Is paper girly?

As good marketing practitioners know, perception is everything. In an era where “attention” is the greatest currency, there must be a push to remember that it’s not just about if consumers noticed something, it’s about how they interpreted it. 

Perception is shaped by experience, which includes the sociocultural forces at work in consumers’ worlds. Albeit sometimes subtle, these forces shape consumer interactions with brands and products.

In the case of this research review, detailed on WARC, consumer stereotypes around gender were shown to influence perceptions of packaging in the alcohol industry. Data showed that traditional glass bottles were seen as masculine - competent and high quality – while paper, a more sustainable packaging innovation, was viewed as feminine, warm, and low quality. This created a barrier to purchase, despite growing consumer calls for more sustainable options. 

Building off of those initial findings (and other studies demonstrating there are other contributing factors, like company identity), the team sought to understand how to overcome that barrier and improve adoption. Recommendations included messaging and positioning focused on warmth, connection, and inclusiveness.  

We write this as a reminder to look deeper into how sociocultural contexts (like gender constructs) interact with brands and products in seemingly unlikely ways and how they can clash with brand and business imperatives (like sustainability). Subsequently, what can be done to mitigate those clashes and strategically work with cultural insights?