A CONCEPTUAL PAPER ON UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF MALAYSIAN FEMALE CONSUMERS ON ‘FEMVERTISING’

Female empowerment is a dynamic process that enable women to assess themselves in every aspect of their life. For female to be empowered, they must earn and nurture it internally in their social environment. One way to empower female is through communication, which provides a window of opportunity for women to embrace and create a life-altering experience. Advertising is recognized as a highly strategic instrument used by advertisers to persuade and influence consumers' attitudes toward a brand and/or product. Hence, advertisers began to shift attention and target female customers by integrating pro-female messages in advertisements as the support of women's empowerment became more prominent. This strategy is popularly referred as "femvertising", short for "female empowerment advertising". Over the years, femvertising has becoming increasingly prominent in the advertising industry particularly to brands targeting female consumers. As more and more brands adopted femvertising in their marketing strategy, the progressive growth of women’s role in society will be enhanced from time to time, ensuring that women are receptive to advertisement that reflects their inner desires. This study is a conceptual discussion on what are the perception of Malaysian female consumers on femvertising. The foundation for this research is gathered from thorough examination and analysis of the literature on female empowerment and femvertising. Albeit there are existing literatures on the study of gender-based or female empowerment in Malaysia, the topic on understanding female empowerment in advertising or femvertising is still limited.