Does Sex Sell?

People often bring up the argument sex sells. Here are some links to consider whenever someone brings it up.

While almost half of the man said that they liked sexual ads, less than 10% of those that were exposed to the sexual ads could recall the brand that was advertised (compared to 19.8% for non-sexual ads). MediaAnalyzer calls that the “vampire effect” – with the sexual object sucking up all the attention. On the women side, 28% of them said there were too many sexual ads, and while they tend to avoid the sexual imagery when looking at sexual ads, their brand recall with sexual ads was less than half that of non-sexual ads (10.8% vs. 22.3%). The study hypothesizes that this might be attributable to a general numbing effect that sexual stimuli has on the brain.

http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2005/10/25/sex-in-ads-does-not-sell/

Far from the porn-crazed sex ghouls they're frequently portrayed as, male videogame players appear to be developing quite a potent resistance to exploitative, sex-based marketing practices. Indeed, even Lara Croft has given into this progressive zeitgeist: her breasts and lips have shrunk in recent years, and the rest of her body has been reduced to more anatomically feasible proportions. On cue, her critical stock has risen, and while the first two games in the post-2006 Tomb Raider revamp (Legend and Anniversary) sold unfavourably compared with past instalments, the latest, Underworld, is selling healthily after a lacklustre launch.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/07/games-male-gamers

There was no significant difference in 'brand recall' between the adverts that used sexual content and those that didn't.

http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/06/sex-doesnt-sell-neither-does-violence.php

A recent study concluded that nudity and explicit sex scenes don't translate to success for major motion pictures.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/29/sex.doesnt.sell.movies/

Sources for links:
David Hill