The influence of gender-neutral advertising on digital consumers’ advertising attitudes

Gender-neutral advertising has become an important approach in terms of digital consumers, shifting from traditional stereotyped values towards the inclusiveness of both genders. To examine the influence of gender-neutral advertising on digital consumers, we measured the attitude towards gender-neutral and gender-stereotyped advertisements. To this end, a questionnaire and within-study design were employed to gather responses to three advertisements of both types from the prevailing industries (beauty, kids, care). Respondents, recognised as digital consumers, showed a significantly higher advertising attitude score for gender-neutral advertisements, while socio-demographic variables were not recognised as covariates. The results have important implications for marketers and researchers, since neutral-gender advertising may outperform the traditional values of targeted gender marketing practices, and become the prevailing form of gaining favourable impacts in young digital consumers.