A femvertising campaign always #LikeAGirl: video responses and audience interactions on YouTube

ABSTRACT

Research into the effects of femvertising on individuals and society is needed and the purpose of this study was to gauge the nature of the campaign ‘Always #LikeAGirl’, one of the most successful brand activism femvertising campaigns utilizing social media in recent times. Additionally, the study sought to assess the reactions the campaign elicited by examining the content of related videos that spread across YouTube. Through content analysis of 343 YouTube videos related to #LikeAGirl, this study observed the source and content of videos through features, such as tone, call-to-action, actor characteristics, settings, and activities, and the relationship between content and viewer response (number of views, comments, likes, and dislikes). The results indicate that the femvertising campaign spurred positive consumer discourse on the topic and inspired user generated content that supported the cause. Implications of such brand activism femvertising campaigns are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Femvertising campaigns
• viral campaigns
• brand activism campaigns
• gender portrayal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. 2p2 < .05, p < .01, p < .001 indicates that the result was statistically significant at the .05, .01, and .001 level, respectively.

2. 22Detailed2Chi-square2statistics2for2RQ42and2RQ8,2ANOVA2statistics2for2RQ52and2RQ9,2 t-test2statistics2for2RQ52will2be2provided2upon2request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hye Jin Yoon

Hye Jin Yoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Georgia. Her research interests are humour effects in advertising and social marketing. Her work has been published in the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research and Journal of Marketing Communications among others. Department of Advertising and Public Relations, University of Georgia, Athens, USA, [email protected]

Mina Lee

Mina Lee is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at the Kookmin University. Her research interests are social marketing and health communication. Her work has been published in the Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, American Journal of Health Communication and Journal of International Consumer Marketing, among others. School of Communication, Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea, [email protected]