Abstract: A process dissociation procedure was used to examine the gender differences in the controlled and automatic processing of the brands with the spokes-character of different gender. The results showed that: (1) male consumers elicited higher automatic processing level than female as to the brands with the male spokes-character, and (2) female consumers elicited significantly higher automatic processing level than male as to the brands with the female spokes-character. And no significant differences were found in the controlled processing of the brands between male and female consumer under both conditions. These findings are assumed to be of some value to the advertisement designing.

Key words: gender difference, spokes-character, automatic processing, implicit memory, PDP