Background:Brand gender is the set of human personality traits associated with masculinity and femininity applicable and relevant to brands. Brand gender perceptions can be affected through a range of different marketing techniques, to attract specific customers, and positively influence their consumer-brand relationships and their brand equity. Similar to past marketing techniques used by tobacco companies who targeted women with cigarettes using slogans such as “Torches of Freedom” and the message that smoking makes you slim, marketers are now trying to change consumer perceptions of snus, a tobacco product originating from Sweden, where a drastic increase in usage among women can be seen.  Problem: Previous literature on the topic of brand gender has mainly focused on products and product categories that are highly connected to consumers’ self-presentation. Current literature also expresses the need for future research to be done using specific brands and product categories. Researchers have also expressed the need for examination of brand gender in contexts of highly feminine cultures.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if LYFT’s marketing portrays a clear brand gender positioning and to see how consumers perceive gendered branding. The aim is to expand existing knowledge on brand love, brand gender congruence and brand-gender positioning, using a product category that is less connected to consumers’ self-presentation. To fulfil the purpose of this research, a content analysis of LYFT’s Instagram was conducted, followed by an analysis of regular users of snus to identify their perceptions and relationships with LYFT. Method: This study has followed a mixed-method approach, where a quantitative content analysis of LYFT’s Instagram has been executed, followed by eight qualitative semi-structured interviews of regular users of snus in the age range of 22-28 years in Sweden who are highly familiar with LYFT. The interviews were analysed following interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).  Results: The interview participants perceived LYFT’s typical customer, their communication, as well as their product attributes and benefits to be feminine, which was consistent with the results of the content analysis. Congruent with previous research, this study found that the typical user of the brand had the most significant effect on brand gender perceptions and that a strong brand gender positioning can enhance brand love. However, the study also found that female individuals were less likely to consume masculine products or product categories than what previous studies have claimed. This study is useful for marketing practitioners wanting to enhance their customer-brand relationships through clear brand gendering and shows the importance of utilizing marketing techniques such as social media to affect consumer perceptions of brand gender.

¡§Intergenerational (IG) appeal¡¨ is an ad focusing on the relationship between parents and children in order to enhance heritage image of a brand and facilitate the likelihood that parents introduce the brand to their sons and daughters. This study examines the application of IG appeal on advertising. An experimental study is conducted to examine the moderating effects of brand duration and (in)congruent brand-gender extension on the effect of IG appeal. The experiment in a 4 advertising appeal (IG appeal: male vs. female, non-IG appeal: male vs. female) x 2 brand duration (long vs. short) x 2 brand-gender extension (congruent vs. incongruent) factorial design is developed. A series of analysis of variance (ANOVA) are used to test the proposed hypotheses. Results of the experiment indicate that brand duration facilitates the effects of IG appeal. In addition, congruent brand extension increases the effects of IG appeal. More importantly, a three-way interaction is observed. In incongruent brand-gender extension, IG appeals used to present brands with short brand duration are more effective than Non-IG appeal. These findings should be incorporated into heritage branding when media campaign is developed to increase branding influences.

近年來，全球女性保養品市場呈現穩定成長，雖然保養品以往都被視為屬於「女性領地」的產品，但全球男性保養市場不僅從2012年起就持續成長，未來前景也是相當看好。 有別於以往以性別（sex）做為市場區隔，消費者的性別認同及性傾向，已逐漸被用於區隔目標消費者，且同性戀消費者更因為其相較於一般異性戀男性的消費能力較強，而被視為「夢幻市場 （Dream Market）」。然而，現今台灣在該領域相關的研究文獻，卻往往只探討生理性別，忽略生理性別和性別認同之間的落差，如此將導致與性別相關的行銷研究有扭曲或偏頗的現象。 因此本研究希望能將性別認同與性傾向等因素，納入研究消費者購買保養品行為之考量因素，彌補理論和實際狀況的落差，期能研究出不同性別認同、性傾向的消費者，對不同定位保養品購買意願的差異，並根據該研究結果，給予保養品廠商一些行銷上的建議，讓其在釐清品牌定位時更有方向，並以更有效率、更適切的方式與顧客溝通。 本研究將影響保養品的購買意願從「性別認同」、「性傾向」、「獨特性需求」、「從眾行為」、「產品涉入」、「在意社會觀感程度」、「品牌知覺」、「品牌性別」、「品牌態度」等九大方面著手。 本研究以問卷方式獲取初級資料，收獲有效問卷共 375份，經過統計迴歸分析後發現，「性別認同」、「在意社會觀感程度」、「品牌知覺」和「品牌態度」此四項，最顯著影響消費者購買保養品意願。另外，雖然「性傾向」並沒有對購買意願產生影響，但卻有可能透過「在意社會觀感程度」干擾購買意願。而還有其他顯著影響因素待於研究中一一闡述。 / Recently, the global market of female skin care products has grown a steady pace. Although, the skin care products are usually regarded as female products, the global market of male skin care products has grown fastly since 2012 and market analysts are optimistic about its future. In the past, we usually only use “sex” to segment a market, but gender identity and sexual orientation are gradually used to target customers now. Moreover, gay customers are regarded as a “Dream Market” because they have greater purchasing power than heterosexual men do. However, existing studies still tend to probe into sex and neglect the differences between sex and gender identity. Therefore, this research takes gender Identity and sexual orientation into consideration when conducting the behavior of purchasing skin care products, and the dependent variable” purchase intention” is leveraged by “Gender Identity”, “Sexual Orientation“, “Product Involvement”, “Need for Uniqueness”, “Conformity Behavior”, “the Degree of Concerning with Social Perception”, “Brand Attitude”, “Brand Gender”, “Brand Perception”. Among influential factors, “Gender Identity”, “the Degree of Concerning with Social Perception”, “Brand Attitude”, and “Brand Perception” contribute significantly to purchase intention. Although sexual orientation does not lead to purchase intention, it may affect purchase intention through influencing the factor of “the degree of concerning with social perception”. Other factors affecting the behavior of purchasing skin care products will be further discussed in this research.