SEX APPEALS IN ADVERTISING: ATTITUDES AND ETHICAL PERCEPTIONS OF HOUSEVIWES

Purpose- This study aims to examine responses to sexual appeal advertising from the housewives’ perspective when male and female bodies are used in ads to attract their attention. Besides, it has been tried whether ethic evaluation has effect on attitude toward the ad in advertisements in which women and men are used as sexual objects. Variations among the respondents’ perceptions concerning their demographic characteristics are also examined. Methodology- The study employs a within subjects experimental design to examine reactions to different contents in sex appeal advertising. A pilot study is conducted to specify two ads to be used in the experimental study. The first ad (Biscolata Biscuits) used male body, and the second one (Magnum Ice-cream) used female body as sexual appeals. Conveniently selected 300 housewives are exposed to these ads in a within subjects experimental design. After performing factor and reliability analyses, group means of attitudes towards the ad and ethical perceptions are compared by t tests. Thereafter, attitudinal and perceptual differences stemming from respondent demographics are also analyzed by analyses of variance. Findings- Biscolata advertisement (reflecting male sexual cotent) attained a higher positive attitude towards the ad score (3,06) compared to Magnum advertisement (2,79). Further, the later ad attained a higher ethical problem perception score (3,09) compared to the formerad (2,97). Ethic evaluation has an addictive effect on negative attitude toward the ad in advertisements in which women and men are used as sexual objects. However, in advertisements in which women are used as sexual objects, ethic evaluation has an negative effect on positive attitude toward the ad. T tests and analyses of variance revealed no significant perceptual differences concerning respondent demographics. Conclusion- Analyses revealed that female viewers find ads containing male sexual content more favorable compared to ads containing female sexual content. Further, both ads containing male and female sexual content attained higher scores on ethical problem perceptions. Yet, ads containing female body as sexual content are perceived more questionable by the respondents. Respondents’s demographic characteristics did not exert a significant effect on their perceptions. Based on these findings, advertisers targeting houseviwes need to be cautious about using sex appeal advertisements