Influence of radio spokesperson gender and vocal pitch on advertising effectiveness: The role of listener gender

What is it about?

In radio advertising, there is a tendency to employ males in the belief that the male voice is more credible and effective. Because of this, advertising practice is encouraging gender discrimination in disregard of objective criteria. This paper analyzes the effects of spokesperson gender and vocal pitch and their interaction, as well as the effect of listener gender on effectiveness in relation to a radio spot for a non-gendered product (blood donation). We conducted a 2 (male–female voices)×2 (low-high vocal pitches)×2 (male–female listeners) experimental design via 4 radio programs in which we inserted a radio spot in a commercial block. A sample of 987 Spanish radio listeners was used. Our findings contrast with the existing practice in advertising of preferring male voices, highlighting the need for objective criteria in the selection of voices. In fact, the results shows that vocal pitch has a direct effect which is more significant than gender in terms of unaided recall. Additionally, the results of the interaction effect between spokesperson gender and vocal pitch reinforce the use of female voices, as low-pitched female voices are precisely the ones that generate more favorable attitudes toward the ad and the brand.

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