Gay-themed advertising in a cultural context

Sammanfattning: Abstract Aim: The purpose of this research is to investigate cultural differences in the perception of brand image when portraying gay lifestyle in advertising in Sweden and Spain. Approach: This study is based on a qualitative approach. One round of focus groups has been conducted, with one group of Spanish participants and one group of Swedish participants. The insights of each group have been analyzed and discussed with the support of existing literature. Findings: This research found that gay-themed advertising in combination with culture impacts the brand associations of values and user profile, as well as feelings towards a brand. Additionally, it was shown that gay-advertising does not necessarily affect usage situations and personal experience definitions, which may be more related to prior (or lack of) brand experiences. Originality/ value: The paper is first of its kind to investigate gay-themed advertising's impact on brand image among consumers in Sweden and Spain. Limitations: Only one round of focus groups was made, which provides limited insights for the discussion. Besides, the focus groups were very homogeneous; more differences in age and educational background would provide a better picture of the countries. Furthermore, the cultures comparison was based on Hofstede, which has a static view of culture; Using more dynamic approaches in future research may give a better understanding of each culture nuances. To end with, the conclusions of this paper are based on contemporary definitions of the assessed cultures. Keywords: Brand image, Brand feelings, Brand associations, Culture, Gay-themed advertising Paper type: Research paper