Gender differences in advertising

Today's topic was very interesting and funny too. We talked about gender differences in advertising. Ruth showed us some slides with many different adverts on. When the slides had finished she ask us to write down as many adverts we possible could remember. Most recognizable adverts were famous one such as Nike, Gillette, Armani and Sarah Jessica Parker fragrance.

Boys could remember those adverts which represented cars, sport, alcohol, nudity, beautiful women, humour etc.




Woman in turn to man remembered ad with perfumes, kids, celebrities, handsome man, etc.

"Men and women process information differently because of differences in a portion of the brain called the splenium, which is much larger in women than in men, and has more brain-wave activity" (Ibid).


"The human brain, like the human body, is sexed, and differences in the sex-specific human brain condition a wide range of behaviors that we typically associate with maleness or femaleness" (Nadeau, p. 330)


Bright colours, famous brands and celebrities, fun, happiness, straight message, contrast there are some of reasons why we pay attention to those adverts.

Women are complex beings. They tend to be emotionally expressive, laugh, gaze, and smile more, at the same time they are empathetic and sensitive to others feelings. Women express their feelings without constraint, except for the emotion of anger and express more love, fear, and sadness. They pay more attention to body language, tend to more obsessed with having children. They are better at judging emotions from nonverbal communication and anticipate negative consequences for expressing anger and aggression.

Men tend to express more anger quickly, in certain situations they have the ability to control their feelings, and also exercise restraint from expressing their feelings. This suggest men are sometimes stoic. Men are overwhelmed by women's expressions of emotion, but will frequently show emotions to communicate dominance. In some cases men can show as much sensitivity as women.