Abstract:

Consumers’ attitudes will be more positive when the product-model distance matches the advertising appeals on construal levels. 3 experiments were conducted to examine whether the matching effect depends on gender. Experiment 1 (the model on the left, the product on the right) showed that, under the near distance condition, purchase intention for feasible information was higher than for desirable information; result was contrast under the far distance condition. Experiment 2 (the model on the right, the product on the left) showed that female’s attitude toward products and purchase intention (males’) were higher than males’ (female’s) under the condition of far distance with desirable appeal (far distance with feasible appeal). Females’ attitude toward ad was higher than that of male at any distance. Experiment 3 (the model on the top, the product on the bottom) showed that the match effect existed in the distal condition for product attitude and purchase intention. Besides, females preferred desirable appeals, while males preferred feasible appeals. No mediating effect of processing fluency was found in the three experiments. In conclusion, there was a matching effect when the model was on the left and the product was on the right. This effect was moderated by consumer gender when the model was on the right and the product was on the left.

Key words: product-model distance, ad appeals, gender, consumer attitudes, construal level theory