How and why does the Tradition of Sex Sells still work?

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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

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Research1

Problem Statement3

Rationale3

Aims and Objectives4

Purpose of the Study4

Research Question/Hypothesis5

Theoretical Framework5

Ethical Concern7

BIBLIOGRAPHY8

APPENDIX12

Sources Used12

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. Are sexual appeals actually persuasive? 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 does the tradition of sex sells still 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.

What is Sex in Advertising?

In the present research, sexual appeals are defined as any persuasive appeal containing information that "portrays or implies sexual interest, behavior, or motivation". Davis (1983) has categorized types of sexual appeals in advertising into nudity (or level of dress), sexual behavior (ranging from eye contact to intercourse), physical attractiveness, sexual referents (allusions to sex using entendre), and sexual embeds (subliminal sexual elements). Sexual embeds can be defined as images that can be considered as sexual that are purposefully inserted by advertisers into an ad, but are not easily identified by media consumers.

Does Sex Sell?

There seems to be no easy answer to this question. Although both theory and practice suggest that sexual appeals attract attention to an ad, attention appears to be drawn to the sexual imagery itself, and not to the product. For example, it has often been found that brand name recall is inferior for sexual ads compared to recall for ads using non-sexual appeals.

However, sexual ads have been shown to be more positively evaluated than nonsexual ads. For example, the former are found to be more entertaining, favorable, interesting and original . Thus, it is not clear whether or not the use of sexual appeals is an effective advertising strategy, nor in what circumstances it is best to utilize sexual appeals. This study sought to examine the effectiveness of sexual appeals in advertising through a meta-analytic ...