Study: Sexual Advertising On The Rise

A new study confirms the notion that advertising is getting more sexual. Researchers found that 15% of print ads featured sexual imagery in 1983, while the number skyrocketed to 27% in 2003.

The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in Georgia looked at 3,232 full-page ads from 1983, 1993, and 2003 in Redbook, Esquire, Playboy, Newsweek, Time and Cosmopolitan.

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Sexual imagery was defined by the study as images depicting nude skin and sexual behavior.

38% of health and hygiene ads used sex to sell the product, compared to 36% for beauty ads, 29% for drugs and medicine, 27% for clothing, 23% for travel and 21% for entertainment.

92% of the sexually charged ads featured women.