Hypothesis:
Sexual imagery in advertising increases purchase intention among consumers.
My Initial Hypothesis
Businesses invest a lot of money into advertising their products in hopes that sales will increase. While some products have the ability to stand alone, oftentimes companies will employ advertising techniques to sell their products, including sexual imagery. Sexual content may appear in the form of a partially nude model interacting with a product, a subject acting as though they are engaging in an act that is seemingly sexual in nature with or alongside a product, wording that includes terms associated with sex, or even by the use of objects or the object itself resembling genitalia (Truelove, 2014). Although other advertising techniques are frequently used, I believe that including sexual images in advertising actually persuades consumers to buy certain products which coincides with the age old idea that sex sells. The Empirical Evidence In the past, sex was, in a way, a taboo topic. While people were obviously engaging in sex, they did not talk about it as openly as people do today. Even so, sex has been used in advertising as far back as 1850, perhaps even earlier (Reichert, 2003, p. 29). The advertisements that featured sexual content in the 1800’s were often illustrations of nearly-nude women trying to sell things like bras and corsets. This kind of sexual content was not aimed at men, but at women who are thought to buy into sexual imagery in advertising because of romance rather than attraction (Reichert, 2003, p. 29). A journal article written in 2014 that discussed how images of women are used in magazines such as Cosmopolitan explained that even in the most conservative countries, women are being used a sex symbols to sell products (Güdekli & Celik, p. 6136). The authors went on to explain that this is because sexual content in advertising has been normalized. Sexual imagery in advertising has been around for quite some time, but does it actually work? Some research supports the notion that sex sells. Dr. Tom Reichert of the University of Georgia’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations focuses his research on advertising techniques with a specific interest in how sex in advertising influences sales. In one of his studies, Reichert discusses the reasoning behind why sexual content in advertising works. He explains that sexual images trigger a behavioral response in a consumer which helps them devote more attention and time to the advertisement (Reichert, 2005, p. 116-117). This response in turn helps boost purchase intention. Reichert also mentions that sheer attraction to what is being presented will leave the consumer “wanting more” of what the advertisement has to offer, which can also have a positive effect on purchase intention. In another article that Reichert authored, he and a colleague studied how people purchased magazine subscriptions using subscription cards with sexual imagery on them. This study found that not only do the sexualized cards increase favor for the magazine for which they advertise, they were also shown to grab the attention of the subjects and hold it more than the non-sexual cards that were presented in the …show more content…
Although, I do believe that sexual imagery in advertising can be effective, I do not believe that it is always effective. If a product being advertised is sexual or has anything to do with sexuality, sexual imagery can help sell that product. For instance, if a man is presented with an advertisement that contains sexual content would be really effective and will increase the buying intention of the advertisement was for a magazine that is sexual such as Playboy or Maxim. However, if a product advertisement contains a woman who is eating a candy bar in a provocative way, buying intention will not be affected because the product is not inherently sexual. Likewise, for women who are seeing an advertisement for underwear and they hear the model say words like “sexy,” or “romance,” they may be more inclined to buy that brand of underwear and maybe not so inclined if the product is, instead, a dishwasher.
Overall, I believe that sexual imagery in advertising will continue to be a technique that is widely used. However, based on the evidence presented on each of the studies I believe that for it to be effective, a consumer seeing the advertisement must be interested in seeing sexual content, whether it is an image or language that evokes emotions relating to
Sexual imagery in advertising increases purchase intention among consumers.
My Initial Hypothesis
Businesses invest a lot of money into advertising their products in hopes that sales will increase. While some products have the ability to stand alone, oftentimes companies will employ advertising techniques to sell their products, including sexual imagery. Sexual content may appear in the form of a partially nude model interacting with a product, a subject acting as though they are engaging in an act that is seemingly sexual in nature with or alongside a product, wording that includes terms associated with sex, or even by the use of objects or the object itself resembling genitalia (Truelove, 2014). Although other advertising techniques are frequently used, I believe that including sexual images in advertising actually persuades consumers to buy certain products which coincides with the age old idea that sex sells. The Empirical Evidence In the past, sex was, in a way, a taboo topic. While people were obviously engaging in sex, they did not talk about it as openly as people do today. Even so, sex has been used in advertising as far back as 1850, perhaps even earlier (Reichert, 2003, p. 29). The advertisements that featured sexual content in the 1800’s were often illustrations of nearly-nude women trying to sell things like bras and corsets. This kind of sexual content was not aimed at men, but at women who are thought to buy into sexual imagery in advertising because of romance rather than attraction (Reichert, 2003, p. 29). A journal article written in 2014 that discussed how images of women are used in magazines such as Cosmopolitan explained that even in the most conservative countries, women are being used a sex symbols to sell products (Güdekli & Celik, p. 6136). The authors went on to explain that this is because sexual content in advertising has been normalized. Sexual imagery in advertising has been around for quite some time, but does it actually work? Some research supports the notion that sex sells. Dr. Tom Reichert of the University of Georgia’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations focuses his research on advertising techniques with a specific interest in how sex in advertising influences sales. In one of his studies, Reichert discusses the reasoning behind why sexual content in advertising works. He explains that sexual images trigger a behavioral response in a consumer which helps them devote more attention and time to the advertisement (Reichert, 2005, p. 116-117). This response in turn helps boost purchase intention. Reichert also mentions that sheer attraction to what is being presented will leave the consumer “wanting more” of what the advertisement has to offer, which can also have a positive effect on purchase intention. In another article that Reichert authored, he and a colleague studied how people purchased magazine subscriptions using subscription cards with sexual imagery on them. This study found that not only do the sexualized cards increase favor for the magazine for which they advertise, they were also shown to grab the attention of the subjects and hold it more than the non-sexual cards that were presented in the …show more content…
Although, I do believe that sexual imagery in advertising can be effective, I do not believe that it is always effective. If a product being advertised is sexual or has anything to do with sexuality, sexual imagery can help sell that product. For instance, if a man is presented with an advertisement that contains sexual content would be really effective and will increase the buying intention of the advertisement was for a magazine that is sexual such as Playboy or Maxim. However, if a product advertisement contains a woman who is eating a candy bar in a provocative way, buying intention will not be affected because the product is not inherently sexual. Likewise, for women who are seeing an advertisement for underwear and they hear the model say words like “sexy,” or “romance,” they may be more inclined to buy that brand of underwear and maybe not so inclined if the product is, instead, a dishwasher.
Overall, I believe that sexual imagery in advertising will continue to be a technique that is widely used. However, based on the evidence presented on each of the studies I believe that for it to be effective, a consumer seeing the advertisement must be interested in seeing sexual content, whether it is an image or language that evokes emotions relating to