Sexvertising

A recent study of 60 college students, aged 18-31 revealed that men were better than women in recalling brands of sexual ads run on television shows.

The students were divided into 4 groups.  Two groups watched a sexually charged episode of Sex and the City.  During commercials, one group saw ads with sexual images while the other saw non-sexual ads.  The other two groups saw ads run during an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, which was non-sexual– again, one group saw sexy ads, while the other did not.  Strangely, the sexy ad brands were better recalled from the non-sexual Malcolm in the Middle episode.  Still, men were better able than women to recall sexy advertisements overall.  Well, that explains the bouncing boobs in beer commercials.

The study was done in the UK at the Department of Psychology University College London and was published in Applied Cognitive Psychology.

via.

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We came across this Ynet news report that claimed Israeli advertisers rarely use sex to sell their products. The study looked at TV advertising from 1999-2005.

The main reasons cited were that advertisers did not want to distract consumers from the products they were trying to sell; that advertisers feared potential boycotts by offended conservative groups; and TV censorship. Our money is on censorship.

So this ad would probably not play in Israel.

Technorati Tags: sexy ads study, Israel, censorship

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Here are some links to articles that may interest readers on the subject of sex in advertising:

Sex in advertising (Wikipedia)

Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell? (ezine magazine)

Sex in Advertising (Lesson plan, Media Awareness Network)

Sex in Advertising (Gallup and Robinson essay)

Women and Advertising: a little too sexy? (Synergy, Article 1)

A Brief History of Sex in Advertising (Synergy Article 2)

Calvin Klein and Abercrombie and Fitch: Pioneers or Perverts (Synergy, article 3)

Sex Sells…. No, Really! (Synergy, Article 4)

Biological basis for sex appeal (Richard F. Taflinger, PhD.)

Sexism and Sexuality in Advertising (Media, Power & Culture)

Technorati Tags: sexvertising, advertising, sex in ads

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In “You and Me, Babe, Sex and Advertising”, Richard F. Taflinger, Ph.D, discusses why sex is used in advertising and why it is usually directed at men. Seems men are easier to bait with sexual images than women, who apply more complex criteria to sexual arousal– and ads don’t have enough time to arouse them (hmm).

Perhaps some women could comment and tell us if the Professor has them pegged right. It’s quite interesting — Click here to read it. It was written more than 10 years ago, but maybe it still holds up.

Here’s an example of an ad used in the presentation.  Not blatantly sexual is it?

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