The three rules of crossing over from gay media to mainstream media advertising: lesbians, lesbians, lesbians

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

“…As posited in this study, females had higher tolerance of homosexuality than males. The result supported the notion that gender-role beliefs lead males to demonstrate a lower tolerance of homosexuality (Herek 1988;Oakenfull and Greenlee 2004;Kite and Whitley 1996). However, gender did not influence attitudes toward the gay-themed advertising or the advertised brand.…”

“…In general, heterosexuals are likely to have more positive attitudes toward lesbians than toward homosexual males (Oakenfull and Greenlee 1999). Oakenfull and Greenlee (2004) found that heterosexual consumers more favorably view ads depicting lesbians than those depicting homosexual males. In addition, heterosexual males could perceive gay-themed ads featuring lesbian couples as "erotic," leading to more favorable ad and brand evaluation than those featuring a homosexual male couple (Louderback and Whitley 1997).…”

Past, Present, and Future of Gay and Lesbian Consumer Research: Critical Review of the Quest for the Queer Dollar

“…Findings indicate that additional segmentation of this consumer group may be required to account for its inherent heterogeneity, and practitioners should be cautious of their overuse of gay male imagery as it can alienate lesbian consumers who do not identify with the depicted gender or the explicit sexual nature of the ad (Oakenfull, ). In a deeper exploration of the phenomenon, Oakenfull and Greenlee () used an exclusively heterosexual sample to examine the extent to which a participant's gender, the gender of the same‐sex couple in the homosexual ad imagery, and the level of intimacy (i.e., overt vs. subtle) between the same‐sex couple in the ad influence heterosexual participants’ attitudes toward the ad. The gender of the consumer viewing the ad was shown to impact attitude toward the ad; heterosexual males perceived overt depictions of gay male intimacy more negatively than they perceived ads featuring overt lesbian intimacy, while no difference was found between heterosexual females’ attitudes toward either overtly gay male or overtly lesbian ad imagery (Oakenfull & Greenlee, ).…”

Am I In? Influence of Viewers’ Race and Sex on Image Appeal for Higher Education Advertising

“…As previous advertising research guided by SIT has shown, advertisement effectiveness is impacted by model representation: consumers responded stronger to in-group images whether the variable of interest was race, ethnicity, sex, or sexual orientation (Bhat, Leigh & Wardlow, 1998;Burgess, 2003;Elias, Appiah & Gong, 2011;Hester & Gibson, 2007;Leigh, Rethans & Whitney, 1987;Merskin, 2001;Oakenfull & Greenlee, 2004;Scott, 1994;Tuten, 2005;Whittler, 1991;Williams & Qualls, 1989). SIT has been tested in a variety of mass communication studies today, but the theory has received pushback within the field of social psychology (Abrams & Hogg, 1988;Blanz, Mummendey, Mielke & Klink, 1998;Brown, 2000;Brown & Ross, 1982;Doosje, Spears & Koomen, 1995;Grant, 1993;Lemyre & Smith, 1985;Mummendey et al, 1992;Perreault & Bourhis, 1998;Roccas & Schwartz, 1993;Rubin & Hewstone, 1998).…”