an experiment on the effect of sexual appeal in real beer advertising on young adults’ purchase intent and attitude towards advertising

The permanent presence of sexual information in Brazilian advertising, whether in the form of sexual behavior, use of attractive models, nudity, fetishism or promises of sexual satisfaction and intimacy, is not accompanied by the development of knowledge about the use of sexual appeals in national advertising. The present paper aims to advance the understanding of consumer perceptions about the sexual appeals used in real ads and investigate relationships between the use of sexual appeals in advertising and attitude towards advertising and consumer purchase intent. Thus, we performed a study on sexual appeals in beer advertising with college students. Our product choice was based on the fact that the beer is widely consumed among young adults and because producers have a constant concern in developing new ads in order to maintain or even expand its market share. The data did not provide consistent answers regarding the use of sexual appeals in advertisements for beer and purchase intent or attitude toward the advertisement, but served for a discussion on the sex appeal directly related to beer. Furthermore, the study provided some answers related to the identification of effective sex appeal, such as increased sensitivity of the female audience and implications related to the use of sexual appeals in advertising relevant to practitioners and academics.