Malaysian Malay’s Perspective on Printed Sexy Advertisement

Abstract

This paper sets out to extend current knowledge on reaction towards different levels of sexiness in printed advertisement by Malaysian Malays. This research test these affected based on male models in the communication and advertising literature on Malay in Malaysia utilizing questionnaire based on a set of different levels of sexiness in advertisement. The advertisement used was for non-controversial product (perfume) but some of the advertisement was contentious. Researcher used three levels of advertisements; a fully clothed male model, a revealing attire male model, and a partially sexy male model. Data collected was analyzed using Mean and compared against the response of male and female respondents. Findings indicates that Malay respondents preferred to view fully clothed advertisement followed by revealing attire and partially sexy advertisements. Main limitation for this research is the study used three different advertisements, but each respondents saw only one. Future research will benefit from further improvement (use female and both male and female models) and replication to other ethnic groups. Implications for business are then provided in this paper.

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