Social values are the core beliefs and values that shape motivation. Men and women, in general, have different underlying principles that make up their social values. Here is an at-a-glace view of some very significant differences:
| His Social Values | Her Social Values |
| People + Things + Theorums | People First, Last and Always |
| Soloist "Every man for himself" | Ensemble Player "All for one, and one for all" Guardians of civilization |
| Winner "May the best man win" | Warmer "The more, the merrier" |
| Pyramid "The few, the proud..." Envy | Peer Group "All people are created equal" Empathy |
It's not that one way is right and another way is wrong - it's that men and women are different. For marketer's, we need to understand those different social values and how they motivate women to buy. Sometimes a word choice or the wrong visual is all it takes to transform a difference into a deficit.
What men see as copy conveying healthy ambition and the natural drive to be in charge may strike women as self-aggrandizing baloney. What male advertisers see as an image of autonomy and freedom may have overtones of isolation and loneliness to women consumers. For example, an investment company ad showing a woman paddling a canoe in the wilderness, free to go where she wants may visualize financial independence to men, but to a woman it may appear less reassuring - a woman all alone in the middle of nowhere.
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