Media Multitasking, Advertising Appeals, and Gender Effects

Despite the knowledge that women engage more frequently in multitasking than men when using media devices, no study has explored how multitasking impacts the brand attitude of this target audience. The investigation of gender effects in the context of media multitasking would not only provide a better understanding of the individual elements which influence brand attitude in media multitasking situations but would also guide marketers in their targeting strategies. Likewise, the investigation of the role of advertising appeals follows the current call to concentrate on the role of advertising in media multitasking situations. To address these research gaps, the current research conducted two experimental studies to offer a new perspective on the impact of gender differences in processing styles (heuristic vs systematic processing) and their interaction with different advertising appeals (rational vs emotional appeals) on brand attitude in media single and multitasking. Study 1 employs an online experiment (gender x viewing situation x advertising appeal). Results demonstrate that media multitasking negatively affects brand attitude, and that women have a lower brand attitude in a media multitasking situation compared to a single tasking situation, while emotional advertisements neither strengthen nor attenuate the negative impact of media multitasking on brand attitude. Study 2 employs a more controlled online experiment (gender x viewing situation x advertising appeal) with a different product category. The results reveal a moderating effect on the influence of media multitasking on brand attitude, as mediated through attention toward the ad. Hence, attention toward the ad has been identified as underlying mechanism.