Cuteness is a popular aesthetic in product design, yet there is a lack of understanding of who is most likely to engage in cute consumption and, more importantly, why. In this dissertation, I consider the role of sex and gender identity in cute consumption, proposing a strong mental association between the constructs of cuteness, defined as the attributes of infants that elicit an adaptive, caregiving response in observers, and of femininity, defined as the traits, attitudes and behaviors ascribed to women. This association may be labelled the cute-feminine stereotype. I argue a salient association between cuteness and femininity exists due to the presence of multiple prominent perceptual (caregiving, warm) and visual (round shape, light colors) attributes that are strongly associated with both constructs. Based on social role theory, I propose that, as a result of this association, individuals of different sexes and gender identities – and, thus, relationships with the construct of femininity – will respond in distinct ways to cute offerings.Across four sets of studies and two individual studies (final N = 6,827), I investigate the cute-feminine stereotype and its impact on consumer behavior. I first identify individuals that are more likely to express positive attitudes toward cuteness: in line with a social role account of preferences for cuteness, on average, women (vs. men), individuals high (vs. low) in self-reported femininity, and those low (vs. high) in self-reported masculinity, express more positive attitudes toward cuteness. In line with the existence of a cute-feminine stereotype, both female and male participants exhibit a stronger implicit association between the concept of cuteness and that of female (vs. male). Similarly, both females and males applied the cute-feminine stereotype when predicting how consumers would evaluate real cute products, estimating greater liking and buying intentions for female (vs. male) consumers. In order to understand the social context in which cuteness is consumed, I then test how cute consumption impacts one’s perceived gender identity (how feminine/masculine others think you are), finding female consumers are perceived as more feminine and less masculine when they consume high (vs. low) cute products. Lastly, I highlight one maintenance mechanism of the cute-feminine stereotype: socialization, via the choice of toys for girls vs. boys. Together, these studies identify important consequences of the cute-feminine stereotype for consumer attitudes and behaviors. In doing so, this work contributes to the field of consumer behavior, sex and gender identity, and product aesthetics by providing a new lens with which to understand the antecedents and consequences of cute consumption: that of gender identity, with particular consideration given to the complex social experience of this evolving construct.

Creator

• Keller, Carolyn Wells

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-3r8h-vq36

Subject

• Marketing

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16128
• etdadmin_upload_912062

Keyword

• gender
• gender identity
• cute product
• identity
• cuteness
• sex differences

Date created

• 2022-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright