A Facebook IQ survey of 1,547 people has supported the idea that gender-positive messaging is effective among consumers.
The social network analysed a variety of different Facebook posts and found that 8-10% of US people responded more positively to brands that engaged in gender-positive advertising in the past year.
The research showed that 79% of women surveyed said they feel more positive when a brand promotes gender equality.
Similarly, 75% of men agreed, saying they also feel more positive towards gender equality messages from brands.
Facebook said: “Our analysis indicated that on average, Facebook posts about brands that shared gender-positive messaging were significantly more positive than those about brands that did so less or not at all.
“Our research also indicated that female empowerment is a particularly powerful advertising message among women.
“When we conducted an online survey of US consumers’ reactions to gender representation in ads, we found that women were 1.85x more likely to be interested in watching a movie trailer after seeing an ad featuring an image of a woman dressed as a firefighter versus an image of a woman dressed in revealing clothing.
“There was no significant difference between men’s reactions to the two ads.”
The survey concluded that advertising can also help to provide a powerful message for female empowerment.
This was supported by 75% of women, who said the most important thing brands could do to promote gender equality more would be to stop portraying women as sex symbols in adverts.
The Facebook researched suggested that marketers can capture consumers’ attention and help to contribute to the social good by sharing gender positive imagery and avoiding stereotypes.
Read more here.