Från anonym till androgyn: En kvalitativ studie om varumärkesgenus och androgynitet i varumärkeskommunikation

Sammanfattning: Traditional binary gender stereotypes are increasingly being challenged by gender fluid expressions in an ongoing global societal shift that is particularly noticeable in Sweden. Parallel with this societal change, previous research on how brands communicate gender expressions is also being challenged, which enables an increased number of brand gender positions. Although an androgynous brand gender position is described as the most favorable, it is so far relatively unexplored. From a management perspective, the study thus explores brand gender and how it can be expressed in brand communication, with a focus on androgynous brand gender. With a theoretical framework consisting of symbolic brand communication and a gender perspective on brand personality, the brand gender of two Swedish fashion brands is analyzed through a multimodal analysis from a social semiotic perspective. The analysis shows that one brand has an androgynous brand gender with masculine elements, and one has a partly androgynous and partly feminine brand gender. Based on this result, it is concluded that androgyny can be communicated in several different ways, and that the brand gender position is not necessarily determined by the product of the brand. Finally, the study supplies knowledge on how strategic communicators with communicative means can contribute to a favorable interpretation of a brand gender.