Not only does sex in advertisements fail to sell, but it may also depress purchase response. That’s the conclusion of a just-published study in the journal Sex Roles.
The study examined how Italian men and women reacted to sexualized advertising. Women showed lower attraction to the product and purchase intentions toward products presented with sexualized female models than with neutral ads.
But what about men? Turns out they were unaffected by the ads’ sexualization. Since women are the prime purchasers of food and beverage products, one might conclude that highly sexualized content in ads is a bad tactic.
Of course, no rule fits all cases. If your target market is men who are highly aggressive sexually — what the study calls higher hostile sexism — then go for it. They showed more purchase intentions after viewing female sexualized ads than neutral ads.
There’s no doubt advertisers have leaned on sex. At the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, for instance, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media reported that women were displayed in sexually revealing clothes and/or sexual posture six times more than men.
As for ads that attempt to sexualize men, another study found male models’ sexualization had an overall negative effect on attitudes and purchase intentions regardless of gender.
Sexualization research has shown sexualized advertising images not only objectify women but all lead to negative views of women and hurt their physical and psychological well being.
But what about sexualizing and hypermuscularizing the male body? Advertisements portraying male models and the muscular ideal increases men’s body dissatifaction.
The new study is significant, because previous studies have been “all over the place,” with some studies showing sex does sell, other studies showing it didn’t boost purchase intention. But this study seems to give clear guidance