Men and women process the sexual imagery of advertisements in different ways. A study by MediaAnalyzer conducted in 2005, explored how men and women visually process sexually themed ads and what affect this process has on advertisements’ effectiveness. MediaAnalyzer examined the visual patterns of consumers as they viewed print ads, one sexual and one nonsexual, from each of five categories. This investigation showed that men tend to focus on an ad’s sexual imagery (legs, breasts, skin), which draws their attention away from other elements of the ad such as logo, product shot, or headline. In this study, men’s correct recall of the advertised brand was lower for sexual ads at “9.8%”, than nonsexual ones at “19.8%” (Belch 169). Unlike men, women tend to avoid looking at sexual imagery. However, they still show signs of being distracted by such images. When asked to recall the brand advertised in sexual and nonsexual ads, an a...
A collegiate blog assignment created in 2014.