Normative Gender roles, Ideology and Environmental Sustainability: ~How the ideas of gender roles and ideologies are represented in vehicle advertisements?~

A person’s consumer behaviors matters for environmental sustainability. Although may have little impact, a personal decision of choosing eco-friendly products can help to reduce emissions of pollution and wastes and can eventually create a better environment for future generations. In order to promote a sustainable consumer behavior, marketing strategy plays a crustal issue. Particularly, there seems to be different preferences between women and men. One empirical research suggests that men choose products of having better functions while women choose products which are more eco-friendly. This research concluded that these differences in choices came from personality differences. But, is this the only factor?

In this research paper, we will add the new perspectives to previous empirical study, which pursue how normative gender norms and ideologies can give a better understanding of relations between gender and sustainable consumer behavior. We will analyze eight of vehicle commercials in the U.S in order to answer this question.