” whereas for male is 3 score given to “sometimes”. The

mean value also differs for both gender- male (2.20) and female (1.82).

After critical analysis of independent count figures for both genders, it can be stated

that the count for the response “no” was greater by 16 counts for male. Additionally,

the count of females for the response “yes” was also greater than that of males.

4.6 Question no 6:

In the question no 6, respondents were asked “How often is the purchase decision

based on an advertisement recall?”

Following are responses of all 180 respondents:

Table No: 4.11 Response Count of Responses of Question no 6

Answers

Numbers

Females

Numbers

Males

Mostly 34 6

Often 45 35

Rarely 10 42

Never 1 7



34; 38%

45; 50%

10; 11%

1; 1%

Question 6- Females

MostlyOftenRarelyNever

Figure 4.14 Question 6- Females

Figure 4.15 Question 6- Males

Table No: 4.12 Mean, median and mode of responses of question no 6


Mean 1.75 2.55

Median 2 3

Mode 2 3

Discussion: To the question” How often is the purchase decision based on an

advertisement recall?”

In the question no 6, the respondents were asked how often their purchase decision

was based on brand recall. Most of the male respondents accounts for about 47% in

chose the “Rarely” option while for female it is only 11%. About 50% of the female


6; 7%

35; 39%42; 47%

7; 8%

Question 6- MalesMostlyOftenRarelyNever


respondents chose the “often” option and for male is 39%. This shows an interesting

fact. The mode value for male is 3 score given to the “rarely” option meaning that the

majority of the respondents out of total 90 male sample size rarely based their

purchase decision on their brand recall. The mean value differs about 45% for both

genders (male: 2.56, female:1.76) also complement the rare purchase on brand recall.

The mode value for female is 2 score given to the “often” option reflecting that

females have a greater brand recall capacity compared to male as also analyzed in the

question number 7, 8, and 9.

4.7 Question no. 7: Brand Recall from Colors

In this question, Respondents were asked to list out brands that they recalled from

some specific colors. The results were pretty straight forward here.

Table 4.13: Response count of Question no 7

Response NumberNumber of time this response is received (Females)

Number of time this response is received (Males)

0 4 71 1 4

2 7 7

3 8 20

4 18 21

5 31 15

6 15 9



7 5 6

8 1 1

Figure 4.16 Question No 7- Response Count

Table No 4.14: Mean, Median and Mode of Question No 7

In the first question, which was regarding brands recalled from five specific colors, it

was seen that the female respondents who scored the maximum mean value which

was higher than that of men. On average, men scored far less than women in terms of

remembering brands from different colors. The recurring value and the mean value

for female is 5 and 4.45 respectively which is greater than that of male. So, females

have better brand recall than males.

4.8 Question no. 8: Brand Recall from Tag Lines

In the question no 8, Respondents were given some tag lines of reputed brands and

were asked to mention name of the brand of those tag lines.

Table Number 4.15: Response count of question no 8


8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 005

101520253035

15

15

31

18

8 7

1

7

16

9

15

21 20

74 4

FemalesMales


Mean 4.45 3.78Median 5 4Mode 5 4


Table Number 4.16: Mean, Median and Mode of question No 8

In the next question, in which respondents were supposed to recall brands from

different tag lines, once again females were the maximum scorers. Around 72.22%

women scored seven or above out of a total of ten while men who scored seven or

above were only around 50%. This clearly shows the huge difference in terms of


10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10

5

10

15

20

25

30

6

10

17 16 16

9 9

3 311

7 6

15 16

25

8 74

1

FemalesMales

Figure 4.17 Response count of question no 8

Response NumberNumber of time this response is received(Females)

Number of time this response is received (Males)

0 0 01 1 12 3 43 3 74 9 85 9 256 16 167 16 158 17 69 10 710 6 1

Question 8 (Females) Question 8 (Males)Mean 6.56 5.65Median 7 5.5Mode 8 5


better brand recall. The mean values of female responses is 6.56 which is 16% greater

than that of male.

So, from the question no 8, it is found that based on tag lines of different reputed

brands both male and females have almost similar brand recall yet females have a

better brand recall as compared to males as there is about 1 difference in their mean

values.

4.9 Question no 9: Brand Recall from Celebrity Endorsement

Respondents were given the names of different celebrities who endorsed different

brands. Once again respondents were asked to write as many brands as they can

remember which every particular celebrity endorsed.

Table Number 4.17 Response Count of Question No 9

Response NumberNumber of time this response is received(Females)

Number of time this response is received(Males)

0 1 01 0 0



2 0 03 0 24 0 25 1 56 4 117 3 98 3 89 10 910 5 1111 10 612 8 813 9 214 10 515 11 516 15 7

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 00

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1615

11

10

9

8

10

5

10

3 3

4

1

0 0 0 0

1

7

5 5

2

8

6

11

9

8

9

11

5

2 2

0 0 0

FemalesMales

Figure 4.9.1- Response Count of Question No 9

Table Number 4.18: Mean, Median and Mode of Question No 9

Female Question 9 (Females) Question 9 (Males)Mean 12.02 9.74Median 12.5 9.5Mode 16 10



For the last question too, the total score was ten and respondents had to list the brands

that they remembered from different celebrities. Once again, around 87% of the

women were nine and above out of sixteen scorers which was higher than the males

which stood at approximately 58%. The gap of 2.28 in the mean value (female: 12.02,

male: 9.74) and the 32% difference in the median value along with mode value for

female is significantly higher.

It is seen that when women were inquired about the most effective marketing medium

and advertising theme in their opinion, they had chosen TV and celebrity endorsed

and an emotional advertising theme. This shows that women usually spend more time

at home watching TV as the working woman concept has not evolved in our society

at a greater extent till now and also they are more emotionally attracted to the ads as

opposed to men. This is why women tend to remember what they see more as

compared to men. It is also seen that when it was inquired whether advertisements

give a true picture of the product being marketed or not, it was seen that mostly

women chose the “maybe” option because of which it can be said that they may tend

to believe more that ads can be honest and that is why they may watch the ads with a

greater interest than men who had mostly chosen that ads are not true.



Chapter 5.0 Findings of the Report

Following are the scope for further research:

TV is the most effective advertisement medium for both the genders while Billboards and Newspaper as the second most effective mediums for females and males respectively. Males have a higher exposure rate to Newspaper as compared to fem

Males and females have a greater exposure to TV as opposed to males. Perception of both male and female customers regarding advertising medium is different.

Females are more affected by celebrity endorsed and emotional themes than males are. Males are more affected by humorous and informative themes than females are. Their perception also various also vary in terms of advertising theme.

As compared to females, males perceive that advertisement do not portray the true picture of products.

According to male, advertisements were not effective enough to create an inert feeling to purchase a product for male while females are prone to being affected by the advertisements to try out the product.

An advertisement can create an inert feeling to try out a product, but when it comes to actually purchasing the products, consumer buying decision is rarely based on brand recall. Just getting a feeling is different than getting an intention to buy the product. Brand recall leads to a purchase would not be very authentic as the results show that people may remember a product due to its advertisements but it’s not necessary that they would buy it too when they remember it.



However, due to advertisement recall there are more females as compared to males who make their purchase decision.

Females have a better brand recall as compared to males.



Chapter 6.0: Conclusion and Recommendation for the Further Research

Based on the findings and analysis of this research, the following can be concluded and recommended:

Females are easier to target and affect through marketing due to their higher emotional quotient and TV exposure. It is also more beneficial to target females as their brand recall was also proved to be better so this obviously means that they are more prone to spread the product’s awareness through word of mouth. Due to these reasons, companies should spend a greater proportion of their marketing budget on targeting females through adverting campaigns based on emotional and celebrity endorsed themes.

TV is the most effective mediums for marketing to consumers belonging to both the genders. Billboard and newspapers are second best effective advertisement medium for females and males respectively.

It is necessary that brand recall leads to purchase but still promotion is important and effective in terms of creating awareness and recall potential in the consumers. Males and females perceive advertisements differently so different advertising themes are important to target both these genders more effectively. For targeting females there should be more focus on celebrity endorsed and emotional content and. For targeting males on the other hand the focus should be more on humorous and informative content about the product being marketed.

The research study can be further carried out on both gender group at other cities or even countries with similar cultural and demographical aspects. Further research can also be studied considering the customers of different age brackets that in such regions would help in generalizing the findings of this research.



APPENDICES

Questionnaire

“Effects of Advertisements on Male vs. Female Consumer Buying Behavior in Khulna City”

[BBA program, Business Administration Discipline, Khulna University]

(This research is being conducted as a partial fulfillment of BBA program of Khulna University. Data provided by you will be used for academic purposes & will be kept concealed).

General Information:

Name of the respondent: ____________________________________________Gender: Male Female

Occupation: [ ] Service [ ] Student [ ] Self-employed [ ] Housewife [ ] Others

Q1) Which advertising medium do you think is most effective? (Rate, 5 being the highest, 1 the lowest)

TV ________ Billboard ________ News paper ________ Internet ________ Radio (FM) ________ Others ________

Q2) How would you rate the following advertisement theme? (5 being the highest, 1 the lowest)

Humorous ________ Informative ________ Adventurous ________ Emotional ________ Celebrity endorsed ________ Others ________

Q3) Do you think that advertisements give a true picture of products/services being

marketed?



[ ] Yes [ ] No [ ]May be

Q4) To what extent do you think that advertising attracts the attention?

[ ] Extremely [ ] A lot [ ] Somewhat [ ] No [ ] Not at all

Q5 ) Did an advertisement ever create an inert feeling to try out a product?

[ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Sometimes

Q6 ) How often is the purchase decision based on an advertisement recall?

[ ] Mostly [ ] Often [ ] Rarely [ ] Never

Q7 ) Which brand comes to the mind from the following colors? (List as many as you

remember)

Yellow ____________________________________________

Blue ____________________________________________

Red ____________________________________________

Green ____________________________________________

Black ____________________________________________

Pink ____________________________________________

Indigo ____________________________________________

Others ____________________________________________

Q8) Fill in the following blanks:

Brands Tag Lines

_____________________ Making a Difference

_____________________ Connecting People

___________________ Stay Close

_____________________ Good Food, Good Life _____________________ Take Care

_____________________ Life can’t Wait

____________________ It’s not Just a Cream, it’s a Fairness Treatment

_____________________ "Because I’m worth it"



_____________________ The Best a Man Can Get.

_____________________ World’s No 1 Fairness Cream For Men

_____________________ Join the Whitening Revolution

Qno:9) Which advertisement comes to ythe mind when you think of the following

celebrities. (List as many as you remember)

Priyanka Chopra ________________________________

Kajol ________________________________

Aishwarya Rai ________________________________

Kareena Kapoor ________________________________

Katrina Kaif ________________________________

Shahrkuh Khan ________________________________

Shahid Kapoor ________________________________

John Abraham ________________________________

Salman Khan ________________________________

Ranbir Kapoor ________________________________

Shakib Al Hasan ________________________________

Tamim Iqbal ________________________________

Mosharaf Karim ________________________________

Tisha ________________________________

Abul Hiyat ________________________________

Joya Ahsan ________________________________

Thank You for the Co-Operation

References



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