INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

Marketing Research Project Report

Date: November 27, 2019

Prepared by:

Riya Bhalla - 17116060

V.Tanusree - 17116077

Kirthi Moulika - 17116032

Neha Bobde - 17312017

Submitted to:

Prof. Jogendra Kumar Nayak

 Disclaimer
The data that is used in this report has been obtained by the survey
conducted by the team. Every possible care has been taken to ensure that
the data is correct, consistent and complete as far as possible. Due to the
constraint of the time and resources, we do not take guarantee of the
possibility of errors and omissions etc. in this data and in the report
preparation. Each and every detail of these results depend on the answers
given by the people themselves and the team does not hold any
responsibility for that. Use of contents of this report can be made only with
due permission from the team.
CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Background
3. Literature Review
4. Introduction
5. Problem statement
6. Hypothesis
7. Research Methodology
7.1 Research Approach

7.2 Research Design

7.3 Questionnaire design

7.4 Scaling and Sampling

8. Data Collection
9. Data Analysis
10. Results
11. Conclusion
12. Limitation of study
13. Acknowledgement
14. References
1. Abstract
The objectives of all businesses are to make profits and a merchandising concern
can do that by increasing its sales at remunerative prices. This is possible, if the
product is widely polished to be shown to the final consumers, channel members
and through convincing arguments they are persuaded to buy it. Publicity makes a
thing or an idea known to people. It is a general term indicating efforts at mass
appeal. Sales of most of the products, is particularly affected by using a man or a
woman in the advertisements of those products. Therefore, in our project we are
studying the effect of gender on advertisement that is if we want to make an
advertisement of any product then what will be the effect on sales if we use a
man or a woman for the same. For example, take advertisement of say protein
shake in which generally men are portrayed because of pre-build stereotypes
about men (i.e. strong, masculine etc.) we are trying to study that will the sales of
protein shake will increase or decrease or will remain same if a woman would
have been used in place of man in the same advertisement.

2. Background
We all are very much familiar with the advertisements which are being made
from past few years and also influence a customer for buying any product. Most
of the time for some specific products companies prefer a specific gender for
promoting their products via advertisements, due to which there exists some
stereotypes of both men and women. Such men are portrayed as having mean
expression on face, gripping things tightly with hands, hands in pockets, strong,
masculine etc. whereas women are portrayed soft, caring etc.

So, one question arose in our mind that will it affect an advertisement or sales of
that product if we use a man instead woman (or vice versa)??
3. Literature Review
Gender role effectiveness in an advertisement can be defined as the extent to
which advertising generates a certain desired effect.
Researchers have been interested in determining the impact of different gender
portrayal in advertisement. A lot of research has been previously done on the
effect of gender role on advertisements. The researches which were conducted in
India are somewhat limited in scope. In one of the studies, Mathew (1990)
focused only on how the Indian male market could be segmented and the kind of
male role portrayals preferred by each segment. Munshi (1999) examined the
portrayal of Indian housewives in television ads in India whereas Mallika (2000)
examined the portrayal of men and women in Indian magazine advertisements. In
another study by Das (201 1), representation of female in television
advertisements were reviewed and analyzed.
On the basis of these researches we have made a survey to identify and relate the
effect of gender in advertisements i.e.; effect of women and men playing a certain
role in advertisement. The overall purpose of the study is to assess and
understand the gender role portrayals in advertising.

4. Introduction
The main motive of advertisements is to attract various groups of people and
increase the sales of the product. Advertising frequently uses gender roles to
promote products. Gender has not only been used as one of the basis of market
segmentation but also emerged as one of the most preferred advertising
strategies to market products. But advertisement is not an easy thing to make, it
will cost a lot. Measuring the effects of gender advertising is very important since
heavy amount of investments are made on advertising. Gendered advertising
beliefs, attitudes, and consumer behavior patterns exist, it is vital for advertisers
to recognize them, understand them, and use them to design gender‐specific
advertisements. For example, in advertisements related to baby products, sanity
products, kitchen utensils etc. mainly women are represented in advertisements
as it will be more effective if women are portrayed in these advertisements than
men. Rather men are portrayed in advertisements related to responsibilities,
education etc. McArthur and Resk (1975) found that overall, men appeared more
often than women in TV advertisements and men and women differed in terms of
the following:

1. Credibility – men being authorities and women users;

2. Role – women are portrayed in terms of their relationships to others and while
men’s role is perceived as independent of others.
3. Location – men are shown in occupational settings and women in the home.
4. Rewards – women were shown obtaining approval of family and males.
5. Product type – men were authorities on products used primarily by women

In the survey and the analysis done by us, we have explored the relationship
between gender portrayal in advertisements and increase in the sales of the
product due to a particular gender portrayal in the advertisements.

5. Problem Statement
If an advertisement has a person in it, the gender of that person plays a very
crucial role in influencing customers towards the product in the advertisement.

6. Hypothesis
Ho: Presence of male or female in an advertisement has no influence the likeliness
of people towards buying the product and hence its sales.
H1: Presence of male or female in an advertisement has influence in likeliness of
people towards buying the product and its sales.
7. Research Methodology
Research design specifies the methods and procedures for collection of requisite
information and its measurements and analysis to arrive at certain meaningful
conclusion at the end of the proposed study. We conducted this research with the
help of questionnaire which were asked through google forms which were wide
spread to possible limit. Obtaining information through internet has many
advantages like respondents feel anonymity so that sensitive information can be
obtained and even the cost is less.

7.1 Research Approach

We have used the deductive approach for our study.

Reason for choosing this approach: Gender roles in society means how we’re
expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct ourselves based upon our
assigned sex. For example, girls and women are generally expected to dress in
typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are
generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold. In this way we have some
initially generated theories about gender. We are trying to deduce that is there
any effect of using a male/female role in an advertisement.

7.2 Research Design

Type of Research design: Descriptive design. Descriptive method of research

design was chosen for this because this research is marked by prior formulation of
specific hypothesis which is already mentioned and is preplanned. It helps to
generate a conclusive result which is required in this case.

7.3 Questionnaire design

Here we have briefly discussed the basic characteristics and the design approach
that we followed while designing the set of questions during the conduct of the
research.
a) Questionnaire Size
To provide the respondent with sufficient incentive for filling up the survey, the
size of the survey was kept relatively moderate with a total of 13 questions.
Although a larger size might have made the research less prone to errors and
must have produced good results but this would have come at the cost of lesser
number of responses. But with the given size of the survey itself, we were able to
collect a decent amount of 158 responses in total and were able to determine
good results.

b) Basic Information Questions

Out of the 13 questions asked in the survey, there were around 3 questions
dedicated to collecting basic personal and demographic information about the
respondent. These questions included asking them about their age, gender and
employment. All of them were multiple choice questions with four alternatives
highlighting different categories.

c) Deciding the order of questions

The order in which questions are placed is another important thing that
determines the number of responses a researcher might receive in a survey. So,
the questionnaire started by asking the respondents about their familiarity with
the advertisements of the products mentioned and whether they have familiarity
with the usage of the products in real life. Then the questionnaire continued with
main questions with which they actually analysis is made. It is done to create a
passage for the respondents instead asking questions directly which can cause
bias or confusion.

d) Maintaining Anonymity of the respondent

Privacy is always a big concern while conducting data collection from the
respondents. As it can be inferred from the above discussed points that the
questions which we asked might have been slightly sensitive for the user to
respond to. Hence, we maintained full anonymity in our questionnaire for the
survey. Respondents at no point were asked to reveal their name, email address,
etc. thereby ensuring that the respondents complete the entire survey and not
just leave it in between for privacy reasons.

7.4 Scaling and Sampling

Target Population: The target population for this particular study was people who
are available for the research

Sample size: The total sample size for this particular research is 230 data points.

Sampling technique: Convenience sampling technique of Non-probability

sampling was used to identify respondents for inclusion in the sample. This
sampling technique is used as we are selecting people as respondents who are
convenient for us to reach through survey forms. These respondents mainly
include friends, family. Ratio scale is used in this questionnaire.

Scaling: The respondents were asked to remark the extent to which they agree
with a particular statement on a scale of 1 to 10.

8. Data Collection
Data collection is a term used to describe a process of preparing and collecting
data Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources,
that has been systematically observed, recorded, organized.

Data collection consists of two methods of collecting data they are:

i. Primary data

ii.Secondary data

Primary data: The data which are collected from the field under the control and
supervision of an investigator Primary data means original data that has been
collected specially for the purpose in mind This type of data are generally afresh
and collected for the first time It is useful for current studies as well as for future
studies for example: your own questionnaire. In our research we have prepared a
questionnaire for data collection.

Secondary data: Gender advertising is a form of tool in advertising. It is based on

what are the acceptable and non-acceptable temperaments, abilities, skills,
activities and behaviors of both genders in real life.

It is cited in a paper that,

“Whilst all participants identified with the role of mums and dads in adverts, this
was strongest amongst those who were parents with children living at home.
Overall, participants felt that mums and dads were often shown in stereotypical
ways. For example, participants felt that it was stereotypical to show the female
or mum in a cleaning, tidying or cooking role. Whilst this was considered a typical
and old-fashioned stereotype, it was also considered by many to be reflective of
real-life roles in many families. “

In similar way dads were often showed in case of responsibility, decision maker,
strength.

The below table also shows that in total number of advertisements of a product
category the ratio of male and female used in their commercials.
9. Data Analysis
A) Hypothesis t-test:
Size of sample= Number of responses=184
we use Paired sample t-test to test our hypothesis.
Using level of significance=5%
(i) Data of sample age, gender, occupation
(ii) Received response for protein shake
Table 1: Mean and variance of ratings of protein shake advertisement in presence of
men/women

Table 2: Correlation between ratings of protein shake advertisement in presence of

men/women
 Table 3: Paired sample test for two means

The calculated mean difference t value is 9.996 for protein shake advertisement.
This t value lies outside the acceptance region (2.447 to 3.651) of null hypothesis.

(iii) Received responses for Johnson baby-

Table 4: Mean and variance of ratings of Johnson baby advertisement in presence of
men/women
 Table 5: Correlation between ratings of Johnson baby advertisement in presence of
men/women

Table 6: Paired sample test for two means

The calculated mean difference t value is -12.303. for Johnson baby

advertisement. This t value lies outside the acceptance region (-4.042 to -2.926)
of null hypothesis.

(iv) Responses to general question-

B) Chi-square test of independence:
We Performed Chi square test to test if the likelihood of product and the
gender depicted in its advertisement are significantly independent since
both product category and gender category belong to non-metric data.

Table 7: Frequency of options selected in 12th question.

Table 7: Frequency of options selected in 13th question.

Table 8: Cross tabulation of the survey data

Table 9: Chi-Square calculation for above cross tabulation

 The calculated chi-square value for this cross tabulation is 205.2978 which
is greater than the table value of chi-square at 5% level of significance, df=3
(degrees of freedom) which is equal to 7.815.

10. Results
A) Hypothesis testing
Advertisement 1: Protein shake
From the data analysis it is observed that the calculated t (=9.996) value lies
outside the acceptance region (2.447 to 3.651) of null hypothesis.
Hence, null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected which proves that presence of male or
female in an advertisement has influence in likeliness of people towards buying
the product and hence its sales.
Advertisement 2: Johnsons baby
From the data analysis it is observed that the calculated t (=-12.303) value lies
outside the acceptance region (-4.042 to -2.926) of null hypothesis.
Hence, null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected which proves that presence of male or
female in an advertisement has influence in likeliness of people towards buying
the product and its sales.

B) Chi-square test
From the data analysis it is observed that chi-square value for this cross tabulation
is 205.2978 which is much greater than the table value of chi square at 5% level of
significance, df=3(7.815).
Hence there is a dependence in presence of male or female in an advertisement
and the likeliness of the product which means that gender in an advertisement
and product sales are not independent.
Null Hypothesis(Ho) is rejected.
11. Conclusion
After properly analyzing the sample data obtained as given above it is proved that
null hypothesis we assumed is rejected. Which means that the presence of
particular gender in an advertisement is a factor of influence on consumers. The
collected data also shows that most of the respondents choose women in
advertisements related to care (Johnson baby), beauty (tanishq jewellery) and
men in advertisements related to strength (protein shake), physical labour
(ambuja cement). In a similar way if research is done including more number of

categories like electronics, domestic products, policies, sanity the results will most
probably show that the portrayal of women in advertisements related to
domestic products, sanity and men in advertisements related to electronics,
policies generate a greater influence on the viewers.

12. Limitation of study

Our research on Gender and Advertisement is limited. Since our research included
mostly students and their family members, there were not many options available
for enquiry due to communication issues and limited public reach. This makes our
sample limited and does not represent the small-scale version of the population.

13. Acknowledgment
We are really grateful because we managed to complete our marketing research
survey within the time given by the Professor Jogendra Nayak. This survey cannot
be completed without the effort and co-operation from our group members,
Group members’ Neha Bobde, Riya Bhalla, Kirthi Moulika, V. Tanusree. We also
sincerely thank our professor of IBM-306 Marketing Research, Jogendra Nayak for
the guidance and encouragement in conducting this survey and also for teaching
us in this course. Last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to our
friends and respondents for the support and willingness to spend some time with
us to fill in the questionnaires.

14. References
● NPTEL Course on Marketing Research for Surveying Techniques and
Hypothesis Testing Techniques.
● http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/6391/volumes/v12/NA-12
● https://www.academia.edu/1115940/Men_women_and_TV_Ads_The_repr
esentation_of_men_and_women_in_the_advertisements_of_Pakistani_el
ectronic_media?auto=download
● https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/questionnaire-design
● https://www.statisticssolutions.com/hypothesis-testing/
● https://www.statisticssolutions.com/using-chi-square-statistic-in-research/