Feminism and Advertising: Responses To Sexual Ads Featuring Women: How the Differential Influence of Feminist Perspectives Can Inform Targeting Strategies

ABSTRACT Recent studies indicate that U.S. consumers9 feminist attitudes can influence positively their evaluations of sexual images of women in advertisements. This study tested the generalizability of that finding in Korea—a country with a much different cultural background. Employing the Feminist Perspectives Scale, which provides a more complex view of feminist attitudes, the results reaffirm the positive effect of feminist attitudes in general but also show that consumers holding conservative and liberal feminist perspectives evaluated more favorably—and deemed more ethical—sexual advertisements featuring women, compared with consumers with a radical feminist perspective. In sum, feminist attitudes and their effects on responses to sexual advertisements are not monolithic and are somewhat counterintuitive—important information for marketers to consider.