If you do any type of marketing at all you’ve heard the phrase, “Sex Sells” in the past. It is one of those things that almost goes without saying because everyone just knows it is true with just about all products. Want to sell more of something? Have a pretty girl in a bikini hold it! According to a recent study that was published by the academic journal of Psychological Bulletin, however, this conventional wisdom might not actually be true.
The study looked at violent and sexual television programing and how it impacts the viewer’s memory. The study found that their memory of people viewing these types of shows was diverted away from the advertising. This is according to Brad Bushman, who is a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University. He also co-authored the study in question, which analyzed the results of 53 other experiments.
Even when just the ads themselves contained the violent or sexual content, the results were the same. He commented on the results saying, “It never helps to have violence and sex in commercials. It either hurts or has no effect at all.”
This is quite a surprising statement given that most people believe otherwise.
The study, however, concluded that brands who advertise with violent or sexually explicit contexts are actually remembered less often than other brands. In addition, they are ‘evaluated less favorably’ and people are less likely to purchase from those brands.
It seems that violent commercials, or advertising on violent programming, is worse than using sex to sell. The fact is, however, that it is not a good strategy either.
When advertising, this is something that you should keep in mind. Using more family friendly ads, and marketing in a more family friendly environment is more likely to get you the results you’re looking for. Don’t take the word of this study on its own, however. This is something you can prove yourself. If you’re using sex or violence in your ads, compare it to a more “PG” ad and see how it does. You might just be surprised.
