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The Concept of Sex Appeal and Its Influence on the Consumer

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The Concept of Sex Appeal and Its Influence on the Consumer
In this constantly modernizing world it can be quite hard to avoid excessive visual bombardment. The cities are filled with imagery that people a few decades ago deemed impossible. A sexual revolution has greatly impacted the marketing techniques of major organizations. As the new generation of young adults, we desire to understand how the phenomenon of sex appeal came about and why it influences so many of us on a daily basis. In our quest to gain more knowledge about this topic we seek to find out if basic variables such as gender and age in relation to sex appeal influence purchasing. More complex variables such as confidence and the personal interpretation of the individual’s beauty/attractiveness may give us more insight into the underlying psychological and sociological purchasing patterns of today’s consumer. The first hand research for this topic will be carried out with a questionnaire designed and created by the members of the group and thereafter each part will be worked on and analyzed mutually.

Many question why sex appeal is used so frequently in advertising, never becoming an outdated phenomenon of the past like so many other techniques. The study of consumer behaviour is very much connected with the area of psychology. Few people know that when being subjected to advertising they may be influenced on a far greater scale then they could ever imagine. The first aspect which must be taken into consideration is sex. In our current modernized lives where survival is a word used less frequently, many forget about the urges humans have inherited over thousands of years. Abraham Maslow’s diagram of the hierarchy of needs displays the ranking of necessities for human survival, “The basis of Maslow 's theory is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs…” (Anon, 2007) It is observed that once a human fulfills a need, he then progresses to the next level to ultimately strive to reach the last level which is self actualization. The first level

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