The effectiveness of sex appeal in print ads in relation to a visual register of the message: Articulating a new framework

The role of imagery in advertising is in shaping consumers' response. They convey certain connotations which could be used to appeal to our innate instincts, the prominent one being our sexual instinct. The purpose of this research is to analyze the semiotic codes of the types of sexual appeal and to measure the consumer's emotional response to such stimuli. The emotional response was measured to ads with sex appeal where the iconic, iconographic and tropological content were applied. The findings indicate that both genders respond similarly to the iconic level but differently to the iconographic and tropological levels of the visual code.