Examining the Effectiveness of Sex Appeal in Advertising Sports Apparel

Marketers use sex appeal regularly in advertising to attract attention to the advertisements and to stimulate the desire towards the product. It has been debated if sex appeal is beneficial to increase the purchase intention and attitude towards the advertisement. Therefore, the aim was to examine what kind of impact sex appeal have for sport advertisements. \nThe study was conducted as an experimental research. The experiment was developed through an online survey which included two different experimental conditions: the first advertisement with a lower amount of sexuality and the second one with a higher amount. There was a total of 107 respondents from different age groups, gender, and backgrounds. \nData analysis was run with the independent samples T-test for the whole sample size, and sample subdivisions for more detailed examination. Overall, perceived advertisement sexuality shows statistically significant across the two conditions. However, purchase intention does not show statistical significance. Attitudes towards the advertisement mostly does not show statistical significance, except for the two subdivisions: females, and the age group of 35 years and older. \nThe results generally suggest that people perceive the sexuality of advertisements. The data from the entire sample analysis, and all the subdivisions based on age, gender and nationality demonstrates that there is less sexuality in the first condition and more sexuality in the second condition. \nThere is no indication, in this study, that sex appeal in advertising would have any impact on purchase intention; however, it impacts the attitude towards the advertisement for two subdivisions: females and over 35-years-olds. Nevertheless, the impact is negative for both subdivisions.