5.3 Sex

Sex appeals are one of the most widely used strategies in marketing communications. Use of sex in marketing communications can range from discussion of sexual or personal hygiene to innuendo storylines or nudity (subject to the regulatory environment in which they are shown).

The primary role of sex appeals is to act as an initial attention cue. In this way, they operate like shock appeals by achieving ‘stopping power’. In other words, the use of erotic or sexualised images can lead to greater attention on the message, a reduced likelihood of consumers zapping past, and higher levels of message recall and recognition (Wirtz et al., 2018).

The use of sexual content is based on the appropriateness and relevance of the images to the message (Paek and Nelson, 2007). Research by Reichert et al. (2012) found that sex appeals are most frequently used in low involvement product categories where they can be used as a means of getting through the noise and clutter of similar brands. They identified beauty, personal grooming and clothing as primary sectors that use sex appeals. Moreover, sex appeals tend to be more effective on men and younger people (Putrevu, 2008).