Effects of brand awareness and feminist message level in femvertising: An experimental study

Femvertising is a general advertisement term that builds awareness of women's issues, rights, and gender equality. This particular type of advertisement is used by brands with the expectation that it will be effective on women, especially women with high levels of feminism. This study aims to determine the effects of brand awareness and the level of feminist messages on brand trust, word of mouth (WoM), attitude toward advertisements, and purchase intention. To achieve this aim, a 2 × 2 experimental design was used to manipulate the level of brand awareness and the level of feminist messages in the advertisement. A total of 405 women with high feminist attitudes participated in the experiment. Data analyses revealed that brand awareness exerts a positive effect on brand trust, but the level of feminist messages does not exert any significant effect on either brand trust or purchase intentions. Furthermore, data analyses showed that less familiar brands can achieve more positive results in attitude toward advertising and WoM if they use strong feminist messages in their advertisements, compared to well-known brands.