Essay 202

The Neil French debacle overshadowed a recent Adweek cover story (October 17, 2005 issue). The report was titled, “Does Sex Really Sell? Survey explores how men and women look at sexually charged ads.” Can’t help but think the survey accidentally demonstrated the gender differences and cluelessness that continue to create problems in the business. In fact, it would be interesting to get French’s opinion on this topic.

MediaAnalyzer Software & Research in Massachusetts conducted the survey in order to examine how men and women view and react to sexually themed ads. One section of the study tracked respondents’ visual behavior while viewing pairs of ads from five categories — with each pair consisting of a sexual and nonsexual ad. The specific methodology and results are almost irrelevant. The experiment itself raised questions.

The sexual ads depicted a variety of scantily clad women in provocative positions. But the nonsexual ads were semi-sexy too. One nonsexual Skechers ad showcased the model-like Carrie Underwood surrounded by adoring men presenting shoes like the Prince in Cinderella. Other nonsexual ads depicted a leggy woman and a semi-romantic couple — and another nonsexual ad featured a football with props which skewed totally male. Of course, White people starred in the layouts. Plus, the ads were sexual from a heterosexual male perspective. Why didn’t the women in the study scan ads featuring Fabio-type hunks? In short, the men viewed sexual ads, while the women viewed sexist ads.

It’s not clear how or why MediaAnalyzer chose the ads for the study. But it’s highly likely that the researchers were primarily White males.