Women remain underrepresented in technology professions, and advertising design may play a role in shaping their engagement with training opportunities. Prior research shows that visual design and gender cues influence perceptions, belonging, and motivation in male-dominated fields. In particular, colors affect emotional responses, involvement, and purchase intentions, especially when paired with promotion-focused messages.
The present research examined how advertisement color interacts with gender and implicit sadness to influence involvement and purchase intention in the context of programming course promotions. We proposed two hypotheses: (H1) gender moderates the effect of advertisement color on consumer involvement; (H2) gender and implicit sadness jointly moderate the indirect effect of advertisement color on purchase intention via involvement.
We conducted a pretest and two studies with U.S. based native English speakers recruited from Prolific. In the pretest, participants rated colors, fonts, and computer images for gender associations. In Study 1, participants viewed one of three ad versions (gray, purple, or blue), then reported their involvement, purchase intention, and impressions; open-ended responses were analyzed using MAXQDA. In Study 2, participants viewed revised ads and answered similar questions while their facial expressions were recorded and analyzed using Affectiva AI software to capture subtle, implicit emotional reactions.
Results supported moderated mediation (PROCESS Model 12). Gender significantly predicted purchase intention through involvement. Among women, gray ads increased involvement and purchase intention, while blue ads lowered them; purple had no effect. Among men, color effects were nonsignificant.
These findings highlight the complexity of color-gender cues in advertising for technology training. Practically, gray appears to enhance women's engagement and interest in enrollment, whereas blue reduces it. Theoretically, the results emphasize the importance of considering implicit emotional processes in consumer decision making.