Sexism in advertising

Title: Communications and Media
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Sexism in advertising
Introduction
Sex is a word that attracts everyone's attention. Whenever a person hears the word sex, he perceives in that direction. Sex is the urge of having sex or instincts as it manifests itself in the behavior. It is possible that this urge manifests itself in the urge to buy certain things. For instance, a woman may see a beautiful model wearing sexy lingerie in a TV commercial and subconsciously want to purchase the product in attempt to look like her. A man may see an ad in which a group of men are drinking beer surrounded by several ladies and want to buy the beer in an attempt to live out the portrayed scenario. It is clear that sex and thought of sex demonstrate itself in the purchasing behavior. However, it is true to say that whenever someone hears about sex, sees a sexually related ad, or sees that a certain product is associated with sex, he will be more willing to buy this product. This article tries to examine sexism and its relationship with gender of the consumer, sexual preferences. It also tries to determine if men are more inclined to sex in advertising than women. it also tries to explain the role of age in advertising sexism. It also evaluates the effectiveness of sexism in advertising
Abstract
The way in which consumers perceive advertisements contributes directly on their feelings to the product and the company. When examining the effectiveness of sexual stimuli which is a controversial way of attracting attention, attaining positive consumer perception can be pivotal to the success of the ad.
Perception can be referred to as the method of obtaining information about our surrounding world through our senses and apprehending this information as beliefs. It is composed of three components; exposure, attention and interpretation which then lead to memory. In the attention process, an individual allocates part of his mental activity to stimulus. This is further affected by factors such as color, size, intensity and isolation.
Researches have shown that consumers react positively to some forms of sexual appeals. In evaluation of attractive models in advertisements, researchers have found that consumers automatically associate positive attributes with attractive models or spokespeople. According to the study by A.G Miller (1970), it was determined that participants found physically attractive models to be more sensitive, interesting, kind, strong, modest, poised and outgoing as well as to be of better character than individuals of lesser attractiveness. This research is critical in creating a successful advert, because it suggests that if a consumer sees physically attractive models using or wanting the product, they might subconsciously find the product more desirable as a result of their inferences on the models character. Furthermore, a study by Mills and Aronson found that an attractive female was far more efficient ...