Last lesson we learned, that men and women are different. Well…we already knew that, but now we know how different we REALLY are and how different we behave. Men and women are different in their communication styles, in their behaviour and in they have different values.
As an introduction we will first define the term “gender”. Generally it means either you are male or female. Furthermore, the WHO says about it: “Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women.”
Our first activity in class was an “ad-recall”. Ruth presented 11 different print ads and after that we had to write down all the products we remembered. This little experiment showed that women are more likely to remember the first ad in a commercial break (primacy), whereas men especially remembered the last ad (recency). Then, we took a closer look on the different products and their ads. The adverts for men were very simple. They didn’t tell a story, but just present and describe the product. Also the slogans are simple, in block capitals and they repeat things (for men, for men, FOR MEN) so that everybody can understand it is FOR MEN.
The ads, which contained female products, were bright and colourful. They contained lots of details and presented various information about the product or the brand. Furthermore, they told little stories and did not only present one product but similar ones (such as shampoo and conditioner). As an example have a look on the two ads below. The “male ad” is very simple, doesn’t have a lot of bright colours (just blue, silver, white); it also shows how to use the product^^ The “female ad” is more complex. It tells the story of this busy woman, who has a lot of appointments; it just provides indirect information about the product.
After that Ruth showed us a picture of a room. Again, we had to remember as much items from the picture as possible. The boys remembered 13 things, whereas the girls remembered 18 things. Moreover, the girls described more details; the boys listed items such as “a chair, a table, a carpet, windows…” and the girls added “a symmetrical room, stripy furniture, flowers on the carpet, a leather chair…”. To summarise this, the male brain is more likely to remember the big picture; the female brain also remembers small details such as patterns, colours or shapes.
This has shown how different the male and female brains are. Men are left-brain thinking. This means they think logically, systematically, practically; they focus on numbers and are good in map-reading. Women are right-brain thinking. They are creative, emotional, thoughtful and holistic; the focus is on communication. I took a test to see if I have a more female or male brain. The result was that I have a more female brain, but there were also some male oriented patterns.
For example, in the part “Spot the difference” I scored 71 %, which is an indicator for a female-thinking brain. Also the systemising score was very low; just 4 out of 20…again more female. But strangely enough my hands indicate that I am more left-brain oriented. For example, when I fold my hands the right thumb is on top. The test said about this: “This suggests the left half of your brain is dominant. Many studies have tried to establish whether there is a relationship between handedness and brain dominance. Some scientists believe that if you are left brain dominant, you would be more verbal and analytical.” Here you can try the test! More about the female and the male brain can be found here!
Of course we also had a group activity in this lesson! The task in our group was to compare two print ads for Gillette and analyse the difference in approach between the sexes. Afterwards, we had to present our results in a short Power Point presentation. We analysed two ads from Gillette. Our results for the male ad were the following:
Dark blue
Simple, shows the product
Straight to the point ~ limited text
No story behind the images
Celeb no.1 sportsmen used to appeal to men
Avoid bright colour- keeping it simple and sophisticated
The slogan reflects the celebs endorsement, which could encourage men to buy
As we analysed the ad for women we described it as:
Foreground image, focuses your attention to the woman
The logo is in contrast to the background
More complex images – scenery background
The product is only a small picture which makes the text stand out.
Model looks appealing, clean shaven, tanned, slim and confidant
Bright various colour scheme (main colours on product reflected in advert)
More complex slogan than men's advert.
The image brings the slogan to life and represents what the product is and does.
No celebrities, as the advert makes enough of a statement about product for itself.
All these differences between men and women have an important impact on the design and creation of advertisements and commercials. It is important to bear in mind that men and women communicate differently. Therefore, Schiebe & Condry examined gender differences in advertisements. They found out that in adverts for women other aspects and values where presented. Female adverts stressed out beauty and youth, whereas male adverts focussed on ambition and physical strength. Men also look for humour in ads, which is again different to the humour of women. In an article on WARC I found this quote: “Men are especially likely to look for humour in advertising, and their preferred style of humour can be rather different from women's (1, 2). Broadly, it is cruder, more outward-looking and more likely to be aggressive in character”. Here you can read this article, which takes a closer look on the behaviour of male customers.
In these two German Commercial for a beer you can see how different men and women behave. It is also an example for the “crude, aggressive” male humour;-)
If you are interested in the topic, you can read here more about gender differences. There are also lots of articles on WARC ;-)
So, this is the end of my blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed working on this. :-) Thanks to Ruth and the rest of the class; this was a very interesting and also funny module which provided a lot of new information and experiences!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Best wishes from Germany,
Rebecca
