Abstract:

Advertisers mostly use one of three popular appeals in their advertisements – fear, humour and sex. The erotic appeal is one of the most controversial emotional appeals. The use of sex appeal in advertising is influenced by several factors that need to be taken into consideration. Sex sells and perhaps that is why marketers consider it to be one of the most potent tools in advertising. One of the characteristics that sets Generation Y apart from earlier generations, and which is relevant for this research, is that they have reported greater liking of advertisements compared to previous generations and are less often offended, insulted and misled by advertising. The objective of this study is to verify whether sex sells. In selected advertising campaigns with an erotic undertone, it was tested whether the use of sex appeal in combination with a suitable product can increase the demand for such a product rather than in areas where there is no association of the product with sex appeal. The study also investigates whether men pay more attention to sex in advertising than women.