Title: Consumer's perception of female nudity in advertisements

Authors: Jacques Digout; Myriam Tayeh

Addresses: Toulouse Business School, 20 Boulevard Lascrosses, 31068 Toulouse, France ' Toulouse Business School, 20 Boulevard Lascrosses, 31068 Toulouse, France

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of Lebanese consumers of female nudity in advertisements. Considering that nudity has become a common phenomenon in the marketing field with most commercials and advertisements embracing its use, the study aimed at understanding how religion and gender factors influence how consumers perceive the phenomenon. The study found that both religion and gender influence how Lebanese consumers perceive advertisements, with gender showing a greater impact. Importantly, the study also found that individuals from a more conservative religious background were more likely to perceive female nudity in advertisements as more offensive compared to their counterparts from moderately conservative religious backgrounds. Companies that question the relevance of female nudity in their advertising campaigns should wisely define their target market by religion - even more so than in terms of the gender.

Keywords: female nudity; advertisements; taboos; Lebanon; consumer perceptions; Christians; Muslims; manipulation; marketing; religion; gender; advertising campaigns; adverts.

DOI: 10.1504/EMJM.2015.072552

EuroMed Journal of Management, 2015 Vol.1 No.1, pp.40 - 56

Received: 09 Dec 2014
Accepted: 19 Dec 2014
Published online: 19 Oct 2015 *

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