O impacto do femvertising nas atitudes das consumidoras portuguesas

: o caso da Women’Secret

Abstract

Messages deconstructing gender stereotypes have become increasingly prevalent in advertising discourse around the world. Their expansion has been so great that the notion of femvertising, which mixes feminism with advertising and encourages constructive communication between brands and women, was developed in 2015. Nonetheless, despite specialists claiming the efficiency of this method in the field of communication, disagreements regarding its application have surfaced. In this context, a case study of the brand Women’secret takes place, with the goal of understanding the impact of femvertising on the attitudes of Portuguese female consumers toward the brand. A mixed-method approach was chosen for this purpose, incorporating, as exploratory techniques, five interviews and content analysis of advertisements; and, as primary techniques, two surveys targeting brand consumers - one featuring a femvertising advertisement and the other without femvertising - to allow us a comparison of reactions to the phenomenon. The analysis of responses from 389 consumers allowed us to firstly identify the criteria recognized by brand consumers in femvertising ads - Messages in favor of women, Minimization of sexuality, Use of diversity, and Coherence. Second, it highlighted the most prevalent emotions evoked – Trust and Bonding. Finally, it investigated their impact on customer purchasing intentions. The results revealed that employing this strategy can have a positive impact in this regard, although it is understood that a single advertisement does not have a very pronounced influence.

Date of Award	14 Dec 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandre Duarte (Supervisor)