International Conference on Arts and Business Information Systems (ICAEBIS'2012) August 25-26, 2012 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Impact of Sex Appeals In TV Advertisement

Muhammad Imran Wazir and Ezaz Ullah Ezaz

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to know about the

attitudes of the viewers towards the sex appeals in advertisement and to know whether these appeals are acceptable in Pakistani society or not, and to know whether attitudes developed by the sexual advertisements leads the same attitude toward the brand and purchase intention or not. The study found that the viewers do not like the sexual appeals in TV advertisements. The data has been collected from 150 respondents of Peshawar, in which 54 were females and 96 were male respondents. After showing different sex appeal advertisements, respondents were given a questionnaire to fill. By using collected data the study found that there is significant inverse relationship between sex appeal advertisements and attitude towards the showed advertisement (Aad), and the found results lead to the attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. The findings will help the national and international companies to modify and make their advertisements according to the consumer preference.

KeywordsTV advertisement, preferences, brand purchase intention.

sex

appeals,

consumer

I. INTRODUCTION

DVERTISEMENT is an effective communicational tool used by the marketers to attract the potential customers. The television viewers are bombarded with different sort of advertisements and continuously faced with mass media messages and advertisements from the television, radio and internet. The exposure of customers and viewers to such sort of mass media has great impact upon thinking, values, purchases and actions (Jan, 2005). To attract the potential customers, marketers use sex appeals practices in advertisement. In broad sense sex appeals are defined as the messages, and brand information in advertisement which exposed sexuality (Tomet al., 2001). Sex appeals in advertisement may be found in verbal elements, visual, sound, and portray varying degrees of nudity (Gould, 1994). The advertisement with sex appeals are attract more attention with lasting memorability and interest, as compared to the non-sex appeals in advertisement. As compared to the non sexual advertisements (Ads), sexual advertisement are more likeable and more apt to increase the interest in related topic.Therefore, most of the non profit organizations use these appeals for different awareness purposes. Because of the

Muhammad Imran Wazir is Assistant Professor at Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences) Peshawar, Pakistan (phone: +92-91 5861024-5; fax: +92-91-5861026; e-mail: Imran.wazir@imsciences.edu.pk). Ezaz Ullah Ezaz is Assistant to Director Research and Development at CECOC University Peshawar (e-mail: im_ezaz21@yahoo.com).

saturation in the media environmnet, getting proper attention in the message is more important (Reichert et al., 2001). Both men and women have some possible moral concerns about the use of overt sex appeals in advertisement, and they react differently to diverse form of advertisement (LaTour et al., 1990). Research confirms that response to sex appeal advertisement are specific to the target audience rather than universal (Mittal and Lassar, 2000). Asian countries specifically with muslim cultures, are most conservative regarding sensual gratification. So the advertisement, packaging and products must be of muslim standards. Most Companies are using sex appeals in advertisements in different countries knowing very little about the responses of consumers to those appeals in that specific culture (Liu et al., 2009). Due to the increasing usage of sex appeals in advertisement in recent years there is extensive literature in Western countries on the evaluation of sex appeals advertisement. However, very little research has been conducted on sex appeals advertising in Asian countries like China (Liu et al., 2006). Although, different international brands are flooding in to Pakistan, so the research on the Pakistani consumers is inadequate. Most of the ads contains young age models which shows that they are targeting young age college male/ females. When young female adults compare their level of attractivness with those showed models in the ads, in most cases they will percieve negative discripency between their own and of models attractiveness (Richins, 1991). As Pakistan is becoming more attractive market for the international brands, and because of extensive competition among the brands, the usage of effective advertisement is needed to attract the potential customers. But the question is that either they should adopt local advertisement strategy or global advertisement strategy ? To answer such a managerial question the companies must should know that how the Pakistani consumers respond to different advertisement. Kalliny and Gentry (2007) reported some similarities and differences between the Arab and U.S cultures. Despite all the similarities between the two cultures, the advertising agencies should pay attention to the differences. The advertisement produced in one country should not be placed in any othere country in the same manner because of the culture differenes. The advertiser should pay attention to the cultural values, because these values are directly related to the social and religious values and going againt those values will be very offensive, which may leads to create a negative perception toward the brand as well. Attitude toward the advertisement has been founded as an intervenient in the process through which advertising

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International Conference on Arts and Business Information Systems (ICAEBIS'2012) August 25-26, 2012 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

influence attitude toward the brand and purchase intention (MacKenzie et al., 1986). Nudity is one of the most controversial aspect that differ the European advertisement from the advertisement in the muslim countries. In western culture, nudity is being used unlimited, for example underwear ads,but nudity is totally forbidden in Muslim cultures. In this aspect islamic culture is very conservative. However there are even some muslim countries, like UAE where the sexual advertisements are acceptable, but the country like Pakistan having strong commitment with the religion and social values. The study of Henthorne and LaTour (1995) reported that the use of high nude appeals in print advertisement may not be percieved as morally right or culturally acceptable to viewers. The lack of moral equity in advertisement, results in directly negative feelings of the viewers towards the advertisement and indirectly towards the brand. The globalization trend are adversely affecting the traditions and culture of the Pakistan. If the advertisers do not change the advertisement style then it can worsen the ethical and moral values of Pakistani society (Usman et al., 2010). Islamic followers found the advertisement of gender/sex related products, social/political groups and health and care products most offensive relative to other three religions (Buddhism,Christianity,Non religious believers). The religion was founded as an element of the culture that have an impact on the every aspect of the society. Therefore, the marketer should never underestimate its importance (Fam et al., 2004). The ongoing telivision advertisement is unethical because of the emphasis on sex appeals Khattak and Khan(2009). It was found that most of the respondents showed very significiant negative feelings about the social consequences of the current telivision advertisement and they demand the changes by the regulatory authorities. To understand the positive and negative reactions of the consumer and ethical dilemma arosed from the sex appeal advertising, we must consider the basic concepts in the normative ethical theories of moral philosophy (Gould, 1994). II. DATA COLLECTION The population of the study was the diverse areas students of MBA from Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar KPK and the random sampling technique has been used on the sample of 150 respondents between the age group 20-30. Among the 150 sample, 96 were male and 54 were female students. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection which was taken from LaTour and Henthorne (1994) study and was modified according to Pakistani environment and cultural. The questionnaire was of three parts attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intention. The questionnaire was designed to measure, attitude of consumers towards the sex appeal advertisements, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. Likert scale was used for each variable ranging from 1 to 5 where 1 coded as strongly disagree and 5 coded as strongly agree. Before filling the questionnaire, one sex appeal advertisement was shown to the each and every respondent through laptop, in order to allow them sufficient time to make their mind according to the given
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questions in questionnaire. The advertisements were having different sort of sex appeals that is, sex arousal sounds, poses and the show off of the specific parts of the body which were half naked (Figures 1, 2...8). On the bases of eight advertisements the data has been collected. III. METHODOLOGY The descriptive statistics were used for analyzing the consequences of the sex appeal advertisements. The t-test was performed to know the significance of the descriptive statistics with the reference value of 3, to know the relationship among the sex appeals in the advertisement and attitude of the respondents towards those advertisements. Linear regression model was used while determining the relationship between attitude towards the advertisement, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. All tests were conducted at 5% level of significance. IV. ANALYSIS The respondents completed six 5-point items that were added to measure the attitude towards the ad (Aad) and three 5-point items used to measure the attitude toward the brand (Abr). Purchase intention was measured by 5-point items. The scale was anchored by definitely will not to definitely will. The Cronbach's Alpha value was .790, which shows its reliability. With regard H1 which states that there is a significant inverse relationship between sex appeals Ad and attitude towards the (Aad). The results show that more respondents dislike sex appeals in advertisement (Table 1.1). Because the mean is 2.5522 which is smaller than neutral value equal to 3. Values rights to the neutral were tends to likeness and to the left were tend to the dislikeness. The results showed significant effects (that is, p<.05) which confirm to indications of significant overall model results. The observed t value for this test is -11.507, with an associated (two tailed) significant of 0.0000<0.05, which shows the inverse relationship between sex appeals ad and attitude towards the ad (Aad).
Table 1.1 One-Sample Statistics Var N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean .47657 .03891

Aad 150 2.5522

Table 1.2 One-Sample Test Test Value = 3 Sig.P (2Df tailed) Mean Differenc e Lower Upper 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Var t

Aad 11 14 .000 .5 9 07

-.44778

-.5247 -.3709

International Conference on Arts and Business Information Systems (ICAEBIS'2012) August 25-26, 2012 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

To test the H2, regression analysis has been used. The analysis enabled us to examine the positive relationship between independent variable (Aad) and dependant variable attitude towards the brand (Abr). Table 2.3 shows that the independent variable (Aad) has Beta =.509 with high significance(P<.05 and F-51.69) , which means that each unit change in the independent variable (Aad) change the dependent variable (Abr) 0.50 times positively. In simple words positive Beta value shows that if attitude toward the sex appeals would favorable, then the attitude toward the brand would be favorable as well. But if the Aad would be unfavorable, then Abr would unfavorable as well. The R square (25.9%), which means that the change in dependent variable (Abr) because of independent variable (Aad) is 25.9 %.
Table 2.1 Model Summary Std. Error of the Estimate .88619 ANOVA Sum of Squares 1 148 149 116.230 156.830 Df Mean Square 40.601 .785
b

Table 3.1

Model Summary

Mode l R 1

R Square

Adjusted Square .524

R Std. Error of the Estimate .70774

.726a .527

a. Predictors: (Constant), Purchase intention

Table 3.2 Sum of Squares df Regression Residual Total 82.698 74.133 156.830 1

ANOVAb Mean Square 82.698 Sig. P

Model 1

Model 1

R .509a

Adjusted R R Square Square .259 .254

165.09 .000a 9

148 .501 149

a. Predictors: (Constant), Aad Table 2.2 Model Residual Total

Sig.

a. Predictors: (Constant), Purchase intention b. Dependent Variable: Attitude towards brand (Abr) Table 3.3 Coefficientsa Unstandardize d Standardized Coefficients Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Purchase intention B .874 .716 Std. Error Beta .172 .056 .726 t 5.094 Sig. P .000

1 Regression 40.601

51.699 .000a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Aad Table 2.3. Coefficientsa Unstandardized Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Aad B .153 1.095 Standardized Coefficients t .388 .509 Sig. .699

12.849 .000

Std. Error Beta .395 .152

a. Dependent Variable: (Abr)

7.190 .000

a. Dependent (Abr) Variable:

Furthermore the study found that as compared to the male respondents, females have more negative attitude towards sex appeals advertisements.
Table 4.1 Attitude toward Ad Male/femal e Mean female male Total N Std. Deviation .38171 .50124

To test H3, regression analysis used again. The analysis enabled us to examine the positive relationship between independent variable, attitude towards the brand (Abr) and dependant variable Purchase intention. Table 3.3 shows that the independent variable (Abr) has Beta =.726 with high significant (P<.05 and F=169) which means that each unit change in the independent variable (Abr) change the Purchase intention positively .726 times. In simple words positive Beta value shows that if attitude toward the brand (Abr) would favorable, then the purchase intention would be favorable as well. But if the Abr would be unfavorable, then the purchase intention would unfavorable as well. The value of R square is 0.527(52%), which means that because of independent variable (Abr) 52.7% change occurs in dependent variable (PI).

2.3889 54 2.6441 96

2.5522 150 .47657

Table 4.2 Attitude toward the brand (Abr) Male/female female male Mean N Std. Deviation .83532 1.12251

2.9074 54 2.9722 96

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International Conference on Arts and Business Information Systems (ICAEBIS'2012) August 25-26, 2012 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Table 4.2 Attitude toward the brand (Abr) Male/female female male Total Mean N Std. Deviation .83532 1.12251

2.9074 54 2.9722 96

2.9489 150 1.02594

The attitude towards the brand was mostly equal for both the genders (Table 4.2). But regarding purchase intention, females are having more favorable intention than male respondents (Table 4.3). Table 4.3 Purchase intention (PI)

Male/female Mean Female Male Total

Std. Deviation .67189 1.20193

2.9630 54 2.8646 96

2.9000 150 1.04110

V. DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH The additional research may be done to find the impact of sex appeals in print advertisement. The impact of using sexual appeals in public awareness advertisements by nonprofit organizations. VI. LIMITATIONS One of the major limitations of this study is the respondents because they were not fully participative due to their privacy issues. The limits of the study prevent it from generalization of the obtained results. The main concern of this research was only the television advertisements, which is another limitation of this study. The outcomes and the behavior of the respondents may be different for print advertisements. Keeping in mind the above mentioned limitations, the outcomes of this research have pointed out some important effects of the sexual appeal in TV advertisement. The results obtained from the study also contributed important information about the effects of using TV ads which has sex appeal. VII. CONCLUSION Generally, our society is considered as a Muslim society, and its people are bounded in some sort of religion and cultural boundaries. In spite of modernism and globalization, people of Pakistan have some ethical concerns about the advertisements. Our research shows that most of the people dont like sexual appeals in advertisement, and such sort of dislikeness leads to negative attitude towards the brand and
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purchase intention. The outcomes of this research showed significantly negative feelings of the respondent about the social cost of the sex appeal in TV ads. The results of the study may help the regulatory authority to ban such sort of advertisement, because the study found that both male and female have nearly same negative attitude towards the sexual advertisements and brands shown in those advertisements. But as compare to the male, female were having high favorable purchase intention than male to the brand. It may, because of the unavailability of close substitute of those products. The findings of the study reveal that sexual appeals in advertisement are unacceptable in our society, and people dont like sex appeals in advertisements. If any unethical appeals will find in advertisement, it will lead to build a negative attitude towards the ad, which will further leads to build a negative attitude toward brand and purchase intention. The marketer should keep in mind that the globalization strategy is unacceptable everywhere, because of the differences in cultural values and norms. So to make a marketing campaign, the perception and cultural values of the target market should never ignore. A conclusion section is not required. Although a conclusion may review the main points of the paper, do not replicate the abstract as the conclusion. A conclusion might elaborate on the importance of the work or suggest applications and extensions. REFERENCES
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International Conference on Arts and Business Information Systems (ICAEBIS'2012) August 25-26, 2012 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
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