Study: emotional advertising affects men

MONTREAL, March 30 (UPI) -- A study by the University of Western Ontario and Montreal's McGill University has suggested men and women do not react differently to emotional advertising.

Robert Fisher of the University of Western Ontario, and Laurette Dube of McGill University, suggest men might be every bit as sensitive as women.

"This study sought to expose study participants to advertising while in the presence of other males versus while in private," Fisher and Dube wrote. "Of particular interest is that when in private, males reported enjoying ads that were emotional and were related to 'love, warmth, tenderness, and sentimentality.'

"It is perhaps ironic that although females are stereotypically more 'emotional' than males, gender differences in private responses were not significant, and it was males who were sensitive to the expression of specific types of emotions in social environments."

The authors said the findings -- published in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research -- could effect how advertisers market products to men.