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nts and
Unisexificati
on

-Research Proposal-

Submitted To
Mrs. Kausar Saeed

Submitted By
Bushra Farooqui
2007-1-71-7492

Date
th
8 March,2010
 Table of Contents

Hypothesis................................................................................................1
Purpose of the Research............................................................................2
Research Objectives..................................................................................2
Literature Review.....................................................................................3
Research Design.......................................................................................3
Qualitative (Focus Group and Interviews).............................................3
Quantitative (Questionnaires)................................................................3
Sample Design..........................................................................................4
Sampling Method...................................................................................4
Sample Size and Characteristics............................................................4
Data Gathering..........................................................................................4
Data processing and Analysis...................................................................4
Report Presentation...................................................................................5
Time Schedule..........................................................................................5
Hypothesis:

“What came first in unisex advertising:

advertising strategy that is putting
unisex culture in the society or cultural
change that has influenced advertising
strategy?”
Purpose of the Research

The dictionary meaning of the word unisex means “designed for or suitable to both sexes” or
“not distinguishing between male and female” or “elimination or absence of sexual
distinctions”. The topic of my research basically derives from my interest in the change in our
society. Over the years I have noticed how the society has changed and seen emerging
minorities like homosexuals, transvestites, metro sexual become a very common part of every
society. This change in trend can also be viewed by their presence in the media. These
curiosities lead me to another level, where I tend to see same products being advertised for
men and women. A lot of brands have taken this approach for their products. Their advertising
campaigns have either taglines or visuals that suggest that this particular brand is for both the
genders. This I feel is blurring the distinctive mark between men and women for example in
terms of colour, design, usage of products like cosmetics, even their roles in the society. If one
looks at the advertisements these days, they will tend to notice how differently men and
women are being portrayed. Women are no longer shown as the good calm home-maker who
takes care of her family and home; in fact, they are shown in entirely different ways. They tend
to do things that only men are associated with like playing sports. Similarly, men can be seen
washing dishes or in cosmetic ads for men instead of just being the usual rugged jock and the
powerful bread-winner of the family. This can be put into a simple word: unisex. The world
around us is becoming unisexual day by day.

Research Objectives

The questions that arise and become my research objectives are:

 Why advertisements are been done this way now?
 Is it the media trying to infiltrate the society with a social change or is it the other way
round?
 Is the society changing in such a fashion that it wants no barriers in between men and
women?
 Do men and women have similar interests?
 If so then is the media through advertisements helping it to carry this message across?

I plan to look at what has come first, similarly what came first in unisex advertising:
advertising strategy that is putting unisex culture in the society or cultural change that has
influenced advertising strategy?
Literature Review
In this scenario, my case study would be looking at unisex advertisements that have been
happening over the years. By having ads like these I feel that the distinctive line between men and
women is being blurred.

This idea is not entirely new and has recently been aired a lot on TV adverts for example:

 The brite washing powder advert where the husband is cooking food.

 The new product ‘fair and handsome’. Shahrukh Khan is endorsing it. At first products
related to complexion, beauty, whitening skin were only meant for women. Now it
seems men are equally concerned about being fair.

 Lifebuoy shampoo advert where a girl is shown playing sports like any other guy on the
street.

Research Design
My research methodology includes empirical research and primary research that is both
quantitative and qualitative.
Qualitative (Focus Group and Interviews):
My qualitative research would include interviewing advertising personnel, people who have
been in the mainstream advertising and hence have knowledge of how advertising strategy is
constructed. The people on the top of my list include, Mr. Server Moosavee, who at the
moment is the Head of programming at Samaa television. He is my prime candidate for getting
input on my topic since he is one of the pioneers of advertising in Pakistan. Sadia Qutubuddin is
also one of my interviewees. Sadia is a graduate of Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture
only and has been working in advertising since the last eight years. Currently she has started
teaching advertising design in IVSAA.
Also I plan on conducting a focus group of around 8-10 people from the age group of 18-25. The
limit for the age group is because I would like to gather views of the younger generation and
how do they feel about unisex advertising.

Quantitative (Questionnaires):
My quantitative research includes doing surveys through questionnaires. I feel that it is
important for my topic to get an insight about how the general public feels about advertising
and if advertising has become unisex how it does affect them. Also, do they feel that advertising
has a great impact on society or does the culture of a society effects advertising. Since culture is
a crucial part of my topic, it is justified to get the peoples input on it. I plan to do an online
survey as well through facebook and mass e-mailing. In this way I feel that I will be able to
reach out to people from different communities like the western society, as I’m looking at
unisex advertising globally, it would be better to make them a part of my research.
Sample Design

Sampling Method:
The sampling method to be employed in this research is non probability sampling. As the
underlying purpose of this research is purely academic and the resources and budget a bare
minimum.Convenience sampling is used in exploratory research where the researcher is
interested in getting an inexpensive approximation of the truth. Since I am at a very small scale
trying to gather information on how the general public takes the idea of unisex advertising it is
best I stick to random sampling. As the name implies, the sample is selected because they are
convenient.

Sample Size and Characteristics:

Sample size that I have chosen for the questionnaires is 200 respondents’ residents of Karachi
only. Whereas viral marketing would be used as well since my survey is going to be published
on facebook as well and emailed widely. Thus the 200 mark might be exceeded. The sample
would comprise of college students, working professionals in the field of advertising and
broadcasting. The target socio-economic groups would range from middle class to upper class.
The focus on the age group is from 18-40. The characteristics are such because the research
objective calls for a sample that is socially conscious of this trend.

Data Gathering
The data will be gathered by means of distribution of questionnaires by the members of the
research team. Since there are interviews being conducted as well as questionnaires being filled
out by varying types of people in a certain age group the data gathering would take a minimum
of 14-16 days.

Data processing and Analysis

I shall employ an empirical way of analyzing my data and study whether through their visual or
headlines or body copy they are targeting a unisex market for their product or brand, also by
looking at ads that reverse gender roles. By showing the change in duty task in advertisements
this also comes under the term unisexification.Empirical and primary are two ways which will
help me analyze my topic properly. The first one will help we view how unisex advertising is
been done and the latter will help me gather my information as to why it is happening which is
outline the shape of my outcome.
Standard tables and pie charts would be also tabulated for the results of the questionnaires and
gather a consensus for each question asked in order to analyze the results. The statistics would
prove my hypothesis right or wrong.

Report Presentation

A final report written form would be compiled which would give a detailed account of my
findings and thoroughly explain the analysis and the conclusion reached. Along with the report
a verbal presentation would be given as well at the end of the semester aided by a PowerPoint
presentation.

Time Schedule
TIME PERIOD TASK

First week Deciding topic for research

Preparing research proposal

Presenting research proposal

Second week Literature review

Developing research design (questionnaire etc)