The Importance of Images When Marketing to Women

I had an interesting discussion with a client about an image on her website.   I felt the image did not fit with the "brand" of her company.   It was a close up of a naked woman's lower face and shoulders.  She had one hand placed across her chest, her chin was slightly lowered and her shoulders slightly hunched.   

To me, the image conveyed "vulnerability".   This went against the "strong, take control" image of the brand.   In the end, I lost the battle.  It was just my opinion.

But what stayed with me was the power of that image.   It got me thinking, when marketing to women, do images matter even more than when marketing to men?   I don't think so when speaking of images in general.  HOWEVER - when that image is of a person, I think it does matter more.

Studies have shown women are better at recognizing facial emotions than men.  In The Female Brain, author Louann Birzendine, MD talks about female infants need for eye contact.   Women may be wired to pay more attention to facial expressions.  Women pay close attention to, and are better at deciphering emotion.

Three things have my mind whirring......

I've always been turned off by most fashion photography because the women look like they are just friggin miserable.  It's usually just a picture of a model, alone, wearing the product with a blank or slightly miserable expression.  I can't connect with the bored, superior, fake, pissed off, unhappy models in these ads.

I've always been drawn to images with more than one person.   I want to know what the interaction is between the people in the image.   I want to understand their relationship.

I've always loved the photographs of Annie Leibovitz.    They tell stories. (think of her famous photograph of John Lennon lying naked in the arms of Yoko Ono)

I've got a lot of research to do here, but my hypothesis is - if you are marketing to women, pay special attention to the use of images using people.   Pay close attention to the emotions on their faces.   Include more than one person so she will be intrigued by the relationship.  And, use images that tell stories.  This combination should lead to more effective marketing to women.

That's my hypothesis.   I'll keep you posted on my research.   In the meantime - do you have any opinions or theories about women and images in advertising?  I'd love to hear them.

Comments

[Bryan Eisenberg]

Holly,

This past week the you'll find some eyetracking research that shows how men and women look at a newspaper image of George Brett. Scroll down a bit on this page http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070312ruel/

Bryan

[Sonya Neblett]

Hi Holly,

I was really interested in this post because I feel pretty much the same way you do about the images that are portrayed especially in fashion advertisements and the effect on women - bored, can't relate, etc. And I followed the link on eyetracking results. I have to say, "WOW!" I was astounded at the difference between men and women. Then I laughed out loud!!! You were right on the money with your hypothesis.

[Mary Schmidt]

And, even the models look terrible in the so-called fashions. Off-putting and boring!

Show me "real" people thank you. Not air-brushed perfection (We women know how much work it takes to look that good, and it includes spackling on about three layers of makeup, not good in the real world.)

[Margaret Banford]

I have to say, in my case, the whole debate is moot. Advertising, whether it involves faces or not, is completely wasted on me - happily, perhaps, I am immune to most forms of advertising. I think the entire advertising/fashion campaign is stupid, and, in the places where it involves women or men taking their clothes off, disgusting. But that is my opinion.

[BetaCandy]

I don't know whether women are MORE tuned into facial expressions, but it would make biological sense: men can rely on brute strength if they realize too late someone's angry enough to attack them, but women need to be more cagey and strategic to avoid trouble. I'm just talking in animal terms here, not applying any larger social context.

I react to models the way your do. They look vapid at best, unhappy at worst, and those are turn-off emotions to me. I was just going through IMDB earlier, thinking what a kick I get out of seeing a pic of an actor who plays serious characters grinning ear to ear in an out of character moment. I just get this happy feeling of, "Ah, that's the real person."

I think that's why I adore the Robert Goulet Emerald Nuts ad - I feel like he's genuinely enjoying himself in that commercial, and that sticks with me.

[rachel Moss]

This subject is interesting for me as I am a woman and am just about to launch an Image Consultancy company in London. My image/logo will be of a man and woman facing each other done in a stylised way and not real people. firstly i want my services (personal shopping, colour analysis,styling etc) to appeal to both men and women but also I felt that there had to be some kind of 'interaction' between them and not just a sterile pose of a woman and therefore making it look as though it was only accessible for women..all your comments have been interesting. I do however believe, that advertising whether its good or bad has a powerful effect on people and whether they choose to buy something or not. there must be a sub-concious process that takes place, whether we like it or not that if you see the face of Gisele Bundchen for e.g the supermodel backing a brand be it a watch, car or piece of luggage then one is 'buying into' that whole image and thats what they want isnt it? I personally am not swayed to buying any single thing unless i can afford it (well most of the time!) but the power of advertising is enormous and must surely use every physcological trick in the book to boost sales amongst us..after all thats the whole point of advertising. Thanks for listening..Rachel Moss London 6th May2007

[Peter Kohan]

As someone who has worked in the recording industry for 10 years the images of women (and men) record labels perpetuate has led to a dumbing down of artistic talent as well. Every young, female artist (especially in pop and R&B music) is not just attractive, but "supermodel gorgeous" Think about it: Beyonce, Mariah, Shakira, Jessica Simpson, Amerie, Gwen Stefani, Fergie, The Pussycat Dolls, Christina Aguilera. I could go on.

But throughout the history of recorded music the female vocalists held in the highest esteem in genres such as R&B, rock, and jazz - have mostly been women who got by on their vocal talent, not their physical assets: Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carole King, Chaka Khan, Martha Wash, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Mama Cass, Janis Joplin, Christine McVie, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, and so on and so forth.

Once MTV became de rigeur marketing for record labels female artists who weren't model thin became almot extinct. The most egregious examples of this happened when Martha Wash provided vocals for both C+C Music Factory and Black Box, but the groups and the labels used much thinner models in the videos lip-synching her vocal parts.

Now we have this whole breed of automoton singers with very little individuality and a drought of humanity and soul. Image is everything. That's how Paris Hilton can land a record deal with Warner Music Group.

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