A study on testosterone and buying preferences found evidence of a biological cause for men’s consumer purchase decisions related to “status” brands.
The link between testosterone and brand choices
The paper, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, focused on a placebo-controlled experiment in which men of similar socioeconomic backgrounds and ages were put into a double-blind study. One group was given a dose of testosterone gel (applied to the skin) and the other was given a placebo.
Both groups of men were shown five pairs of items that included items of comparable perceived quality but in which one was considered a higher ranking. For example, a pair of Calvin Klein jeans might be considered to be the same quality as Levi’s, but had a higher “social ranking.”
The experiment included advertisement-like text descriptions of a variety of products, from watches and coffee machines to luxury cars. Then men were also asked to rank brands on a scale of one to ten.
Although the descriptions for the items were similar, bits of the text was changed to emphasize associations with either status, power or high quality. One of the descriptions for the so-called “high-quality” watch, for example, used a phrase such as “supreme quality,” “robustness,” “precisions” and “state of the art.” Whereas the phrasing that emphasized status used words like “luxury,” “prestige,” “sophisticated” and “world-famous.”
How testosterone affects preferences
The men who were given the testosterone tended to prefer products that were described as “status-enhancing, but not when they were described as power-enhancing or high in quality.”
The researchers point out that testosterone levels in men tend to rise in association to certain events, such as during or after sporting events, when they meet an attractive potential mate or after a divorce or even after graduation.
The authors point out that the effect may also work in reverse: ownership of status-enhancing products might increase testosterone in men.
