Femvertising: The effect of female athlete representation on purchase intention in Under Armour consumers

In the last couple of decades, there has been a spike in brands taking part in social and political initiatives and movements, to try and be special, different, and more engaging with their customers. Femvertising has taken the advertising world by storm, and it's defined as a category of advertising which utilizes pro-female messages, imagery, and talent to empower women and girls, (Toonen, 2016). The main focus of this style is to enable women and give them a voice. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of femvertising or female empowerment advertisements and female athletes' representation on purchase intention in Under Armour consumers. A total of 7 variables were used to construct a model for this study. Moreover, this quantitative study had a sample size of 524 respondents to a 56-question survey that was used to collect data. The results indicate that there's a positive effect for female-empowering advertisements that portray females powerfully, and support them breaking their traditional mold. To continue, it affects the customers purchase intention and their willingness to pay more money, and accept a premium price for the products and services advertised through femvertising ads. On top of that, the results also showed that if consumers find a femvertising ad credible, and they have a positive connection and relation to it, then that increases their purchase intention and willingness to pay extra for the products.