Sex sells? It can make you forget what is being advertised, say scientists
THE adage “sex sells” has guided the advertising world for centuries.
Back in 1871, a naked “maiden” adorned the packaging of Pearl Tobacco, quickly followed by rivals who inserted cards in packs that showed scantily clad women. They went on to become market leader.
In recent years, the message was reinforced when Eva Herzigová, the model, gazed down from giant posters in Wonderbra’s Hello Boys campaign.
However, new research has a surprising conclusion for advertising executives: sex not only “does not sell” but can even put potential customers off buying a product.
The reason is that people pay so much attention to the graphic material their minds are distracted from what is being promoted.
Prof Brad Bushman, a psychologist of Ohio State University, said: “Our findings have tremendous applied significance, especially for advertisers.
“Sex and violence do not sell, and in fact they may even backfire by impairing memory, attitudes and buying intentions for advertised products. Ad- vertisers should think twice about sponsoring violent and sexual programmes, and about using these themes in their ads.”
The study found that viewers are less likely to remember adverts when they are shown around films and programmes with explicit sexual or violent content than during family friendly material. The same goes for graphic adverts, say the researchers. Violence had the greatest influence, with brands advertised during this genre of programme remembered less often, evaluated less favourably and less likely to be bought than products plugged alongside other media.
Brands advertised during programmes with sexual overtones were also viewed less favourably. Prof Bushman said: “We found almost no evi- dence that violent and sexual programmes and ads increased advertising effectiveness. In general, we found such programmes, and ads with violent or sexual content, decreased advertising effectiveness.”
The findings, published in the journal Bulletin, suggest advertisers may do better if the adverts have a G-rating, which means they are appropriate for a “general audience”.
Prof Bushman and lead author Robert Lull, a PhD candidate at Ohio State University, examined the reaction of 8,489 adults within 53 studies carried out in 2014 to measure the influences of violent and sexual content on advertising effectiveness with regards to brand memory, brand attitudes and buying intentions.
Researchers found that violent or sexual content in advertisements themselves had no significant effect but in studies when media content and advertising content were similar, viewers were more likely to remember them and had a stronger intention to buy the product. The conclusion was that while violence and sex attract attention, it is at the expense of surrounding content that is neither violent nor sexual.