Is a Pink Tax Perceived Less Fair Than a Blue Tax?
(A2024-119651)

AUTHORS

Svenja Ryf, Bern University of Applied Sciences; Sven Feurer, Bern University of Applied Sciences; Tina von Däniken, Bern University of Applied Sciences

ABSTRACT

Gender-based pricing is a common yet controversial form of price differentiation to maximize firms’ profits. While extant research focuses on forms of gender-based pricing that is disadvantageous for women (“pink tax”), the present study examines the possibility that gender-based pricing that is disadvantageous for men (“blue tax”) might be perceived differently than a pink tax in terms of price fairness. The results of a randomized experiment that compares both pink tax and blue tax to a control condition with no price differentiation suggests that both taxes are perceived as unfair, with adverse consequences for firms. However, there is a trend in the data towards more unfavorable price fairness reactions to a pink tax compared to a blue tax. The results imply that firms should be cautions in implementing both pink and blue taxes and suggest more nuanced efforts to reach the United Nation’s sustainable development goal of gender equality.