Abstract
This paper explores the portrayal (efficacy) of female models in male-targeted cigarette print advertisements through a content analysis (experiment). We first describe the presence and portrayal of females through a content analysis on male-targeted cigarette advertisements in magazines; we find that, in aggregate, females are often used as sexually attractive decoration, and the overall female portrayal is fundamentally different (and unequal) to that of the male. We next investigate the efficacy of these portrayals through an experiment among young adult-aged male smokers and nonsmokers. Our experimental findings indicate that these sexually charged advertisements generate superior attitudinal results in non-smoking males than smoking males, a finding that – in conjunction with the portrayal of females in the content analysis – suggests potential societal and public policy implications.
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© 2016 Academy of Marketing Science
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Mayer, J.M., Baek, T.H. (2016). The Efficacy of Sexualized Female Models in Young Adult-Male Oriented Cigarette Advertising. In: Obal, M., Krey, N., Bushardt, C. (eds) Let’s Get Engaged! Crossing the Threshold of Marketing’s Engagement Era. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11815-4_224
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11815-4_224
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11814-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11815-4
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