International Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives Volume 1, Number 1, July -September 2012

THE EFFECT OF SEX APPEAL IN ADVERTISEMENTS ON ADOLESCENTS -

AN ETHICAL QUESTION
Dharmesh Motwani1 Khushbu Agarwal2

ABSTRACT

“Sex Sells”, is a very well known term in the advertising world, but now it is a much less powerful technique than before, due
to the ethical dilemma surrounding it. Sex appeal is one of the most controversial advertising approaches found, that is
although popular, faces a lot of criticism. Specially, the fact that many advertisers believe that consumers around the world
have similar needs and desires and global marketing is becoming more homogenous.

The purpose of this research paper is to answer the following questions:

 The impact of gender & age on the degree of affection to the advertisements.
 The effect of sex appeal in advertisements, on the consumer’s buying decision.

To develop the conclusions, exploratory & descriptive research designs are used. Primary data is collected with the help of
Focus group technique & questionnaire method & data is analyzed with the help of various statistical techniques.

Conclusions of this paper help in clarifying the ethical dilemma of advertisements.

INTRODUCTION

Over the years advertising and marketing communication messages have created a lot of debatable ethical issues, due to the public
belief, that advertisements nowadays deeply affect the way people perceive themselves and the world surrounding them, including
crucial actions and behaviors.

Ethics plays a definite role. There is no clear view of what is ethical and what is unethical when it comes to advertising, but with
careful consideration and planning, it is possible for advertisers to find a common ground and use sexual appeals without
offending people in the process. In order to have a better understanding of the situation, we need to further explore the world of
advertisements, the appeals used, the targeted decision making components and the effects of advertisements on the targeted
consumer as a whole.

There are two main components advertisers aim to effect; the affective component, where affective message strategies are applied
by invoking feelings and trying to match them with the product or service offered in an effort to increase the likeability of the
product, and also the cognitive components, where the advertisement focuses on the attributes and benefits of the product,
encouraging the consumer to buy it. Such components are affected by the leverage points in an advertisement; these are the
features in the advertisement that helps the consumer transfer the advertised message into personal value.

In order to achieve that, over the years, advertisers have attempted a wide variety of advertising approaches, there are seven main
ones; fear, humor, sex, music, rationality, emotions and scarcity. Advertisers use one or combine several of these appeals to
ensure that their targeted audiences receive their message.

However, now-a-days, sex appeal is being used extensively sometimes combined with others, but most of the time it is strong
enough to be used solely. Throughout the literature of this paper, the debatable effect of this appeal on adolescents is discussed.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Sex appeal is pervasive in advertising and is used with increasing frequency. As advertisers seek out ways to break through clutter
and draw attention to their messages, the use of sexually oriented appeals have been used as a communication technique.

Soley and Kurzbard, believes that advertisers are increasingly using sexual appeals in order to draw attention to their products and
these appeals are becoming more explicit. But it is unclear as to whether the effects of sexual appeals have a more of positive
effect or negative effect.

The use of sexual appeals in advertising has been happening for decades. Sex is everywhere. There are several different
distinctions as to what is being categorized as sex appeal. A study conducted by Ramirez and Reichert revealed four
characteristics of sexy advertisements: (1) physical features of models, (2) behavior/movement, (3) intimacy between models, and
(4) contextual features such as camera effects.

1
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Pacific University, Rajasthan, India, dharmeshmotwani9@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Pacific University, Rajasthan, India, khushbu.agarwal6@gmail.com

© Pezzottaite Journals, Jammu & Kashmir, India.

International Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives Volume 1, Number 1, July -September 2012

Ramirez and Reichert sought to find what people consider sexy in advertising. The most common referent was physical features
(66%), followed by a model's movements and verbal and nonverbal communication (39%), contextual features (26%), and
proxemics (15%). They made an important note that what people referred to as sexy differed gender to gender. The study showed
that females responded more to context than males did at 35% to 20%. It also showed that 28% of the females responded to
proxemics or references to physical distance or relative interaction between models compared to 6% of the males.

Next question arises "Does sex sell?" Actually, sex does not sell, but sexiness does. Using sex appeals in advertising is a good
way to target certain market segments but not all. Sexual appeals only work in some advertisements. Many studies have been
conducted regarding this subject. Advertisers need to look at potential social issues and consequences at stake when considering
an advertisement based on sexual appeal.

"Advertising research reveals that sexual appeals are attention getting, arousing, and affect inducing and memorable". Although
using sexual appeals in brand advertisements has not proven to be as effective as needed, using them in social marketing may be
beneficial.

RATIONALE OF RESEARCH

As stated by Richmond and Hartman, "Every media consumer is alert to 'sex in advertising.' Its pervasive use and misuse are
constantly before us, and typically elicit strong criticism". As one can see, the use of sex in advertising has been happening for
several decades and the reason for it?--It works. Advertisements that are sexy in nature tend to be remembered more often than
advertisements that are not. The question to ask, though, is how ethical is it to use sexual appeals in advertisements?

Many adolescents, watch a lot more programs than originally created for their specific age group, making them susceptible to a
great deal of advertising messages including the ones that contain strong sexual content.

Advertising to the young as a whole is a very heated debatable issue; many advertisers defend their right of “commercial free
speech”. Others argue that children’s understanding of advertisements is part of their development and growth , and that it is
unrealistic to make them live in ideal innocence when its not the case in the real world and that such isolation will eventually
affect the child’s well being.

The excessive exposure to sexual content has lead young people as well as many adults to treat it as something ordinary, youth
now look up to the models or spokespeople in advertisements as idols, they try to imitate them in their looks, outfit selection and
style.

The purpose of this study is to discuss whether or not it is ethical to use sexual appeals in advertising? The study also examines: if
sex actually sells and if so, when and where is it being used in advertising? This study is important to its readers because it not
only focuses on the use of sexual appeals in advertising but it also looks at how ethical it is to do so. Advertising draws people in
and coaxes them into buying things based on how the advertisements make them feel. It is not always fair to assume that everyone
knows what the advertisers are doing.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The purpose of this research paper is to answer following questions:

(a) The impact of gender & age on the degree of affection to the advertisements.
(b) The effect of sex appeal in advertisements on the consumer’s buying decision.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

To have a better understanding about the issue exploratory research design was used. Two focus groups (i.e. one for each gender)
were conducted to get the in depth insights about the topic. Each group consisted of 7 persons ranging from the age of 15 to 22
years. Further descriptive research design was used to get the primary data with the help of close ended questionnaire.

Sample Design

70 respondents ranging from the age of 15 to 22 years were selected through convenience sampling.

Data Analysis

The data collected was analyzed with the help of various statistical tools like Chi-square test, ANOVA etc.

© Pezzottaite Journals, Jammu & Kashmir, India.

International Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives Volume 1, Number 1, July -September 2012

ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATIONS

Exploratory Research Results

1. Focus Group (A): It consisted of 7 males who were asked to provide views on the issue. It was a general opinion that to
make the advertisements interesting & creative there is in no harm in using sex appeal in advertisements but one also
considered it purely unethical. They were also agreed on the fact that some time they buy the product because of
Advertisements effect but product attribute are also equally important.

2. Focus Group (B): It consisted of 7 females who were asked to provide views on the issue. A contradiction in views was
seen; half of them believed that sex appeal increases the liking of advertisements while rest treated it offensive or
unethical. 70% of them said that advertisements don’t affect the purchase decision.

Descriptive Research Results

1. 54% of the respondents were male & rests were female. 24% of the respondents were from 15 – 18 years age group &
76% were from 19-22 Years age group.

2. 55% of the respondents admitted that their intuition or the way they feel about the product finalize their decision of
purchasing the product, 35 % considered advertisement of product as the basis of purchase decision and rest purchase
the product because of the attributes of product.

3. 62% indeed admitted that they have purchased the product just because they liked the commercial. Both results
indicate the affect of advertisements on the purchase decision of adolescents.

4. When asked what they look for in advertisements; 45% believed the most important attribute of an advertisement is
creativity, followed by 26% who believed it was the models used & how they relate to them.

5. 56% of the respondents believed that, the use of sexual content in advertisement is acceptable for the product it’s
relevant to as long as it’s within certain limits. 27% found it unethical & rest said that sex appeal increases the
creativity of advertisements.

6. Four print advertisements containing sex appeal (Refer Appendix) were shown & respondents were asked to disclose
their views.

The results were as follow:

Table-1
Response Advertising Advertising Advertising Advertising Total Percentage
Copy1 Copy 2 Copy 3 Copy 4
Offensive 0 7 0 12 19 7%
Interesting 11 16 16 16 59 21%
Creative 24 5 36 19 84 30%
Really Nice 29 29 10 10 78 28%
Unethical 0 7 6 13 26 9%
Unaffected / Bored 6 6 2 0 14 5%
Total 70 70 70 70 280 100%

58% of the customers found the advertisements Creative & nice while very few respondents treated it offensive or
unethical, which indicates that adolescents are taking advertisements in positive manner.

7. Majority of Respondents (i.e. 75%) replied that they would purchase the product based on the advertisements & the sex
appeal used in advertisements changed their purchase decision.

Hypothesis Testing

H01 = There is no association between degree of affection to the advertisements & gender of adolescents.
H11 = There is an association between degree of affection to the advertisements & gender of adolescents.

Table-2

Degree of Affection
Gender Total
Smart / Creative Inappropriate / Unethical Correct where needed
Male 8 8 22 38
Female 4 11 17 32
Total 12 19 39 70

© Pezzottaite Journals, Jammu & Kashmir, India.

International Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives Volume 1, Number 1, July -September 2012

Table-3
χ 2 test
Calculated Degree of Level of Tabulated
Value Freedom Significance Value
1.94 2 5% 5.99

The result of the study shows that the null-hypothesis holds to be valid thus there is no association between degree of affection to
the advertisements & gender of adolescents.
H02 = Degree of affection towards the advertisements will be the same irrespective of the age of adolescents.
H12 = Degree of affection towards the advertisements will not be the same irrespective of the age of adolescents.

Table-4

Degree of Affection
Age Smart / Inappropriate Correct Total
Creative / Unethical where needed
15-18 1 11 5 17
19-22 11 8 34 53
Total 12 19 39 70

Table-5

ANOVA (F-ratio)
Calculated Degree of Level of Tabulated
Value Freedom Significance Value
1.66 (1,2) 5% 18.501

The analysis supports the null-hypothesis that degree of affection towards the advertisements will be the same irrespective of the
age of adolescents. In other words age was found to have no significant differences on the degree of affection to the
advertisements.
H03 = Sex appeal doesn’t affect the buying decision of adolescents.
H13 = Sex appeal affects the buying decision of adolescents.

Table-6
Product Decision Change
Total
Purchase Agree Disagree
Yes 102 107 209
No 19 52 71
Total 121 159 280

Table-7

χ 2 test
Calculated Degree of Level of Tabulated
Value Freedom Significance Value
10.52 1 5% 3.841

The analysis provides enough evidence to reject the null Hypothesis. In other words sex appeal affects the buying decision of
adolescents.
CONCLUSIONS

It is a big ethical question in Indian society that how the sex appeal used in advertisements, is perceived by adolescents. In the
same line this research was conducted and following conclusions were drawn:
 Sex appeal was not taken in negative manner by adolescents if it was used in a limit for the relevant products to make
the ad creative.
 Exploratory research shows that there is a thin line difference between the opinion of males & females but as per the
chi-square there is no significant difference in the views of males & females towards the advertisements.
 Adolescents of every age group having the same views on the issue.
 Sex appeal used in advertisements motivated the adolescents to purchase the product but attributes of the product also
plays a significant role in buying decision.

© Pezzottaite Journals, Jammu & Kashmir, India.

International Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives Volume 1, Number 1, July -September 2012

REFERENCES

1. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues / Jan-July, 2006 “Ethics In Advertising: Sex Sells, But Should It?” by
Jessica Dawn Blair, Jason Duane Stephenson, Kathy L. Hill, John S. Green.

2. Ramirez, A., and Reichert, T., (2000). “Defining Sexually Imagery In Advertising. A Grounded Theory Investigation”,
Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 27.

3. Soley, Lawrence, and Leonard Reid, (1988). “Taking It Off: Are Models in Magazine Advertisements Wearing Less?”,
Journalism Quarterly, 65, pp 960-66.

4. “The Ethical Dilemma of Advertisements “By: May Abd El Latif El Hattab.

5. http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/sexual-appeals.php

6. http://www.articleswave.com/advertising-articles/types-of-advertising-appeals.html

APPENDIX

Advertisement 1 Advertisement 2

Advertisement 3 Advertisement 4

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© Pezzottaite Journals, Jammu & Kashmir, India.