Title: The effect of provocative visual advertisement on the consumer

Authors: Ahmad A. Mostafa; Randa D. Bahman

Addresses: Department of Marketing and Management, College of Business and Economics, American University of Kuwait, P.O. Box 3323, Safat 13034, Kuwait ' 4R's Consulting, Bahman Tower, Mezzanine, P.O. Box 2307, Safat 13024, Kuwait

Abstract: This paper tackles the effect of provocative visual advertisements that use human figures/celebrities on people and what best practice can be used and what should be avoided. A marketing research was conducted on a number of people equally from different genders, ethnicities, nationalities and age; the research reflected that people get distracted away from the product advertised and feel seduced by the nudity of the human figures/celebrities who are used in this way to advertise the product. This leads to a shift of focus of the target market away from the intended message and more to the nude figures. First, the history of nudity in marketing is discussed briefly followed by the current status of the subject. Also, then, the research is revealed along with the findings which reveal that the eye-catching nudity in marketing does not always produce a positive result.

Keywords: scantily dressed; visual advertisements; human figures; celebrities; sexual images; advertising; nudity; provocative adverts; consumer impact; marketing research.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTCS.2014.067839

International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 2014 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.339 - 348

Received: 01 Nov 2014
Accepted: 11 Dec 2014
Published online: 13 Mar 2015 *

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