The High Cost of Accepting Sex in Advertising
How price tags influence whether women will tolerate overt sex in product ads
Conventional wisdom tells us that sex sells, but research tells us that when advertisements are too overtly sexual, it turns women off.
Unless the price is right.
“Women generally show spontaneous negative attitudes toward sexual images,” researchers Kathleen Vohs, Jaideep Sengupta, and Darren Dahl wrote in a study published in Psychological Science. “Sexual economics theory offers a reason why: The use of sexual imagery is inimical to women’s vested interest in sex being portrayed as infrequent, special, and rare.”
“Just a quick exposure to an ad was enough for theories of sexual economics to kick in.”
However, if the item being sold is considered special and rare — meaning expensive — then women became more relaxed about exposure to sexually explicit advertising.
To determine this, researchers had men and women look at advertisements for women’s watches that cost $10 or $1,250. Some of the ads had sexually-explicit images with the watch, while others displayed the products with a nature scene of mountains. Participants were asked for their snap…
