Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect on brand name recall in advertisements with varying levels of female sexual objectification content among young millennials and the effect of distraction on this recall effort. The question arises whether this group evokes those brands that appear in advertisements using different levels of objectification content.

The study uses a correlational design that includes two studies with different groups of subjects: an assessment of perceived female sexual objectification levels in a set of ads and a quasi-experimental study that used the assessed perceived levels of female objectification and brand name short-term recall scores of those ads, with and without the intervention of an attention distractor.

Results suggest that female sexual objectification content exerts a limited influence on brand name recall between participants. In addition, it is not men who remember brand names from ads using sexual objectified images, but young women.

The study had an exploratory scope and used a small non-probabilistic sample. Subjects belong to a cultural context of Western world developing economy, and thus perceived female objectification may vary between different cultural settings. Results refer to graphic advertisements, though this cohort is exposed to other audiovisual content platforms.

Several studies have addressed female objectification in advertising and media, but few focused on young Latin American audiences and its impact on the recollection of advertised brands. Brand name retention and awareness is still a relevant variable that the advertising industry takes in account as one of several predictors toward buying decisions. Even less research has been made on Latin American social and cultural contexts.

Much research has been conducted on how consumption is related to human relationships. Only a scarcity of studies has examined brand and product selection, as well as the consumption activities that individuals follow when pursuing a sense of group belonging. The literature comprises a single theoretical framework describing this phenomenon, a nascent proposition on which further research remains undeveloped. This study aims to examine the transferability of that theoretical framework in a different context to that used for its elaboration and its descriptive scope on purchasing goods and engaging in consumption activities to leverage belonging.

A deductive qualitative case study and pattern matching analysis technique were used, followed by structural coding analysis of interview data.

Findings reveal that the model is transferable, although its conceptual scope faces limitations. Individuals follow paths that need little or no excessive calculation in identifying a group to which they desire to belong, or the conduits to do so, and in certain cases the sense of belonging mediated by consumption is independent of display and confirmation by others. A refinement of the studied theoretical framework was carried out based on the findings, proposing an alternative framework termed the belonging-oriented consumption model, which provides a basis for future research on consumption related to pursuing a sense of belonging.

This study was limited to analysing those events in which consumption for the purpose of pursuing group belonging is intentional. However, much of our consumption happens in a nuanced and unreflective way, and the same must go for consumption related to belonging.

The symbolic meaning that consumers attach to products and brands can vary based on how they are used and how consumers pursue a sense of belonging. The personality and distinctiveness of a product is influenced by the relationship between individuals and its use. Managers can establish concepts and elements of brand identity that ease brand display as a sign of belonging. They can also promote brand salience when the brand is used as a belonging conduit.

This study is significant because there is limited development in the academic literature, nor agreement among the authors, of a model that describes the components of consumption oriented towards pursuing a sense of group belonging. The author proposes the belonging-oriented consumption model, which provides a theoretical basis for future research on this topic.