Women on Top…in Advertising? An Exploration of Female Responses to Different Sexual Position Portrayals in Sexually-Themed Advertising

Abstract

In this paper, we explore American females’ reactions to sex in advertising featuring different sexual positions between a heterosexual male and female model. We conduct an experiment and find that, overall (as perhaps expected) a moderate-sex advertisement is generally preferred and produces superior advertising outcomes to high-sex advertising. However, some of these differences are erased when the high-sex advertisement features a female-control sexual position (women on top) versus the missionary position. We offer this as an exploratory investigation into the attitudinal and emotional responses to these different positions, and suggest areas for further research in order to potentially better allow advertisers to use this executional element in effectively advertising to female consumers.