Sex and violence in advertising do not affect its effectiveness.

Photo: LM Otero / AP

For a long time it was believed that advertising with the demonstration of scenes of a sexual nature or violence is more effective than advertising without such scenes. New research by scientists has shown that this is not the case - neither violence nor sex increase the effectiveness of advertising. On the contrary, sometimes the opposite is true.

The study was conducted by two scientists from the University of Ohio and the Free University of Amsterdam, writes Kommersant. Robert Lall and Brad Bushman published the results of their work in the authoritative journal Psychological Bulletin. In the course of the study, experts conducted 53 experiments in which 8,489 volunteers were involved.

It turned out that advertising with pictures of sex or violence is poorly remembered, because the viewer is distracted by these scenes, and does not remember the brand that is advertised. Even if a user remembers a brand, he does not give him a very high rating, plus the probability of buying products manufactured by such a company is rather low. Not remembered and the product that appears in emotionally saturated advertising.
')
“Violence and sex in advertising do not help sales at all. They either harm them or have no effect at all, ”notes Brad Bushman.

It is also noted that many advertising agencies are already using the results of the study when forming their own advertising strategy. For example, the election campaign of Barack Obama was conducted using neutral content, it was posted on sites of information or entertainment. At the same time advertising was not placed on sites with sexual content or elements of violence.

The results of the experiment are confirmed by the study of Wal-Mart, which showed that the most effective advertising has been shown, for example, in family-oriented TV programs.