FINAL YEAR PROJECT

Consumer Responses Towards Sexual

and Non-Sexual Appeal in
Advertisements A Study of
Involvement

Presented by: Amna Mirza (080131)

Supervisor: Dr. Manzoor
Ahmed Khalidi

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The overall objectives of this research are:
To observe the responses that consumers
display when exposed to sexual and non-sexual
appeals in advertisement for a high involvement
product.
To study the responses that consumers display

when exposed to sexual and non-sexual appeals

in advertisement for a low-involvement product.

VARIABLES
Independent: Sexual Appeal in

Advertisement
Dependent: Attitude towards the brand

Purchase Intention
Moderating:

Level of Involvement

All the variables were measured on a five-

point Likert scale.

RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

Since the purpose of the study was to

measure the relationship between the

variables, the research encompasses a
quantitative approach.
Questionnaires were used as a survey tool

to gather data on the topic under study.

POPULATION AND SMPLE SIZE

The population of Karachi is approximately

15,329,545 people and this would be my

population because I am conducting my
research with all age groups, ranging
between almost all income levels and both
males and females.
The

sample for this research was 150

respondents. The sampling method was
convenience sampling.

CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
ATTITUDE
TOWARDS
THE BRAND
SEXUAL
APPEAL IN
ADVERTISEME
NTS

LEVEL OF
INVOLVEMEN
T

PURCHASE
INTENTION

ADVERTISMENTS USED

HYPOTHESES
H1a: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward the
Brand and Purchase Intention for high involvement
products with sexual advertisements.
H1b: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward the
Brand and Purchase Intention for high involvement
products with non sexual advertisements.
H2a: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward the
Brand and Purchase Intention for low involvement product
with sexual advertisements.
H2b: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward the
Brand and Purchase Intention for low involvement products
with non sexual advertisements.

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

AGE
Responses were taken from all age groups but

majority responses are from the age group 18-34

(42%).
Less than 18

35%

18-34

35 and above

23%

42%

GENDER
This pie chart shows that majority responses were

from females (52%) and 48% were from males.

Male

52%

Female

48%

INCOME
This pie chart shows that majority responses

were from people who lie in the income level of

less than RS. 100,000.
Less than Rs. 100,000
More than Rs. 25,000

Rs. 10,000 - Rs. 25,000

24%
55%
21%

You view advertisements as:

Views about advertisements
Frequency
Valid

A valuable source of information

Misleading, tells only good things
about a product and excludes the
harmful effects
Amusing and entertaining
Persuasive, leading to purchase of
things one doesn't necessarily need
Total

Percent

Valid
Percent

Cumulative
Percent

51

34.0

34.0

34.0

20

13.3

13.3

47.3

65

43.3

43.3

90.7

14

9.3

9.3

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

What do you look for in an ad?

What do you look for in an ad?

Frequency
Valid

Creativity

Percent

Cumulative
Valid Percent Percent

76

50.7

50.7

50.7

19

12.7

12.7

63.3

The models and how you relate to

them

21

14.0

14.0

77.3

How the product makes you feel

about yourself

34

22.7

22.7

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Explanation of the product

Total

Did you ever buy a product

because you liked its
commercial?
Did you ever buy a product because you liked its commercial?

Frequency
Valid

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Yes

99

66.0

66.0

66.0

No

51

34.0

34.0

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Total

On what basis do you consider a

product to be worth buying?
Basis on which you consider a product to be beneficial or worth buying

Frequency
Valid

Percent

Cumulative
Valid Percent Percent

Its attributes

56

37.3

37.3

37.3

Mostly you intuition/the way you

feel about it

27

18.0

18.0

55.3

The commercial or ad presenting

the product

66

44.0

44.0

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Total

How often do you buy a product

based on the way you feel about
it, regardless its benefits?

Frequency
Valid

All the time

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

22

14.7

14.7

14.7

73

48.7

48.7

63.3

55

36.7

36.7

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Every once in a while

Rarely
Total

How do you feel about

products that use sexual
content in their ads?
Valid

Smart/Creative
Inappropriate
It differs according to the degree of
sexuality, but it is fine as long as
it's within a certain limit
Unethical
Total

Frequency
28

Cumulative
Percent Valid Percent
Percent
18.7
18.7
18.7

24

16.0

16.0

34.7

56

37.3

37.3

72.0

42

28.0

28.0

100.0

150

100.0

100.0

Testing involvement of
consumers towards the two
types of products: Low-Fat Milk
and Juice
For me low-fat milk is:

Mean

For me juice is:

Mean

Important

3.92

Important

3.27

Means a lot to me

3.21

Means a lot to me

2.99

Beneficial

3.71

Beneficial

3.16

Needed

3.33

Needed

2.65

Tell others about me

3.25

Tell others about me

2.52

Total

17.42

Total

14.59

Average

3.484

Average

2.918

High Involvement
SEXUAL AD
Product
Descriptive Statistics
N
Appealing
Interesting
Creative
Ethical
Sexual
Annoying
Realistic
Valid N (list wise)

Minimum Maximum

Mean

Std.
Deviation

75

3.11

1.503

75

3.52

1.329

75

3.23

1.439

75

3.04

1.132

75

3.76

1.228

75

3.19

1.402

75

3.11

1.341

75

NON-SEXUAL AD

Descriptive Statistics
N
Appealing
Interesting
Creative
Ethical
Sexual
Annoying
Realistic
Valid N (listwise)

Minimum Maximum Mean

Std.
Deviation

75

3.81

1.182

75

3.87

1.212

75

3.63

1.194

75

4.07

.875

75

2.92

1.323

75

2.95

1.335

75

3.36

1.181

75

Low Involvement Product

SEXUAL AD

Descriptive Statistics
N
Appealing
Interesting
Creative
Ethical
Sexual
Annoying
Realistic
Valid N
(listwise)

Maximu
Minimum
m

Mean

Std.
Deviation

75

4.23

1.203

75

3.41

1.041

75

2.35

1.157

75

2.52

1.155

75

3.13

1.298

75

2.83

1.647

75

2.60

1.294

75

NON-SEXUAL AD

Descriptive Statistics
N
Appealing
Interesting
Creative
Ethical
Sexual
Annoying
Realistic
Valid N
(listwise)

Maximu
Minimum
m

Mean

Std.
Deviation

75

3.80

.973

75

3.97

.986

75

3.64

1.111

75

3.48

1.319

75

2.76

1.364

75

2.55

1.189

75

3.47

1.245

75

H1a: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward

the Brand and Purchase Intention for high
involvement products with sexual advertisements

H1b: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward

the Brand and Purchase Intention for high
involvement products with non sexual
advertisements.

H2a: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward

the Brand and Purchase Intention for low
involvement product with sexual advertisements.

H2b: Consumers will have positive Attitude toward

the Brand and Purchase Intention for low
involvement products with non sexual
advertisements.

CONCLUSION

The entire four hypotheses have been accepted, which means

there is a positive relationship between attitude towards the

advertisement and attitude towards the brand and purchase
intention for both sexual and non-sexual appeals in high and low
involvement products.
The use of sexual content in ads for high involvement products

affect increases the attitudes of consumers toward the brand in

question and their purchase intention for that brand in context to
Pakistan.
The use of sexual content in ads for low involvement products

does not really affect the purchase intention and attitude towards
the brands. In fact, in our society, attitudes towards the brand
and the purchase intention are more positively and strongly
affected for non sexual ads of low-involvement products.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Increase the geographic area.
Corporations might consider using other

tools than sex appeal in advertising.

Sometimes a product works better with
other appeals, such as humor, fear or guilt.
Managers can use the results to conclude

that sex appeal would work best for a high

involvement product, only restricting to the
age groups and population used in this