The impact of purchase context and gendered packaging on consumer behavior towards skincare products

Abstract

Historically, cosmetics have been predominantly associated with women, resulting in a feminine stereotype regarding this industry. Consequently, men's consumption of cosmetics, that deviates from social norms, can be seen as a potential threat to their gender identity and can subject them to social judgments and challenges in maintaining desired identities. This dissertation explores the impact of social exposure, in three different purchasing contexts, and the gender of the product packaging on consumer behavior, particularly men, for repairing serums. A study was conducted where participants were randomly assigned to one of the purchase context scenarios, online with social exposure, online or offline. Within each scenario, the intentions towards two different repairing skincare products with different packaging, one male and one gender-neutral, were evaluated. Additionally, participants reported the perceived influence of social judgment and other psychological variables, such as the importance of gender and appearance. The results indicate the existence of gender differences in the attitudes towards skincare and repairing serums. While some variations across different purchase contexts were observed, the gender of the packaging emerged as a critical determinant, along with the importance of appearance and gender. These findings offer relevant insights for developing marketing strategies tailored to the male audience, encompassing the gender of packaging and the contextual aspects of purchasing cosmetics products.

Date of Award	28 Jun 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Niza Braga (Supervisor)