Sex in Advertising: Gender Differences and the Role of Relationship Commitment

This study draws on differences between men and women’s attitudes about sex, either as an end in itself (men) or as inextricably linked to relationship commitment (women) to understand attitudes toward the gratuitous use of sex in advertising. In line with predictions, four experiments showed that women’s spontaneous dislike of sexual ads softened when the ad could be interpreted in terms of commitment-related resources being offered by men to women. In contrast, men’s positive attitudes toward sexual ads were relatively unaffected by the salience of relation-ship commitment cues. These results not only offer insights into consumer reac-tions to sexual advertising but also inform theories on how men and women con-ceptualize sexual behaviors and relationships. In an effort to cut through the tremendous clutter thatexists in today’s advertising space, marketers have re-sorted to increasingly radical tactics to capture consumer attention. One such popular tactic uses explicit sexual im-ages in advertising, even when the sexual image has little relevance to the advertised product (Reichert and Lambiase 2003, 2006). For example, a recent print ad campaign for Toyo Tires showed a nude female model crouched on all fours with the tagline “Tires that Fit You. ” In another ex-ample, an ad for Gucci featured a woman with her pubic hair cropped in the shape of a G and a man kneeling before her (Marketing 2003). Although the gratuitous use of sex in advertising un-