How and why does the Tradition of Sex Sells still work?
By
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.
DECLARATION
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII
DECLARATIONIII
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1
Background of the Research1
Problem Statement1
Rationale2
Aims and Objectives3
Purpose of the Study3
Research Questions3
Main Research Question3
Subsidiary Research Questions4
Theoretical Framework4
Ethical Concern5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7
What is Sex in Advertising?7
Does Sex Sell?7
Sexual Appeal and Advertising8
Step 1: Communication9
Step 2: Attention10
Selling Dreams11
Type of appeal11
Level of explicitness12
Step 3: Comprehension13
Amount of information14
Selling Product15
Step4: Yielding15
Age16
Young generation attitude towards Advertisements16
Level of acceptance17
Step5: Retention17
Repetition18
Clutter19
Time19
Step 6: Action19
Psychoanalysis and Selling Dreams20
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY22
Research Design and Methodology22
Secondary Research Methods22
Primary Research Methods23
Qualitative and Quantitative Research Method23
Selection of Participants24
Data preparation and statistical procedures24
Literature Search24
Steps in mixed methodology25
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS27
Analysis of Survey Questionnaire27
Sample Size27
The Survey27
Question 01: Advertising and young generation28
Question 02: Sexual appeal28
Question 03: Men's Representation29
Question 04: Sex in advertising29
Question 05: Sex Sells30
Question 06: Female and Advertisements31
Question 07: Brands (Products) and Sexual Appeals31
Descriptive Analysis32
Acceptance rate33
Results Interpretation33
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION35
Areas for Future Research36
BIBLIOGRAPHY37
APPENDIX40
Questionnaire40
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Research
Sexual appeals in persuasive messages are becoming more prevalent and more explicit. Advertisers commonly use sex as a tool to attract attention to and interest in their products. Although many advertisers and researchers have attempted to answer this question, the overall answer seems to be "it depends".
Researchers still do not understand when and why sexual appeals are effective. This paper reports why the tradition of sex sells stills work and how the concept of sex in advertising is expanding globally. Moderators of this relationship were also examined to determine how different types of sexual information, experimental and consumer characteristics, and measures of effectiveness affect consumer processing and evaluations of products, brands, and advertisements. It was hoped that a better understanding of the circumstances in which sexual appeals do work would be reached in this study by quantitatively examining the extensive body of research on the effectiveness of sexual appeals in advertising.
Problem Statement
Basically, increasing the likelihood of being exposed to a message should increase the likelihood of being persuaded by that message. Because the current study was a meta-analysis of experiments in which 100 percent presented a portion of participants with a sexual message, participants had no control over message presentation.
In real life, however, although message recipients have little control over whether or not sexual messages actually exist, they have more control over their own exposure to such messages. The main influence on whether or not people will be exposed to sexual appeals, and thus able to possibly act upon those messages, may be the sex of both the message viewer and any model portrayed in the message. The overall influence of sex will be discussed separately at the end of ...