Why Female Models help advertise to both Men and Women

When constructing an advertising campaign, at some point you may need to promote your business using images displaying a model who is shown using your product or providing the service.

At which point you need to decide something.

Should the model be male or female?

Take the image above as an example.

The logo looks like it possibly male, but the model in the image is female. The business in question is a Toronto business which is offering archery lessons, to both men and women. (See http://www.cardiotrek.ca/p/archery-lessons.html to learn more.)

So why would this image work for advertising to both men and women?

#1. The women identify with the female model, seeing this as a potential version of themselves - and how awesome they could potentially be.

#2. Heterosexual men seeing the image see the woman as a potential mate, and imagine themselves meeting a woman while doing archery with a similar appearance. So lonely men are essentially motivated by feelings of love/lust. The image in this case isn't even remotely sexual either, as the woman's back is turned and you cannot even see her face. The "Male Gaze" leaves the men left to their imagination as to what she looks like.

More notes...

#3. Even married heterosexual men would find the image attractive, and be thinking "Gee, my wife and I should get into archery. That looks pretty awesome!"

#4. The image itself is not complicated. Just the image of the woman, the logo, and the website address is in a distinctive yet easy to read font.

#5. There is only the visual call to action... It is saying - without words - "This is awesome. You should do this." So the viewer is left with the suggestion to go to that website and learn more.

The one thing missing from the image is the words "archery lessons Toronto" or something like that, which means that when using the image they need to be writing that in text somewhere on the websites they are using to promote it.

And because the website name is in the image, including a link to the website is not really a necessity. The goal might simply be to build word of mouth. Having links for SEO purposes are not always a necessity.