Study: 64% celebrate Father's Day, but few influenced by social media

A new study from YouGov revealed that for most consumers globally, Father’s Day is still about sentiment, not sales.

Across 17 international markets, 64% of respondents said they celebrate Father’s Day, with 43% citing personal meaning as the key reason, well ahead of external factors such as social media (5%) and advertising (4%).

The generational gap tells a different story, Gen Z and millennials were more likely than older cohorts to cite meaning as their main motivator, at 51% and 49% respectively.

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Regionally, respondents in Indonesia (48%) and Hong Kong (47%) were more likely to view Father’s Day as a meaningful occasion as compared to those in Singapore (42%).

That said, marketing influence wasn’t entirely absent. Social media held the most sway in the UAE (14%) and India (12%), while advertising had slightly higher traction in Mexico (8%), and in Spain and the UAE (7% each).

Meanwhile, resistance to the holiday remains strong in parts of Europe. Germany (62%) and Denmark (56%) reported the highest proportion of people who don’t observe the day, followed by France (43%) and Sweden (42%).

Brands, however, are not holding back. UNIQLO Japan recently tapped comedian Atsuhiro Tsuda (津田篤宏) to front its Father’s Day campaign, just weeks after he appeared alongside his mother for the brand’s Mother’s Day activation.

In the new ad, Tsuda appears as a shrunken office worker, frowning, suited up, and perched in the top corner of the poster. A cheeky caption below, written from a father’s point of view stated, “Mother’s Day was a right laugh, wasn’t it? I bought my mum a present. It was such a wonderful day. And now, I find myself thinking: What will Father’s Day be like?”

Closer to home, Singapore’s Lien Foundation launched a social media contest last year titled “Mentalking.” The campaign encouraged Singaporeans to record conversations with their fathers or father figures and post them online, in a bid to surface the often-overlooked voices of older men, while offering prizes as an added nudge.

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