Download Centennial Honors College Western Illinois University Undergraduate Research Day 2012

Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Sex in Advertising
Lorrie Bray
Faculty Mentor: Pearlie Strother-Adams
English and Journalism
Sex sells. That has been the phrase for quite some time now. Using sex to sell products
is a common way to appeal to people. Does using sex to sell a product take away from
the product itself? Is there a time when too much sex is used or too little? And is sex
effective for the product? This is something that should be looked at from an outside
point of view, which is exactly what I will do. This research I choose, will explore how
sex sells in advertising. I will use a content analysis method to analyze commercials and
how many of them during a specific time period, had sex appeal in the commercials. I
will look at CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX, as these are the prime television channels.
Seeing the commercials on these channels during prime time television gives me a
better look at the sexual advertisements being shown. The significance of my research
is to show how sex in advertising helps and hurts in selling a product. Certainly, using
sex appeal helps to sell the products but is not needed in terms of the products function
or quality. Potential buyers of the products could feel there is too much sex in
advertising and it takes away from the product. It is my hope this research which
employs quantitative survey method, will contribute to the research in this area and add
to this body of literature.