Femvertising social marketing: a focus on perceived authenticity and perceived congruence of the advertising and consumers' attitudes toward female portrayal

Purpose - This research studies femvertising social marketing impact on their perceived congruence and authenticity; and attitudes toward female role portrayal cross-gender. Design/methodology/approach - This research used deductive quantitative research approach. Data were gathered during a sports event in Egypt made to support female empowerment; a local sports organization hosted 8K Women Race on February 26, 2022, applying a cross-sectional timeframe. The researcher approached both male and female segments with an administrated questionnaire to fill out through convenience sampling. Structural equation modeling path coefficient analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings - The research shows femvertising perceived congruence is insignificant cross-gender; femvertising perceived authenticity is significant to female segment, not the male segment; femvertising impacts female portrayal among male segment and female segment. Practical implications - The conclusions could be reference for stakeholders who have interest in women empowerment marketing strategies as brand activism; companies that look toward femvertising as effective tactic to enhance affirmative attitude and build an empowered female customer base. The results indicate that marketers can benefit from adapting a more mindful approach to the portrayal of females used in advertising. Originality/value - The addition of a cross-gender perspective on femvertising (as brand activism) is a key contribution to this literature. This study adds knowledge on the how perceived congruence and authenticity of the advertising can impact significantly attitude toward women empowerment; when brands promote social matters, their underpinning motives are under microscope among consumers, and adverse attributions can hinder brand performance as consumers may not believe the brands when they engage in the activism.