Violence and Sex in Television Programs Do Not Sell Products in Advertisements

Bushman, Brad J. 2005. "Violence and Sex in Television Programs Do Not Sell Products in Advertisements." Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell) 16, no. 9: 702-708.

Brad Bushman’s study compliments and reinforces the findings discovered in a previously posted article, “Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non-sexual advertisements.” As found in Parker and Furnham’s study, Bushman argues that television programs containing sex or violence hinder brand recall and reduce consumers’ interest in buying or selecting a coupon for that brand. Surprisingly, however, Bushman did not find any differences or correlations concerning gender and age.

In his experiment, Bushman recruited 336 participants, aged 18 to 54, through newspaper ads in central Iowa. Age was distributed to be representative of US adults owning a television in their household. Participants were compensated. Participants were divided into four groups, 84 in each, and asked to watch a television show containing sex, violence, both sex and violence, or one with no sex and violence. Each television program included the same twelve advertisements. Bushman measured participants’ recall of advertisements, brand recognition, buying intentions, and coupon choices.

This article has its pros and cons. The article is current, as it was published in 2005, and the study is grounded in previous theory. Bushman offers a literature review, citations for further reading, and useful background information. He discusses the practical implications of the study; however he did not mention any limitations to his experiment. I do not plan on studying types of television programs in my research project, as advertisements will be my sole independent variable, yet I still believe Bushman’s experiment data and literature review will serve as a good secondary source and will be useful when comparing consumer behavior.

Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non-sexual advertisements

Parker, Ellie, and Adrian Furnham. 2007. "Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non-sexual advertisements." Applied Cognitive Psychology 21, no. 9: 1217-1228.

The authors of this study examined brand recall of sexual versus non-sexual advertisements inserted within television programs. The article begins with an in depth look into previous studies involving television advertisements of a sexual or violent nature. The authors’ study is based upon these previous theories which claim that sexual or violent commercials invoke emotions within consumers and lead to increases in sales.

To briefly summarize the authors’ experiment, participants, students aged 18 to 31, were asked to watch either ‘Sex in the City’ or ‘Malcolm in the Middle.’ After which, they were asked to recall details of the advertisements played during commercial break. The authors found that television shows containing sexual content, such as ‘Sex in the City,’ hindered consumers’ recall of advertisements. However, the type of advertisement, sexual or non-sexual, did not have a major effect on recall. The authors also reported differences between gender and advertisement recall. Males recalled sexual advertisements better, while females recalled non-sexual advertisements better. Those who recalled specific content of the advertisements remembered the brand name as well.

I found the information provided in this article to be useful. The authors’ literature review solidifies their study and gives them credibility. This article, and the additional sources cited in this article, could really enrich the literature reviews of advertisement studies. Not only does it discuss sexuality, the article also touches on issues of violence, gender roles, and age.

All dressed up with something to say: Effects of typeface semantic associations on brand perceptions and consumer memory

Childers, Terry L., and Jeffrey Jass. 2002. All dressed up with something to say: Effects of typeface semantic associations on brand perceptions and consumer memory. Journal of Consumer Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) 12 (2): 93−106.

This article discusses a research study on marketing and typeface semantics. The authors examine the visual properties of typefaces and advertisements to see if these factors affect consumer brand perception. The authors performed two separate experiments. Both experiments provided evidence that typefaces do in fact convey meaning and influence consumers’ perceptions and memory of brands. The authors found that typefaces can emit various meanings, and the combination of these meanings is what makes up a consumer’s perception of the brand. They also discussed how the repeated exposure of the visual properties which make up a brand’s image, influences consumers as well.

I believe this article would benefit anyone studying any aspect of visual communication. The article gives comprehensive background information, as the authors define and explain terms that will help readers fully understand the basis of their research. They provide a literature review and cite sources which the reader may also find valuable to his or her own studies. The article is a bit dated, as it was published in 2002, but I believe the information still proves useful.