Effects of Gay-Themed Advertising among Young Heterosexual Adults from U.S. and South Korea

Namhyun Um and Dong Hoo Kim
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Namhyun Um: School of Advertising and Public Relations, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Korea
Dong Hoo Kim: International School of Global Studies, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Korea

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Little research has been conducted to explain the effects of gay-themed advertising in a cross-cultural context. Such research has been particularly scarce in South Korea. This study is designed to investigate the effects of cultural orientation, gender, and types of gay-themed advertising in evaluation of gay male and female lesbian print ads. The study results indicate that Korean college students (i.e., collectivists) had lower tolerance of homosexuality than did U.S. college students (i.e., individualists). The study also finds that gender-role beliefs lead males to have lower tolerance of homosexuality. However, gender did not have statistically significant impacts on advertising and brand evaluation. Lastly, the study also found that lesbian imagery print ads could lead to greater tolerance of homosexuality and more favorable evaluations of the advertising and brand than could gay male imagery print ads. The current study sheds some light on the characteristics of U.S. consumers and Korean consumers on tolerance of homosexuality and gay-themed ads. Limitations and areas for further research are discussed.

Keywords: gay-themed advertising; gay; lesbian; tolerance toward homosexuality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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