A recent trend in the domestic advertising industry is the cross-gender model strategy, where a model performs as the opposite sex, defying stereotypical gender norms. Until recently, related studies, such as those about the effects of the strategy in women’s categories and a comparison with advertisements showcasing traditional gender roles, have provided limited and opposing views. This study examines cross-gender model advertising strategies in the context of both men’s and women’s product categories to ensure validity. In particular, this study will investigate which cross-gender model strategy, female models appearing on advertisements for men’s products or vice versa, will have a positive effect on customers’ attitudes. Moreover, the research will analyze how the cross-gender model strategy affects consumers’ attitudes toward advertising, depending on a model’s gender identity level (strong or weak). To this end, we examined the hypothesis using the 2x2 between-subjects factorial design, which manipulated the cross-gender advertising strategy (female models appearing on men’s categories versus male models appearing on women’s categories) and the gender identity level (strong or weak) of the commercial models. The results reveal that customers have a positive attitude toward advertising when female models performing as men appear on men’s categories. Furthermore, customers’ attitudes are favorable when the models’ gender identity levels were stronger. Therefore, it is necessary to strategically employ female models in male products rather than using opposite-sex models blindly and to maximize the effectiveness of advertising with cross-gender models that have a strong gender identity level.