Everyone views other people in relationship to themselves. We do this to make sense of the world and develop understanding. If we saw each person for the individual she is, we would be overwhelmed with sensory data. Advertising uses these relationship categories as a shortcut to our emotions, so it is essential we understand them when marketing to women.
Men and women categorize differently. While men stack people vertically, women arrange them next to each other. Men are always conscious of where they stand in comparison to others, measuring and evaluating everything. They view the world as a hierarchical pyramid, and they want to get to the top of that pyramid. It's a given that when men say "get ahead," they mean "get ahead of others."
A woman's outlook is relational without being hierarchical. She groups people by how similar or different they are, if they do or don't know her, if they are far or near, and so on. Women believe that all people are created equal (to update the wording from the Declaration of Independence). Combined with the perspective that people are the most important and interesting element in life and that caring and consideration are high-priority values, a place at the top of the pyramid is going to look pretty unappealing. It's lonely at the top.
Women prefer to think in terms of everyone getting ahead - not ahead of anyone else, mind you, just moving forward together. Women don't want to be looked up to, any more than they want to be looked down on. In the world of women, the ideal position is side-by-side. The operative emotion is empathy (not envy).
In advertising, it has been taken as a given for years that aspiration- the drive to be like someone higher up the pyramid- is a fundamental motivating factor for everyone. How many ads have you seen founded on the premise, "When I get this product, everyone else is going to be sooo jealous!"?
But for women, making other people jealous is sort of petty and small-minded. Women are more likely to relate to the premise, "Yep - that looks like my life. If that product works for her, it'll probably work for me as well." When you advertise to women, think empathy, not envy.
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