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Specially, the fact that many advertisers believe that consumers around the world have similar needs and desires and global racketing is becoming more homogeneous. 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 he 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 there, 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. Solely and Cardboard, 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 Richter 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. Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Pacific University, Restaurants, India, dharmeshmotwani9@gmail. Mom Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Pacific University, Restaurants, India, suburb. agarwa16@gmail. Com 2 O Pejorative Journals, Jam & Kashmir, India. Ramirez and Richter 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 proteomics (15%). They made an important note that what people referred to as sexy differed gender to gender. The study showed that females responded ore to context than males did at 35% to 20%.
It also showed that 28% of the females responded to proteomics 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? -let 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, NOVA etc. ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATIONS Exploratory Research Results Focus Group (A): It consisted of 7 males who were asked to provide views on the issue.