A study to analyse as well as compare perceptions and attitudes of UK and Asian consumers towards sex in advertising.

MASTER ‘S THESIS UK /Asian Response to Sexually Explicit Advertising

An Study in Sexual Undertones in Media Advertising Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing this thesis has been extremely hard , demanding and extremely time consuming , but has also provided insight into exactly how much of an impact , good or otherwise , sexually implicit advertising has on a predominantly sheltered society . There is unfortunately a limited number of empirical studies that have been completed on this subject and perhaps through the offering of this thesis can more advanced and concurrent data be exhumed and [banner_entry_middle]

learned from

I would like to thank my professors and supervisors at the University that have helped me along the way in ensuring that I was kept on track during the entire process and has been instrumental in helping me through the more difficult times and the rough spots ‘ that I endured from time to time

It is anticipated that this thesis will only be the beginning forage into an unknown and provocative world of advertising and provide additional material to carry-on with future students

December , 2006 ABSTRACT

The world of advertising has the inevitable task of having to cater to all factions of society , be it western or eastern cultural groups , and the reaction to sex in advertising can be viewed in a positive or negative fashion . The entire process of ensuring fluidity with public perception is entirely up to the advertisers themselves and what is acceptable in the west is not always the case in the east

One of the more provocative global advertisers , Benetton , continually looks to engage the public in their form of sexually-driven advertising in an attempt to gauge the reaction of the public . Although Benetton is only one of the major western advertisers that is making inroads in the eastern hemisphere , they have an interesting task of marketing to a societal sector , mainly the Asian people , that have a long-standing embedded value system that may or may not ever catch up to the impressionable western culture group

When looking at advertisement with sexual undertones , western culture views this type of shock ‘ advertising as generally accepted and not really given a second glance as it is viewed as an acceptable part of societal values but , in the eastern hemisphere , this type of culture shock ‘ may be acceptable with the younger generation albeit not as gregariously as with their western counterparts but , with the older generation of Asian and UK families this type of sexually explicit advertising is not perhaps as accommodating TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOC \o “1-3 ” \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l “_Toc4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PAGEREF _Toc4 \h 2

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc5 ” ABSTRACT PAGEREF _Toc5 \h 3

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc6 ” TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGEREF _Toc6 \h 4

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc7 ” INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc7 \h 5

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc8 ” Background PAGEREF _Toc8 \h 6 HYPERLINK \l “_Toc9 ” Problem Discussion PAGEREF _Toc9 \h 8

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc0 ” Problem PAGEREF _Toc0 \h 11

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc1 ” Outline of the Study PAGEREF _Toc1 \h 11

HYPERLINK \l “_Toc2… [banner_entry_footer]