Erotic appeals in advertising

Abstract

Erotic appeals in advertising are sometimes considered unethical or provocative. This‎study addresses how consumers perceive advertisements with erotic appeals regarding eye movement‎and subjective appropriateness. This study is methodologically based on eye-tracking to capture the‎participants’ visual attention and semi-structured interviews to obtain further in-depth information‎on the perceived appropriateness of erotic appeal in a particular advertisement from the respondent’s‎perspective. The results show a difference in how consumers look at advertising according to their‎perceived appropriateness of an erotic appeal and indicate the importance of a suitably chosen‎protagonist concerning the target group. Concerning the chosen protagonist, marketers must pay‎attention to the strength and congruence of the erotic appeal.‎