Sex Sells_

The Effects of Sexuality on Advertising Persuasiveness Sex Sells…Or Does It? Antonia Brisbourne, Erin James, Tom Idema, and Amanda Sealy Some things to consider… - What are people’s perceptions of ads that contain sexuality? - What is their attitude towards the ad? - What is their attitude towards the brand? - Are they more or less inclined to purchase the product? - As the saying goes, “sex sells,” but does it really? - Does sex sell some products better than others? Importance of this Study - Sexual advertising is abundant in today’s media and can have huge effects on society’s awareness, perceptions and attitudes towards products. - In modern society, there is an increasing amount of sexuality found in advertisements. - It is important for advertisers to realize what society’s perceptions of sexually-themed ads are. Research Question For UNC students, controlling for media usage, familiarity with the ads and how often a purchase is made in the product category, what is the relationship between the amount of sexuality seen in an advertisement and the consumer’s attitude about the advertisement, brand and intent to purchase the product? Theoretical Framework - ELM: Elaboration Likelihood Model Model explains two routes to persuasion Central Route - cognitive effort Peripheral Route - Little cognitive effort - Simple cues function as persuasive messages - Overall attitude change takes place due to low involvement products and sexuality as a peripheral cue - Priming Exposure to themes of sexuality would activate related thoughts in one’s mind and prime thoughts about sexuality. - Persuasion Involvement Matrix Hypothesis Sexual depictions in advertisements will lead to greater persuasiveness and more favorable attitudes towards the ad and brand than non-sexual advertisements. Method We did an experiment featuring: - Two products: pens and toothpaste - Three conditions: female sexuality, male sexuality, and no sexuality - 90 respondents: 45 women, 45 men (every participant saw two ads of the same condition) - Cover up story, exposure to ads, and filling out of questionnaire Creation of ads and brands Non-sexual Pen Non-sexual Toothpaste Sexual male pen ad Sexual male toothpaste ad Sexual female pen ad Sexual female toothpaste ad Measures -All measures on a 7-point scale - Attitude toward ads: – Appealing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Unappealing - Attitude toward brands: – Low Quality 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 High Quality - Purchase intention: Strongly Disagree a. I am likely to try the product featured in the ad. 1 2 Neither Agree Nor Disagree 3 4 5 Strongly Agree 6 7 Manipulation Check We successfully manipulated the sex/no sex condition of our advertisements, getting results with a statistically significant p-value. • p < 0.05 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 M. Sex F. Sex No Sex thought ad was highly sexual Results The sexual female model and the neutral ad were evaluated significantly more favorably than the ads featuring a sexual male, with a p-value of <0.05. Also, there was a slight overall preference of the pen ad over the toothpaste ad. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 F. Sex No Sex M. Sex Attitude towards ad Attitude Towards Brand The ads featuring no sex produced significantly more favorable attitudes towards the brand than the sexual ads. • p < 0.05 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Attitude towards brand No Sex F. Sex M. Sex 7 It was found that females had a significantly more favorable attitude towards the advertisement than males, regardless of ad content. 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Females Males Attitude towards ad Product type and Gender A marginal interaction effect was found between attitude towards products and gender of the respondent. Females distinguished their attitudes towards the two products more than males. p < 0.1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 females males toothpaste pen Attitude Towards Brand Overall, regardless of product, females evaluated the brand more favorably than males. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Attitude towards brand Females Males Females intent to buy was significantly higher than males for both products. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Females Males Intention to buy product We found that respondents presented with the sexual ads estimated a much greater percentage of current ads that depict sexual themes than those presented with the no sex ads. 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 M. Sex F. Sex No Sex Estimated percentage of ads in media featuring sexual themes Theoretical Implications - Evidence for priming effects - Gender Differences Male sexuality is not viewed as positively as female sexuality - ELM: sexuality as a possible peripheral clue Hypothesis Discussion What we found disconfirms our hypothesis. WHY? -When shopping for everyday products, more clear and less distracting advertising is necessary. -It made the ad seem too trashy. -All questions were not presented in the same direction. -Products could be considered asexual. Practical Implications - When it comes to products people need, focus on the strength of the argument, rather than the sexuality or peripheral cues of the ad. - If you are going to use sexuality, use a female model rather than a male model. - Sex sells, but maybe not in all cases. - Non-sexual products are possibly best advertised with non-sexual ads Limitations - Respondents were viewing at these ads outside a natural viewing environment. - By creating our own advertisements we may have risked quality and some validity. - We only used two products, both of which were “everyday” items. - All questions are in the same direction - Model preferences (Some may be more attracted towards blondes rather than brunettes etc.) - Sexual orientations may vary Future Suggestions - Use a larger variety of products - Use the same models for all products - Allow people to view the ads as part of a magazine - Measure level of involvement - Relevance of sex towards a particular ad - Survey a wider variety of people (people not in college)