Download The effectiveness of Nudity in Advertising in Three European

The Effectiveness of Nudity in Advertising in Three
European Countries
Christian Dianoux, CEREFIGE - University of Paul Verlaine – Metz - IUT, Ile du Saulcy,
57045 METZ, France – [email protected]
Zdenek Linhart, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 165 21 Praha 6,
Czech Republic – [email protected]
Abstract
This paper shows several interesting results obtained from an experiment in which Czech,
Spanish, and French students were exposed to a folder containing a 12 page mock-up of a
magazine, that included an advertisement for a mobile phone where one could see a woman
showing either her face, or being topless.
The principal differences observed in attitude toward the advertisement primarily originate in
the gender of the individuals. The Czech, French, or Spanish women tend to judge more
negatively than the men the advertisements showing a woman with a naked breast. However,
even if important differences between countries were found, nationality does not have an
influence on the preference of the advertisement with or without nudity on display. These
results justify the proposition that it is not necessary to adapt a communication campaign
containing nudity in these three countries, and undoubtedly on the European level as well.
Key-words
Nudity, advertising, print media, Czech Republic, France, Spain, attitude toward advertising
1
The effectiveness of Nudity in Advertising in Three
European Countries
Abstract
This paper shows several interesting results obtained from an experiment in which Czech,
Spanish, and French students were exposed to a folder containing a 12 page mock-up of a
magazine, that included an advertisement for a mobile phone where one could see a woman
showing either her face, or being topless.
The principal differences observed in attitude toward the advertisement primarily originate in
the gender of the individuals. The Czech, French, or Spanish women tend to judge more
negatively than the men the advertisements showing a woman with a naked breast. However,
even if important differences between countries were found, nationality does not have an
influence on the preference of the advertisement with or without nudity on display. These
results justify the proposition that it is not necessary to adapt a communication campaign
containing nudity in these three countries, and undoubtedly on the European level as well.
Key-words
Nudity, advertising, print media, Czech Republic, France, Spain, attitude toward advertising
2
Introduction
Although the use of the eroticism in advertising is not a recent phenomenon (Soley and
Kurzbard, 1986), it would seem that it has increased in recent years. The observations of
Reichert, LaTour, and Kim (2007) show that “the proportion of sexualised women rose from
less than one-third in 1964 to one-half in 2003”. Simultaneous to this quantitative
development, some authors have also recognised a qualitative evolution where “graphic
sexual images seem more extreme, more pervasive and more perverse than before”
(Kilbourne, 2005). This tendency is also observed in the general media environment.
According to the last report of the Parents Television Council (PTC), the number of sexual
references on the North American TV networks increased by 22% during Family Hour when
compared to programming from the same time slot in 2000-2001 (Brodesser-Akner, 2007).
The consumer appears to be increasingly tolerant to this form of communication. A recent
study by Zimmerman and Dahlberg (2008) shows that the questioned women were less
offended by advertisements with sexual connotations than those questioned a few years before
by Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom (1991). Moreover, we can see this trend of consumer
tolerance, or rather the absence of sanction by the consumer toward ads containing sexual or
violent content, by an examination of the results of Toyota in the USA. Indeed Toyota
increased its sales in 2007 by 3% whereas those of its main competitors dropped (- 6% for
GM and -12% for Ford), while the US Parents’ television council, PTC, had classified Toyota
first in 2007, and second in 2006 in its report of the worst advertisers - www.parentstv.org).
These various tendencies observed in the USA exist also in other areas of the world, but
apparently on different levels. According to Piron and Young (1996), nudity is used less in
Germany than in the United States, because north Europeans are more accustomed to certain
forms of nudity which has therefore lost its impact. In the same way, the study of Nelson and
Hye-Jin (2005), which is based on the observation of advertisements published in seven
3
editions of the female magazine Cosmopolitan, shows strong divergences between France and
Thailand where the advertisements have strong sexual contents, and the USA, Brazil, Korea,
or China where the sexual contents are weaker.
It can be supposed that these differences are the reflection of different attitudes of the
consumers of each country toward advertising with sexual stimuli. However, in spite of the
interest in, and better understanding of these mechanisms, there are rarely studies showing
cross-cultural comparisons, particularly in Europe (e.g. Lass and Hart, 2004; Orth et al, 2007).
Indeed, according to Moiij (2003) it would seem that “the persistence of cultural variety of
countries worldwide as well as in Europe implies that a successful advertising approach in
one country does not automatically mean similar success in other countries”.
In this spirit, the objective of this paper is to better understand the effects of the recourse to
nudity in a European advertising campaign, originating from an experiment carried out in
three various European countries: in the east in a country of the former Soviet bloc (the Czech
Republic), in the west in a country considered as tolerant with regard to this form of
communication (France), and in the south in a country (Spain) which, as we shall see, has a
record of its refusal to accept sexy advertising by Dolce & Gabbana which had already been
tolerated in many other countries. Following this, after having given a literature review on the
principal research results leading to this subject, we will focus our research hypotheses by
taking the European context into account. We will then present the methodology used and the
results which come out from this experiment. We will finish by highlighting the principal
results and prospects which emerge for an advertiser who would wish to use this form of
communication.
1- Literature review and research question
4
The sexual characteristic of an advertisement will be identified here by the degree of dress of
individuals, which, according to Reichert and Ramirez (2000), is the characteristic most likely
to give a sexy connotation to an advertisement. Although the degree of dress of individuals is
not always a necessary and sufficient condition for which a stimulus could be regarded as
sexual, it remains the most obvious pointer, because nudity makes the sexual connotation of
the advertisement more explicit. Reichert and Ramirez (2000) showed that more than 50% of
the questioned people made a close link between eroticism and nudity.
1.1.
Impact of nudity on attention, memory and attitude toward the ad
For McInnis, Noorman, and Jaworski (1991) when the motivation to process the data on the
brand is weak, the objective of the advertiser is to draw attention to the advertisement starting
with executional cues to which the individual will be sensitive, independent of the brand.
Among these executional cues, sexual sources are likely to play this role. Many researchers
(Vezina & Paul 1997; Geuens & De Pelsmacker 1998; Manceau and Tissier Desbordes, 2006;
Lombardot, 2007) confirm that this increase of attention is due to the positive role of nudity.
The interest to reinforce the attention is then able to “subsequently increase brand information
processing within the ad” (McInnis, Noorman, and Jaworski, 1991). However, it would seem
that this bond between attention and treatment cannot be empirically observed when sexual
sources are used. Lombardot (2007), starting from a review of literature relating to 23
research sources, indeed shows that nudity affects the cognitive process of treatment and
comprehension of the message in a negative way, as well as the memory of the brand, and
“paradoxically, this should lead to increased memory for sexual advertising for those
individuals for whom the use of sexual appeal is least appealing” (Davies, Zhu, and Brantley,
2007).
5
As for the impact of nudity on the attitude toward the brand and the intention to purchase, the
results are contradictory (Severn and Al 1990; De Pelsmacker & Van Den Bergh 1996;
Vezina & Paul 1997). These differences undoubtedly come from factors such as the type of
methodology used (very few studies set up experimental protocols making it possible only to
check the influence of variable nudity), the choice of the product (the use of nudity for
underclothing is undoubtedly better perceived than nudity in advertising related to a car), and
the profile of the individuals. On this last point, several individual characteristics have indeed
been highlighted, such as age (e.g. differences in perception between generation Y and Baby
boomers, see Loroz, 2006), or the kind with the “viewers [who] respond much more
favourably to opposite-sex sexual images than to their own sex images” (Reichert, LaTour,
and Kim, 2007), or the masculinity (vs. femininity) as regards the advertisements focused on
the image and the utility aspect (Chang, 2006).
These various results make it possible to suggest that recourse to nudity should have an
impact on the attitude toward the advertisement varying in strength according to individual
characteristics such as the age or the gender in particular. The question which interests us then
is to know if this effect is homogeneous regardless of the country.
1.2 Impact of nudity according to the country
For Ford, La Tour, and Clarke (2004), it is clear that the perception of nudity in advertising
varies to a significant degree according to the studied countries (China, India, Singapore, the
USA). The qualitative study undertaken by Lass and Hart (2004) in Germany, in Italy, and the
United Kingdom also goes in this direction by showing however that, apart from the
differences between country, the gender and the values of the consumers simultaneously plays
a significant role.
6
If the differences in terms of gender or values do not represent a real problem for the
advertiser, since these elements are usually taken into account during segmentation within
each country, the cultural and legal differences between countries are more delicate to solve
when the campaign covers more than one country. Two examples of international brands
having roughly identical worldwide targets, illustrate perfectly the problems with which the
advertiser can be confronted (even if nudity is not here the only crucial factor). In February
2007, an advertisement for the collection of ready-made clothes by Dolce & Gabbana
(showing a woman lying, surrounded by bare-chested men) had to be withdrawn from
Spanish magazines after a complaint of the Spanish Women’s Institute. Following this, the ad
was also withdrawn from Italy then finally, on account of this dispute, the company decided
to stop it completely in the whole world. As for the advertising poster for the fashion
designers Marithé and Girbaud (showing a man with a naked back, together with twelve
women, all together around a table, reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “La Cène” “Last Supper”), it was prohibited in Italy in 2005, and only authorised in France after a long
legal battle which finished in 2006.
In relation to these various disputes, the question is whether those are the feelings of more or
less influential local groups, or whether there are more fundamental differences between the
attitudes of the consumers in each country, which would confirm the observations of Orth et
al (2007). These authors indeed showed considerable differences in terms of attitude toward
the advertisement between closely-neighbouring European countries (Croatia, The Czech
Republic, Hungary, and Poland). They concluded from it that “using one advertising
campaign is questionable, if not potentially damaging to advertisers’ efforts”.
These results are on the other hand contradictory to the practices observed. Indeed, the few
comparative studies undertaken in Europe on the proportion of advertising which have
recourse to nudity show that a significant difference between countries does not exist.
7
Koudelova and Whitelock (2001) who compared TV spots of the United Kingdom and in the
Czech Republic, and Dianoux, Kettnerová, and Linhart (2006) who compared the
advertisements in the Czech Republic and France in the 5 principal categories of journals,
have observed differences between some published formats, but none in regard to the use of
nudity. We did not have such precise information concerning the Spanish territory, at the
origin of the dispute on Dolce and Gabbana, but it would seem according to our various
observations that the practices do not basically differ.
These results a priori paradoxical must however be relativised because the academic research
results presented above are not basically contradictory to the practices observed. Indeed, with
regard to the study undertaken by Ford, La Tour, and Clarke (2004), in addition to the fact
that its objective (to identify the perception of the individuals toward the portrayal of the sex
role) differs from ours, it relates to two continents (Asia and North America) which
undoubtedly accentuates the cross cultural differences. The research of Orth at al. (2007)
relates to a set of themes broader than those which interest us here. Lastly, we have to note
that Lass and Hart (2004), starting from a qualitative methodology relating to a very broad
sample (students, bankers, housewives,…), remark that, in addition to the country, the
individual characteristics play a considerable part. It is thus possible that starting from a more
homogeneous group (e.g students), we did not find differences between countries, even if it is
about a product having neither a direct nor indirect relationship with nudity. Thus, in such a
context, we should check the following assumption for the three selected countries (Spain,
France, and the Czech Republic):
H1: The superiority (or inferiority) of an ad using nudity compared with an ad not using
nudity will be the same in Spain, France, and the Czech Republic in terms of attention,
memory, or attitude toward the ad.
8
If any differences cannot be observed between countries, it is probable that some individual
characteristics play a major role in the preference of ad using nudity in comparison with an ad
not using nudity, especially regarding the attitude towards the advertisement. Indeed,
according to the type of advertising, women generally express a different attitude toward the
ad compared to men (Putrevu, 2004). The results of Reichert et al (2007b) confirm these
conclusions within the precise framework of a sexy advertisement. For those “overall, the
findings support a media literacy effect and a gender effect that should be considered by
advertising executives and in any media literacy component pertaining to sexualised images
of women in advertising”. These effects should be even stronger if the product being the
subject of advertising does not have a direct or indirect relationship with nudity, hence:
H2: The preferences in terms of attitude toward the advertisement resorting to nudity with
sexual connotation compared to advertisement without it will differ more because of the sex
of the individual respondent than because of the nationality.
2- Methodology
2.1. The choice of the support
A magazine was used for this experiment for two reasons. It is, on the one hand, the media in
which nudity is most frequently used, as Reichert et al (1999) have shown in the American
context. In addition, the magazine facilitates, compared to the other media, the treatment of
the message because of its positive action on two of the three dimensions of the MOA model
of McInnis et al (1991): the opportunity and the ability.
2.2. The sample
9
The choice of a sample made up of students, though sometimes criticised (Soley and Reid,
1983), comprises the major advantage here as it makes it possible to have homogeneous
groups in each country, easy to compare, and being able to constitute an identical target for an
international brand. Moreover, the use of nudity in advertising is accepted better by young
people than older people (Manceau and Tissier-Desbordes, 2006). As for the three countries
selected, each one represents a strong stage of European participation (notably in terms of the
practice of harmonisation): France, as a founder country, Spain joining in 1986, and the Czech
Republic in 2004. They in addition have their own specificities, making them potentially
different from each other: in the east, the Czech Republic representing a country of the former
Soviet bloc, in the west, France, a country considered as tolerant with regard to this form of
communication, and in the south, Spain, a country which was illustrated recently, as we have
just seen, by its refusal of the advertising of Dolce & Gabbana.
2.3. The choice of the advertisement
Many researchers have highlighted the different attitudes which could be generated when the
use of nudity was relevant to the advertised product (e.g. shower gel) or not relevant (e.g. car).
We will focus here the second option in order to reinforce the possible differences between
each country. A mobile phone was chosen as the product which is likely to interest our entire
sample, whichever the country and the sex of the individuals, and which represents a rather
involving product, having neither a direct nor indirect link with nudity.
We have chosen a leading international communications brand in the three countries: Nokia
(The European leader with nearly 50% of the market share in Europe in 2007, well ahead of
its three main competitors Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson).
We took a real advertisement of the brand to which we added a female model showing either
her naked breast (appendix 1), or her face on the screen of the telephone (appendix 2). To
10
make sure of the erotic character of the photograph, we selected ten photographs of naked
models and by a process of successive elimination (standard Delphi) we arrived at a
photograph on which all of the questioned experts (two male and two female in each country)
came to an agreement based on the typology suggested by Triandis (cf Nelson and Paek,
2005): photograph concerned with level 4 of the scale that starts from 0 = “no sexual
appeal/fully clothed” to 4 = “nudity with bare bodies, wearing translucent under apparel or
lingerie, poses where the model wears only a towel”. The experts in addition took care to
avoid what could be regarded as a sexist ad (see Lysonski, 2005).
Lastly, the size of the advertisement being likely to influence the attention of the individual,
and the Czech Republic being a country where advertisements are published more frequently
on a half page than a full page, this element will be taken into account in our experimental
design.
2.4. Experimental design and procedure
The experimental advertisement for Nokia was inserted in a 12 page mock-up of a magazine
duplicated in three versions (Spanish, Czech, and French). This contained ten different
advertisements (4 of a quarter of page, 3 of a half-page, and 2 of a full page, plus one or the
other of the experimental advertisements for Nokia presented either on half a page, or on a
full page). The cover page (with title “campus”) and the advertisements were strictly identical
in the three countries (except of course the rare texts requiring a translation). As for the
articles, they included all of the similar subjects likely to appear in a magazine intended for
students. The experimental design is summarised in table 1.
Table 1: Experiment plan
Nokia ad with naked woman (ad-NW)
Nokia ad with face of woman (ad-FW)
Ad size
Half size
Full size
Half size
CR
43
44
45
SP
40
44
43
FR
44
44
32
Total
259
255
11
Full size
Total
47
179
42
169
46
166
514
The mock-up magazines were given out with the following comment: “a new magazine model
is being tested which may become a students’ magazine. However before finalising this
model your opinion would be appreciated concerning the form and the content. A short period
of time is allotted you to consult the model (10 minutes exactly), after we will ask you some
questions on the subject”.
Ten minutes after the participants were shown the magazine, they were asked to close it with
the cover page facing upwards, and to answer a first questionnaire. This questionnaire
concerned particularly the attitudes towards the advertisements in general (Mehta, 2000),
spontaneous and assisted recall of brands and products in this magazine, and purchase
intention for five telephone brands.
When everyone had finished answering the first part of the questionnaire, they were asked to
re-open the magazine and to look carefully at the experimental advertisement. They then had
to answer different questions. The principals were: 4 questions to determine those who
declared having paid attention to the ad; 21 questions to measure verbally the affective
reactions (Derbaix, 1995); 8 questions about their attitudes toward the ad (Aad) with each
item used as a separate Aad indicator (adapted and extended from Coulter, 1998; MacKenzie,
Lutz, Belch, 1986); 4 questions intended to measure the beliefs concerning the brand
(quality), attitude (like the phone Nokia), and intention (would like to have and intention to
purchase); 16 questions to evaluate the product involvement concerning mobile phones
(Kapferer and Laurent, 1986). All items in English were translated into Spanish, Czech, and
French with the back translation and decentring procedure suggested by Brislin (1976), and
finalised by three focus groups from each country.
12
3- Results
With regard to the attention, a greater number of those who were exposed to ad-NW (ad with
naked woman) stated that they had paid attention to this ad (answer was given with the
advertisement in front of them), than those exposed to ad-FW (ad with face of the woman),
and that applied, whichever the country (table 2).
Table 2: Attention toward the ad according to the country
I paid attention to this ad (5points Osgood scale)
CR
Spain
France
Ad with naked woman (adAd with face woman (adNW)
FW)
Half-page
Full page
Half-page
Full page
96
99
73
93
p.=0.061
90
96
68
84
p.=0.027
88
93
66
77
p.=0.048
Mean rank- Kruskal-Wallis test
On the other hand, although the individuals able to remember spontaneously the name of the
brand Nokia are proportionally more numerous in the group of the ad-NW than in the group
of the ad-FW, this difference is not significant with the threshold of 5% (table 3). The
comparisons country by country do not make it possible to note differences, either. Also let us
note that the remark of Baron (1982) that “sexual arousal created on page 1 may contribute to
the appeal of a product advertised on page 5”, does not seem to apply here, at least with
regard to memory. The spontaneous recall of the name of the advertised brand Nokia is
indeed very largely the best score obtained (m=82%) compared to all other ads for
international brands inserted in the magazine (i.e. Coca-Cola, Yves Saint Laurent, and Smart
which have scores lower than 70%), and no significant difference is observed between
individuals exposed to the ad-NW and the ad-FW with regard to the spontaneous memory of
these three brands. Lastly, let us note that the individuals exposed to the ad-FW in the full
page remember better than those exposed to the same advertisement on a half page, but we
13
found no difference between the half page and full page for the individuals who were exposed
to the ad-NW.
Table 3: Recall of the brand name (any confused group)
Ad with naked woman (adNW)
Half-page
Full page
Spontaneous quotation of the
advertised brand (Nokia)
No answer or bad answer
Ad with face woman (adFW)
Half-page
Full page
84,3%
84,0%
78,1%
82,4%
15,7%
16,0%
21,9%
17,6%
N=121
N=125
N=105
N=125
Chi² = 1,85 - df = 3 - p=0,602
As for the verbal measurement of the affective reactions produced by the advertisement, we
can note that for all items, the ad-NW systematically causes negative or positive reactions
stronger than ad-FW. This tendency can be observed in each of the three countries with bigger
differences for Czechs and French than for Spanish. The fact that the advertisement is on full
page or half-page does not change anything.
With regard to the attitude toward the advertisement (table 4), the tendencies are identical
whichever the country. It would seem that overall the Czech, Spanish and French prefer the
ad-FW (though not significant with 5%). This preference seems to come from a perception of
lack of seriousness of the ad-NW, since the individuals (whichever the country) tend to
consider this as having a less convincing message, and less objective information than the adFW, although the two advertisements were strictly identical as regards the informational
contents. Nudity would thus cause discredit to the contents of the advertisement in each of the
three countries.
Table 4: Comparison of attitude toward the ad-NW and the ad-FW in each of the three
countries
I like this ad
CR
Naked Face
82
97
Spain
Naked Face
79
90
France
Naked Face
77
90
14
This ad is good (nice to look at)
The message is completely convincing (you
are favourable)
The information in this ad is objective
This ad appeals more to feelings than to
reason
The quantity of information in this ad
satisfies you
This ad is unusual
This ad is sensual (sexy)
p.=0.061
92
87
p.=0.481
79
100
p.=0.006
78
101
p.=0.002
111
69
p.=0.000
90
89
p.=0.928
110
70
p.=0.000
85
94
p.=0.221
p.=0.130
79
90
p.=0.173
74
95
p.=0.003
75
94
p.=0.008
103
66
p.=0.000
76
93
p.=0.028
111
59
p.=0.000
93
76
p.=0.027
p.=0.075
82
84
p.=0.768
75
92
p.=0.026
72
94
p.=0.004
102
61
p.=0.000
74
91
p.=0.017
92
73
p.=0.009
95
69
p.=0.000
Mean rank - Mann-Whitney test
Generally, the tendencies in each of the three countries are similar, of the different qualities
which were possible to select among the measured variables likely to influence attitude
toward the ad, it was the gender which generally made the difference. The men generally give
higher marks to the ad-NW compared to the women (on the items such as “I like this
advertisement” or “this ad is good”), whereas there is no significant difference between the
two groups for the ad-FW. Further conclusions can be derived from the comparison of the
attitude to the ad-NW and the ad-FW within the women’s group and within the men’s group.
It is noted here that the results are completely opposite (table 5): the men prefer the ad-NW
compared to the ad-FW and the women the ad-FW compared to the ad-NW.
Table 5: Comparison of ad-NW and ad-FW between men and the women
Men
I like this ad
This ad is good (nice to look at)
The message is completely
convincing (you are favourable)
The information in this ad is
objective
This ad appeals more to feelings
Naked
134
144
122
117
154
Face
112
p.=0.014
102
p.=0.000
126
p.=0.634
130
p.=0.147
90
Women
Naked
98
Face
164
p.=0.000
103
160
p.=0.000
106
158
p.=0.000
107
156
p.=0.000
160
107
15
than to reason
The quantity of information in
this ad satisfies you
This ad is unusual
This ad is sensual (sexy)
p.=0.000
121
p.=0.000
126
119
p.=0.542
150
95
160
p.=0.000
146
107
p.=0.000
100
p.=0.000
144
p.=0.007
125
139
p.=0.117
Mean rank - Mann-Whitney test
The observations of the affective reactions show an identical tendency. The men are more
interested, satisfied, agreeably surprised, captivated, delighted, enthusiastic, and find the adNW advertisement more appealing, than the ad-FW, whereas the women on these same items
prefer the ad-FW (p.< 0.05).
For negative items, such as irritated, unpleasantly surprised, saddened, the two groups of men
give identical answers for the two advertisements, whereas the women award higher marks to
the ad-NW than the ad-FW (p.< 0.05). It would seem however that nobody is fooled by the
recourse to nudity since on the question “while looking at this advertisement, it made me
suspicious” the answers of the two sexes are convergent: the women, as the men, are more
wary with regards to the ad-NW.
Let us note however that, if the differences observed in terms of attitude toward the ad
between the group exposed to the ad-NW and that exposed to the ad-FW are strongly
influenced by the sex of the individual observing it, and not the nationality, we can observe
the influence of the nationality when we compare the three countries with regard to ad-NW
and ad-FW separately. Indeed, it is for the ad-NW or the ad-FW, that the attitude toward the
ad differs to a significant degree between Czech, French and Spanish (Table 6). However this
difference between countries does not come from the presence or the absence of the nudity
characteristic in the advertisement, because we find essentially exactly the same tendencies in
the answers for the ad-NW and the ad-FW.
Table 6: Comparison of ad of three nationalities for each of the two advertisements
16
I like this ad
This ad is good (nice to look at)
The message is completely convincing
(you are favourable)
The information in this ad is objective
This ad appeals more to feelings than
to reason
The quantity of information in this ad
satisfies you
This ad is unusual
This ad is sensual (sexy)
CR
149
115
120
123
145
166
146
105
Ad-NW
France Spain
127
112
p.=0.005
136
137
p.=0.093
141
127
p.=0.140
107
160
p.=0.000
132
110
p.=0.008
122
99
p.=0.000
125
116
p.=0.025
142
142
p.=0.001
CR
151
121
104
126
138
158
140
135
Ad-FW
France Spain
126
103
p.=0.000
126
135
p.=0.419
149
130
p.=0.000
120
136
p.=0.356
135
109
p.=0.016
116
105
p.=0.000
121
120
p.=0.136
113
133
p.=0.099
Mean rank - Mann-Whitney test
More basically, it would seem to be a question of a difference in terms of attitude toward
advertising in general rather than of a preference of a country for the use of nudity in
advertising. Indeed, very significant differences (largely lower than 0,01) are observed when
we compare the answers of Czech, Spanish, and French on this variable and no significant
difference between men and women, or between ad-NW and ad-FW groups were detected on
any of the items measuring the attitude toward the advertising in general.
Conclusion
The results obtained within the framework of this experiment confirm our two hypotheses. If
nationality does not influence the attitude toward a sexy advertisement compared to an
advertisement without sexual connotation, the same tendencies having been observed in
Czech Republic, Spain and France, then the gender on the other hand influences the ad
whichever the country.
17
The results of Maciejewski (2004) which show that women clearly have a more negative
attitude than men towards advertisements utilising sexy female models (from the kind of scale
“It is right to use sex-appeal when selling sunscreen”), and that this is independent of the
philosophic opinions of the individuals, is confirmed here and we can add that this is
independent of the country of the individuals. The advertisers who would raise the question of
the relevance of recourse to nudity in their campaign must thus more be aware of the
definition of their target in terms of gender than about the European country in which the
advertising will appear.
Nevertheless, these results, which justify a homogeneous use of sexual stimulus in an
European campaign when it is considered more efficient than an ad not using it, do not have
to conceal the fact that attitudes toward advertising in general and attitudes toward the
specific ad can vary significantly between several European countries even for an a priori
homogeneous target.
In addition to the necessary extrapolation of this work to a greater number of European
countries in order to further validate our assumptions, several limits have to be underlined.
First of all, the type of product selected does not justify recourse to nudity. What would
happen in the case of a product more coherent with nudity? Wouldn't the difference observed
between men and women tend to become blurred if there were more variables? Secondly, our
experiment only took female nudity into account, it would be interesting to take into account
male nudity which is less common, but which seems to developing nowadays (Elliott and
Elliott, 2005), and with regard to which differences between country could perhaps be felt
more strongly. Lastly, the choice of our experiment on a global brand and targeting young
people can erase regional differences. What would happen in the case of an older target group
maybe more culturally influenced by his country? Further, besides the choice of a target a
priori more open to this form of communication, it is necessary to note that the contextual
18
aspect is likely to orientate results following the example of Moorman, Neijens, and Smit
(2002) which showed that “magazine induced liking and positive feelings had a positive
influence on the attitude toward the ad.“ What reaction would occur if the same ad appears in
a male or female magazine?
References
Brislin, R. (1976) Comparative research methodology: Cross-cultural studies. International
Journal of Psychology; 11(3), pp. 215-229.
Brodesser-Akner, C. (2007) Sex on TV is OK As Long As it’s Not Safe. Advertising Age,
78(37), pp. 1-66.
Coulter, K. (1998) The Effects of Affective Responses to Media Context on Advertising
Evaluation. Journal of Advertising, 27(4), pp. 41-50.
Davies, J., Zhu, H. & Brantley, B. (2007) Sex Appeals that Appeal: Negative Sexual SelfSchema as a Moderator of the Priming Effects of Sexual Ads on Accessibility. Journal of
Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 29(2), pp. 79-89.
De Mooij, M. (2003) Convergence and Divergence in Consumer Behaviour: Implications for
Global Advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 22, pp. 183–202.
De Pelsmacker, P. & Geuens, M. (1998) Reactions to different types of ads in Belgium and
Poland. International Marketing Review, 15(4), pp. 277-290.
De Pelsmacker, P. & Van Den Bergh, J. (1996) The Communication Effects of Provocation in
Print Advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 15(3), pp. 203-221.
Derbaix, C. M. (1995) The Impact of Affective Reactions on Attitudes Toward the
Advertisement and the Brand: A Step Toward Ecological Validity. Journal of Marketing
Research, 32(4), pp. 470-479.
Dianoux, C., Kettnerová, J. & Linhart, Z. (2006) Advertising in Czech and French Magazines.
Journal of Euromarketing, 16(1/2), pp. 139-152.
Elliott, R. & Elliott, C. (2005) Idealized Images of the Male Body in Advertising: a ReaderResponse Exploration. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(1), pp. 3-19.
Ford, J. B., Latour, M.S. & Lundstrom, W.J. (1991) Contemporary Women's Evaluation of
Female Role Portrayals in Advertising. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 8(1), pp. 15-27.
Ford, J.B., La Tour, M.S. & Clarke, I. (2004) A prescriptive Essay Concerning Sex Role
Portrayals in International Advertising Contexts. American Business Review, 22(1), pp. 42-55
Kapferer, J.-N. & Laurent, G. (1986) Consumer involvement profiles: a new practical
approach to consumer involvement. Journal of Advertising Research, 25(6), pp. 48-56.
Kilbourne, J. (2005) What Else Does Sex Sell? International Journal of Advertising, 24(1),
pp. 119-122.
Koudelova, R. & Whitelock, J. (2001) A cross-cultural analysis of television advertising in
the UK and the Czech Republic. International Marketing Review, 18(3), pp. 286-300.
19
Lass, P. & Hart, S. (2004) National Cultures, Values and Lifestyles Influencing Consumers’
Perception towards Sexual Imagery in Alcohol Advertising: An Exploratory Study in the UK,
Germany and Italy. Journal of Marketing Management, 20, pp. 607-623
Lombardot, E. (2007) Nudity in Advertising : What Influence on Attention Getting and Brand
Recall. Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 22(4), pp. 23-42.
Loroz, P.S. (2006) The Generation Gap: A Baby Boomer vs. Gen Y Comparison of
Religiosity, Consumer Values, and Advertising Appeal Effectiveness. Advances in Consumer
Research, 33, pp. 308-309.
Lysonski, S. (2005) Sexism vs sexy: the conundrum. International Journal of Advertising,
24(1), pp. 116-119
Maciejewski, J. (2004) Is the Use of Sexual and Fear Appeals Ethical? A Moral Evaluation
By Generation Y College Students. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising,
26(2), pp. 97-105.
MacKenzie, S.B., Lutz, R.J. & Belch, G.E. (1986) The Role of Attitude Toward the Ad as a
Mediator of Advertising Effectiveness: A Test of Competing Explanations. Journal of
Marketing Research, 23(2), pp. 130-143.
Maclnnis, D.J., Moorman, C. & Jaworski, B.J. (1991) Enhancing and Measuring Consumers'
Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process Brand Information From Advertisements.
Journal of Marketing, 55(October), pp. 32-53.
Manceau, D. & Tissier-Desbordes, E. (2006) Are Sex and Death Taboos in Advertising? An
Analysis of Taboos in Advertising and a Survey of French Consumer Perceptions.
International Journal of Advertising, 25(1), pp. 9–33
Mehta, A. (2000) Advertising Attitudes and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising
Research, 40(3), pp. 67-72.
Mitchell, A.A. & Olson, J.C. (1981) Are Product Attribute Beliefs the Only Mediator of
Advertising Effects of Brand Attitude ? Journal of Marketing Research, 28(august), pp. 318332.
Moorman, M., Neijens, P.C. & Smit, E.G. (2002) The Effects of Magazine-Induced
Psychological Responses and Thematic Congruence on Memory and Attitude Toward the Ad
in a Real-Life Setting. Journal of Advertising, 31(4), pp. 27-40.
Nelson, M.R. & Hye-Jin, P. (2005) Cross-Cultural Differences in Sexual Advertising Content
in a Transnational Women’s Magazine. Sex Roles, 53(5/6), pp. 371-383
Orth, U.R., Koenig, H.F. & Firbasova, Z. (2007) Cross-national Differences in Consumer
Response to the Framing of Advertising Messages. European Journal of Marketing, 41(3/4),
pp. 327-348.
Piron, F. & Young, M. (1996) Consumer Advertising in Germany and the United States: A
Study of Sexual Explicitness and Cross-gender Contact. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 8,
pp. 211-223.
Putrevu, S. (2004) Communication with the Sexes. Journal of Advertising, 33(3), pp. 51-62.
Reichert, T. & Lambiase, J. (1999) Cheesecake And Beefcake: No Matter How You Slice It,
Sexual Explicitness In Advertising Continues To Increase. Journalism & Mass
Communication Quarterly; 76(1), pp. 7-20.
20
Reichert, T. & Ramirez, A. (2000) Defining Sexually Oriented Appeals in Advertising: A
Grounded Theory Investigation. Advances in Consumer Research, 27, pp. 267-273.
Reichert, T., LaTour, M.S. & Kim Joo, Y. (2007a) Assessing the Influence of Gender and
Sexual Self-Schema on Affective Responses to Sexual Content in Advertising, Journal of
Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 29(2), pp. 63-77.
Reichert, T., LaTour, M.S., Lambiase, J.I. & Adkins, M. (2007b) A Test of Media Literacy
Effects and Sexual Objectification in Advertising. Journal of Current Issues & Research in
Advertising, 29(1), pp. 81-92.
Severn, J., Belch, G.E. & Belch, M.A. (1990) The Effects of Sexual and Non-sexual
Advertising Appeals and Information Level on Cognitive Processing and Communication
Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(1), pp. 14-22.
Shimp, T.A. (1981) Attitude toward the Ad as a Mediator of Consumer Brand Choice.
Journal of Advertising, 10(2), pp. 9-15.
Soley, L.C. & Kurzbard, G. (1986) Sex in Advertising: A Comparison of 1964 and 1984
magazine advertisements. Journal of Advertising, 15(3), pp. 46-64.
Soley, L.C. & Reid, L.N. (1983) On the Validity of Students as Subjects in Advertising
Experiments. Journal of Advertising Research, 23(4), pp. 57-59.
Vezina, R. & Paul, O. (1997) Provocation in Advertising: A Conceptualization and an
Empirical Assessment. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 14(2), pp. 177-192.
Zimmerman, A. & Dahlberg, J. (2008) The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising:
A Contemporary Cultural Perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, March, pp. 71-79.
21
Appendix 1: Advertisement for Nokia with naked woman
Insert ad-NW
Appendix 2: Advertisement for Nokia with face woman
Insert ad-FW
22
Dear Professor,
Please find our manuscript, entitled “The Effectiveness of Nudity in Advertising in Three
European Countries” attached here for submission to the International Journal of Advertising.
Although many studies focused on nudity in advertising have been published, and the
question of the standardisation or adaptation of ads is often put in a European framework in
particular, studies are rarely undertaken from the point of view of international comparison.
We believe IJA represents an ideal outlet for this work, which provides both managerial and
theoretical implications.
We hope you agree there is a need for further work on this topic. Therefore, we ask you to
kindly consider our article for publication.
Yours sincerely,
Christian Dianoux & Zdenek Linhart
23