Can’t take my eyes off of the model: the impact of sexual appeal and product involvement on selective attention to advertisements

This study employed eye-tracking as a direct measure of visual attention to examine 1) the potential distraction effects of sexual appeals and 2) whether product involvement moderates the effect of sexual appeals on attention and recall of advertisements. Results indicated the distraction effects of sexual imagery only occurred in low product involvement conditions because the presence of sexualized images negatively interfered with the processing of low product involvement advertisements by increasing visual attention to the sexualized model and reducing visual attention to non-sexual message execution elements. In high product involvement conditions, sexual appeals increased visual attention to image of the product but not copy or headline.