Sex, race, and femininity: young Chinese females’ responses to lingerie advertising

AbstractAbstractThis study examines the effects of a lingerie model’s femininity (submissive vs. assertive), race (East Asian vs. Caucasian), and presence/absence (model-presence vs. product-only) on young Chinese female consumers’ advertising evaluation, body image, and gender role attitudes. Results from an experiment show that ads with lingerie models presenting assertive femininity (sexual subjects) receive more positive advertising evaluation but result in more traditional gender role attitudes than ads with those presenting submissive femininity (sexual objects). Caucasian lingerie models receive more positive advertising evaluation than East Asian lingerie models. Product-only lingerie advertisements are more positively evaluated and predict a more positive body image than lingerie advertisements with models. The findings of this study provide empirical support for feminist scholars’ critique of the postfeminist media culture and advertising use of sexual empowerment discourse, which paradoxically disempowers women.Keywords: Lingerie advertisingpostfeminismsexual empowermentracefemininity Disclosure statementThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.Data availability statementThe data will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by ‘the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities’ (No. 2020NTSS24).Notes on contributorsChen GanChen Gan is an Assistant Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University. Her research focuses on international advertising, global communication, media and gender. Her research has been published in journals such as International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Telematics and Informatics, among others.Hsuan-Ting ChenHsuan-Ting Chen is an Associate Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include new media technologies, media effects, and media psychology. Her research has been published in journals such as Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, and International Journal of Advertising, among others.Correction StatementThis article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.