The GDBP is a psychometrically validated instrument for measuring the degree to which a brand is perceived as masculine, feminine, or androgynous in its personality. Grohmann (2009) extended Aaker's (1997) Brand Personality Scale to address its inadequate capture of gender-related personality dimensions, arguing that the BPS conflates gender-related traits (e.g., 'feminine' in the Sophistication dimension, 'masculine' in the Ruggedness dimension) without measuring them as a coherent, theoretically grounded gender personality construct. Drawing on social role theory and gender schema theory, Grohmann developed the GDBP by identifying trait adjectives that consumers systematically associate with masculine or feminine brands, validated through expert sorting, consumer ratings, and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Masculine Brand Personality (MBP) captures the degree to which a brand is perceived as embodying stereotypically masculine traits — rugged, tough, strong, aggressive, dominant, bold, and active. Feminine Brand Personality (FBP) captures the degree to which a brand is perceived as embodying stereotypically feminine traits — delicate, tender, gentle, refined, elegant, graceful, and sensitive. The two dimensions are partially independent — brands can score high on both (androgynous brands), high on one but not the other (typed brands), or low on both (undifferentiated brands). The GDBP predicts brand preference through self-brand congruence mechanisms for both gender-typed and androgynous consumers. It is particularly useful in research on brand repositioning, gender-neutral product design, gendered packaging, and the effects of feminist advertising appeals. Validated across multiple brand categories and consumer samples in North America.
7-point Likert (1=not at all descriptive to 7=extremely descriptive); two subscales (MBP and FBP) scored separately; subscales averaged; rated for a specific target brand
Masculine Brand Personality — MBP (9 items): degree to which the brand embodies stereotypically masculine personality traits. 7-point Likert (1=not at all descriptive to 7=extremely descriptive). Items averaged.
Feminine Brand Personality — FBP (9 items): degree to which the brand embodies stereotypically feminine personality traits. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
The MBP and FBP dimensions are not bipolar opposites — report both subscale scores separately. Brands scoring high on both MBP and FBP are classified as androgynous; brands scoring low on both are undifferentiated. Grohmann (2009) demonstrated that androgynous brands appeal to the widest consumer segments. The GDBP can be used to evaluate brand repositioning strategies: movement from a gender-typed to an androgynous position (or vice versa) can be tracked via repeated GDBP measurement. The scale is rated for a specific target brand with the instruction: 'Please indicate how descriptive each of the following is of [brand].' The 7-point scale is slightly different from the 5-point BPS — ensure consistency within a study. In cross-cultural applications, the specific trait adjectives loading on MBP vs. FBP may vary; validate the factor structure in each cultural context.
Grohmann, B. (2009). Gender dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(1), 105–119.
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