:: adgruntie :: Shelve sex, go wholesome

+University of Florida study of more than 100 college-aged women claims wholesome, not sex, sells.

The survey, conducted by UF's Robyn Goodman, Jon Morris and John Sutherland, gauged female readers' responses to ads featuring beautiful women in women's magazines such as Allure, Vogue and Cosmopolitan. It revealed that the more lustful ads lead to boredom and disinterest whereas ads that displayed more clothed, girl-next-door models gained positive reactions.

"What we found is the way that the industry and the way that consumers are looking at beauty are totally different," Goodman said.

The reason, she suggests, is a disconnect between the generally male executives of the companies trying to market their products and the female consumers they're trying to reach.

The researchers said the results may indicate that sex has become commonplace in advertising and that female consumers are just no longer interested.

"I think advertisers would say if you show a woman a sexy picture, many of them will want to emulate it, but I think this research shows that's not true," Morris said.

Not that this is groundbreaking research as an earlier study from the UK had showed this as well. Still, more proof I guess that there is truth in this.