Consumers' Attitudes Toward Sexual Appeal in Advertising

Sammanfattning: To use sexual messages in advertisements are becoming more common by each day, it is known as a method that can be highly effective to influence consumers’ attitudes. However, it is important to carefully consider how the appeal is used as high levels of sexual appeal can be perceived as unethical or offensive to consumers. Several factors are influential on consumers’ attitudes to sexual appeal in advertising. The focus of this study is laid upon the following five factors when it comes to sexual appeal in advertising: level of nudity, gender of the consumer, gender of the model, culture and personality of the consumer.  This thesis examines how young consumers from Canada, Hong Kong and Sweden in the age span between 18–24 years differ in their attitude toward sexual advertisement, connected to the previous mentioned factors. This was done by concluding semi-structured interviews with male and female students from each nation, where they expressed their opinions about sexual commercials. It was found that female participants had a moral dilemma when it came to high levels of sexual appeal. Some of the male respondents were found to be uncomfortable when being exposed to high levels of male nudity, which could be neutralized by including a female model. Furthermore it was found that the personality of the respondent affected how he or she reacted to the shown advertisement.  The findings of this study could be of good use to marketers and advertisers as they do not need to adapt their advertisements to each geographical market to the same extent as it possibly was believed before, as long the targeted group consists of younger consumers.