welcome to solve it like a marketer today we are looking at gender roles in consumer behavior don't go away [Music] so gender identity is a very important component of consumer behavior especially as it applies to a consumer's self-concept now studies show that people tend to conform to a culture's expectations as it pertains to the norms of a of gender conformity now of course these norms change over time and greatly differ across societies it's also unclear to what extent gender differences are innate versus culturally shaped but what is for sure is that they're important when it
comes to consumption decision making now it's a fact and a rather unfortunate one that today's marketers still tend to reinforce cultural expectations regarding the correct way for boys and girls men and women to look and act so check out this pretty typical ad for action figures boys will be boys but what about the girls action figures could be fun for everyone or how about this classic barbie commercial looks like fun right but apparently boys are not allowed to partake in barbie's shiny glow finally a pretty typical beer commercial featuring the boys getting together after a
game for some cool beers but what about the women's team don't they get to drink beer as well or are they stuck with just a round of surely temples i think i made my point but many marketing campaigns are in the habit of reinforcing stereotypes not helpful but let's move on gender role identity is a state of mind as well as body a person's biological gender male or female does not totally determine whether he or she will exhibit sex-typed traits or characteristics stereotypically associated with one gender or the other now a behavior considered masculine in
one one culture might not be viewed as such in another for example the idea that males especially in north america need to show strength at all times and avoid touching the same sex is actually not so in some other cultures likewise in north america much of the wealth and power is centered around men but in other cultures women are at the top of the social hierarchy so it's important to always bear in mind if you are expanding your business outside your own country what are the social norms in your culture but what are the social
norms in the countries that you're actually branching out to now an interesting area worth mentioning is androgyny androgyny refers to the possession of both masculine and feminine traits therefore androgynous people possess a mixture of characteristics that allow them to function in a variety of social situations androgyny can really open up new markets products don't need to be separated into one or the other marketers need to think outside the box and expand the reach of their target audience now companies really have to get out of the habit of selling to either one gender or the other
society is moving fast towards more of a blend in terms of products and how these are perceived by consumers another flourishing audience is the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community as consumers so one study of readers of gay publications found that compared to heterosexuals these readers are almost 12 times more likely to hold professional jobs twice as likely to own a vacation home and eight times more likely to own a notebook computer so there's also some research that found that a large number of this segment have a higher education are more concerned about physical fitness
and self-improvement and are much more likely to be self-employed so suffice to say this is an extremely important audience who has disposable income to spend now my challenge to you is to think about your product or service and determine if it's being targeted to a more male or female audience are you actually shooting yourself in the foot as it were by excluding the other as i mentioned our society is becoming more and more fluid by nature so i think it's important that you can be inclusive or at least not follow the standard marketing stereotypes approach
my final word on this is that as marketers we need to be mavericks we have the power to change public attitudes if we choose to reinforce current attitudes that blue is for boys and pink is for girls then we're not aiding society in progressing beyond current norms we need to push boundaries and this goes for all areas of marketing from everyday physical products to movies and sports and the list goes on only then can we help change societal attitudes for the better if you'd like to see more videos like this hit that subscribe button we'll
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