Study: Sex Doesn't Sell

This June, two University marketing professors are releasing a study that suggests sex doesn’t sell.  The research, based on 200 college student interviews suggests that sex-obsessed advertising can actually backfire against marketers, triggering doubts about product quality and legitimacy.  The paper is called “Beauty and the Beholder: Why Pretty Faces Don’t Always Help Sales.” So here’s my question, “On which college campas can you find 200 college students that don’t think sex sells?”

From the Denver Post:
Gorgeous young models are used to sell everything from computer processors to car tires. But such a strategy can sometimes backfire, says University of Colorado marketing professor Paul Herr. 

If customers want quality - when buying a new computer laptop, for example - an attractive model can hurt a product’s credibility, said Herr, who also is an associate professor at Binghamton University in New York. “If the customer has time to process the ad, and the attractive model doesn’t fit, it’s almost like this bias detector goes off,” he said.

The results of their marketing study, “Beauty and the Beholder: Why Pretty Faces Don’t Always Help Sales,” will be published in the June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.  (Denver Post)