Sex has been at the center of advertising since the industry began, but a new study is calling into question the theory that sex sells and the ads so far in this election cycle are trying to play by these new rules.
A new study published in the academic journal Psychological Bulletin on July 20 found that commercials and programs featuring sex and violence are less effective than neutral themes.
Brad Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University, and co-author of the study said that violent and sexual programming impairs the viewers’ memory because it takes attention away from the advertisement. The study analyzed the results of 53 previous experiments.
He claimed that the results were similar for both ads that contained either sexual or violent content.
“It never helps to have violence and sex in commercials. It either hurts or has no effect at all,” Bushman said.
“Brands advertised in violent contexts will be remembered less often, evaluated less favorably, and less likely to be purchased than brands advertised in nonviolent media. We also suggest that advertising in sexual media may not be as detrimental as advertising in violent media, but does not appear to be a successful strategy either,” he wrote in the conclusion of the study.
The professor said that while his earlier research didn’t find a significant difference between men and women, a broader compilation showed that violence and sex had a larger effect on males.
So far political campaigns in 2016 have toned down their rhetoric from the last two election cycles.
In 2008 advertising magnet Ben Relles launched a pro-Obama ad with a sexy model named Amber Lee Ettinger declaring that she had a “crush on Obama.” Throughout the video Ettinger walked around in her mid-drift, belly shirt, and shorts declaring how Obama turned her on.
The online ad ran more than 26 million times on YouTube.
A similar ad was created in 2012 with actress Lena Dunham who described her “first time” voting in the context of losing her virginity. She lost it to President Obama.
So far in the 2016 election cycle, despite some fairly handsome men running for president like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), no one has launched ads about losing their virginity with either.
(h/t Bloomberg Business)
