How Sensitive are Indonesian Customers to Sexual Appeal Advertising? (A Study of the Axe TV Commercial, “Heaven on Earth”)

Abstract

Previous studies have shown somewhat of a contradiction in the effect of sexual appeal advertising on purchase intention. This research aims to examine from an Indonesian perspective the consumer response to sexual appeal advertising and the subsequent purchase intention toward the products advertised. Through advertising, companies seek to be seen as the providers of creative and innovative products. Therefore company success increasingly relies on advertising appeal. One of these appeals is sexual advertising that is considered to be uniquely able to attract the attention of consumers and strengthen the brand with favorable associations. Such appeal eventually influences purchase decisions and stimulates purchase intention. This research uses quantitative methods through a consumer survey and simple regression analysis. Samples included 120 heterosexual men in the 15-24 year age group who reside in Indonesia's third largest city, Bandung. Results show that the consumer response to sexual appeal advertising of AXE is positive and consumer purchase intention of AXE products after watching the "Heaven on Earth" advertisements series is strongly positive. Sexual appeal advertising is shown to have a statistically significant positive effect on Indonesian consumers' purchase intentions.

Could humour make advertisements worse?

“…More recent studies expanded this field of study by analysing the impact of sexism on different consumer behaviour aspects: perception of a sexist advertisement, intention to purchase the product / brand advertised in a sexist advertisement, etc. (Moses & Charles 2014;Lull & Bushman 2015;Chang & Tseng 2013;Mayer & Peev 2017;Sari et al 2015;Vistbhakdi 2011). Some pieces of research even more specifically analysed the impact of two types of sexism (benevolent and hostile) on attitudes towards the advertisement and intention to purchase the advertised product (Zawisza & Cinnirella 2010;Infanager et al 2012;Zawisza et al 2018).…”

“…The most general objective of the study was to contribute to the knowledge regarding the impact of the sexist advertisement on perception of the advertisement and intention to purchase the advertised product. Though the overall scope of literature on this issue is substantial (Chang & Tseng 2013;Moses & Charles 2014;Ford et al 2015;Lull & Bushman 2015;Sari et al 2015;Mayer & Peev 2017), including research on the impact of sexism with humour (Mayer 2011;Sabri 2012;Damiano 2014;Sparks & Lang 2015;Das et al 2015;Mayer et al 2019), the importance of humour in sexist advertising and measuring its impact on the perception of the advertisement (via its violation of social norms and ridiculousness) and intention to purchase the advertised product has not been well assessed. The studies conducted by Mayer (2011), Sabri (2012), Sparks and Lang (2015), and Das et al (2015) measured the inclusion of humour in sexist advertisements and its impact on the attitude towards advertising and the brand.…”