Stand out or fit in
A study that investigates the effects of advertising on pornographic content websites by mainstream brands and the role of congruence.
Master Thesis
Graduate School of Communication Persuasive Communication
Name: Tim Oostvogel
Student number: 10088016
Supervisor: dr. S. (Saar) Mollen
Date: 30-6-2017
Abstract
This study investigates the effects of mainstream brands advertising on a pornographic content website in comparison to a regular content website in terms of brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions. The moderating effect of congruence between the advertisement and the website’s content is also tested (N = 163). Data were collected via an online experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (website type: regular content vs. pornographic content) x 2 (advertisement’s link to
sexuality: weak vs. strong) between-subjects design. Main effects were found for website type on brand recall. Participants that were exposed to a pornographic content website were more than twice as likely to recall the advertisement brand in comparison to the regular content conditions. No significant interaction effect was found between the website type and the advertisement’s link to sexuality. Since this is the first study that investigates the effects of mainstream brands advertising on pornographic content websites, its findings can be seen as a first step in this new research field. In addition, the study shows that it may be a good idea for mainstream brands to advertise on pornographic content websites in order to stand out. Further research should determine under which circumstances the effects are most positive.
Introduction
Car brands advertise on platforms that have a strong link to cars. Fashion brands mostly advertise on fashion-related websites. The same goes for sex-related products. On pornographic websites, most of the advertisements are sex-related. But what would happen if a mainstream brand were to advertise on a pornographic website? Could this help the brand to stand out, for example?
One of the first mainstream brands to experiment with advertising on pornographic websites was the Italian fashion brand Diesel. In 2016, they placed their latest advertising campaign on pornographic websites such as Pornhub.com and Youporn.com. The brand did this in order to stand out, according to answers given in an interview about this new
advertising strategy; and the results were “incredible”, if Diesel CEO Renzo Rosso is to be believed (Stansfield, 2016). If this is the case, why have other mainstream brands not yet followed suit? One reason may be the taboo that still surrounds pornography. However, it may be asked whether concerns about this taboo are justified, or whether other brands should follow Diesel’s example.
The vast number of advertisements in more traditional media has caused the effectiveness of these kinds of advertisements to decrease over time (Hutter & Hoffman, 2014). Consequently, a task currently facing marketers is overcoming this decrease in
effectiveness. Thus, increasing numbers of brands are searching for alternative or unexpected ways or environments in which to present their message in order to distinguish themselves from other brands (Rotfeld, 2006; Elliot & Speck, 1998).
On the one hand, using non-regular media types such as pornographic websites in order to advertise in an alternative way may be an excellent opportunity for brands that are struggling with their advertisements’ reduced effectiveness. These websites could help such brands to stand out, as very few mainstream brands are currently advertising in this way. On the other
hand, pornography is still a taboo topic, and mainstream brands might not dare to associate themselves with these kinds of websites. This could again be because very few mainstream brands are advertising on these platforms, so being one of the first to do so requires courage.
The existing literature does not consider the possible effectiveness of mainstream brands advertising on pornographic websites. This study takes a first step in this direction by investigating the possible effectiveness of advertising on pornographic websites by linking it to congruence between the advertisement and the website’s content. The study can therefore provide brands with information regarding the use of pornographic websites as a medium for their advertisements in order to stand out.
Congruence in this context can be seen as thematic integration (Buijzen, van
Reijmersdal, & Owen, 2010). An advertisement is congruent when there is a match between the advertisement and the medium. Some studies have investigated the effects of congruence between the medium and the advertisement (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2014; Dahlén, 2005, Dahlén & Edenius, 2007; Dahlén, 2009; Dahlén, Friberg, & Nilsson, 2009; Hutter, 2015; Rosengren, Modig, & Dahlén, 2015). They all conclude that an advertisement’s effectiveness strongly depends on the congruence between the advertisement and the medium: the more congruent, the better.
Interestingly, other studies on the effects of congruence have reached the opposite conclusion. In contrast to the findings of the abovementioned studies, these studies conclude that a mismatch between the message and the medium – i.e. incongruence – can be beneficial for the advertiser because of the ‘unexpected change of theme’ (de Pelsmacker, Geuens & Anckaert, 2002; Heckler & Childers, 1992; Martin-Luengo, Luna, & Migueles, 2014).
Thus, with regard to congruence between the advertisement and the medium, there are two sets of opposing findings. On the one hand, a brand with a link to sexuality should
with weak or non-existent links to sexuality. On the other hand, the ‘unexpected change of theme’ may have positive effects in terms of attracting the receiver’s attention. In this case, incongruence could lead to more positive effects when advertising on a pornographic website.
Although much research concerning congruence and contextual fit has already been done, congruence between advertisements and pornographic content media has not yet been studied. In addition, as noted above, the studies that have been done on the topic of
congruence have opposing results. By investigating the effect of congruence on mainstream brands’ advertising on pornographic content websites, this study will provide further insight into what the effects of congruence are. Moreover, this research will make a novel
contribution to the literature by increasing our understanding of the effect of the pornographic content medium on mainstream brands’ advertising. In addition to addressing these
knowledge gaps, this study will assist brands in finding new ways of advertising in order to overcome traditional advertising’s decreasing effectiveness.
In order to achieve these objectives, the following research question will be answered:
In what way does advertising on a pornographic content website rather than a regular content website affect brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions? Furthermore, what is the moderating role of congruence?
Theoretical framework Website type effects
The existing literature does not provide an answer regarding how effective it is for mainstream brands to advertise on pornographic rather than regular content websites. However, previous studies have recognised that “the same source delivering the same message to the same audience on separate occasions might produce different effects
depending on the differing programming or editorial contexts in which the message appears” (Norris and Colman, 1992, p. 38). Therefore, the same online advertisement embedded in different media types can have different effects on its audience, even when factors such as the viewer’s characteristics remain the same (Moorman, Neijens, & Smit, 2002).
Brands that advertise on regular content websites such as Youtube are usually not related to sex, while brands that advertise on pornographic content websites such as Pornhub typically are. Common (mainstream) brands that advertise on Youtube are for example Volkswagen and Google, while Pornhub attracts advertisers such as paid pornography websites and sellers of sex toys like Fleshlight. Consequently, when a mainstream brand advertises on a pornographic website, this advertisement is likely to stand out and cause contrast effects. According to Moore, Stammerjohan, and Coulter (2005), these contrast effects could lead to more positive brand recall. On the other hand, the context of
pornographic content could distract from the advertisement. In that case, the advertisement brand may not be recalled (Wilson & Moore, 1979). An important factor that may help predict an advertisement’s success in terms of brand recall, brand attitude, and click-through intentions is the contextual congruence between the advertisement and the context.
Contextual congruence
Contextual congruence in advertising refers to the link between the advertisement and the medium’s content. It also refers to the association between the advertisement and the medium that the message’s recipient perceives (Porta, Ravarelli, & Spaghi, 2013). Terms other than “contextual congruence” are also used to refer to this phenomenon in the existing literature. Buijzen et al. (2010), for example, use the term “thematic integration”. When there is a match between a medium’s content and an advertisement, this advertisement is said to be “congruent”. When the link between the advertisement and the medium’s content is weak or
absent, the advertisement is termed “incongruent” (Moorman et al., 2002). Thus, an
advertisement must align thematically with the content of a website in order to be congruent. An example of a congruent advertisement is the placement of a male clothing brand’s latest campaign on a male fashion website such as JFK.nl. In this case, the advertisement matches thematically with the website’s content, i.e. fashion-related subjects. An example of an incongruent advertisement would be a book publisher’s promotion of its latest thriller on a fashion website. Here, there is a mismatch between the website’s content and the
advertisement’s theme. Mismatches can also be more extreme; for example, in the case of a mainstream brand that places an advertisement with little relation to sexuality on a
pornographic content website. This study’s focus is on the more extreme situation of
incongruence and its effects on the key outcomes of online advertising, namely brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions.
Congruence or incongruence?
An important question when a brand decides to advertise on a website is whether a congruent or an incongruent advertisement would be more effective. In other words, are the effects on brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions more positive when a brand places its advertisement in a congruent or an incongruent environment? Answers to this question can be divided into two opposing camps. The first theories that will be elaborated on are those that see more benefits in congruent advertising. The other set of theories, which view incongruent advertising as more advantageous, will subsequently be explained.
Congruence in advertising
Why should a brand opt for congruence in advertising? The obvious reason is that placing an advertising campaign on a website with the same theme means that the campaign
reaches the target audience (Dahlén, Rosengren, Törn, & Öhman, 2008). However, there are additional reasons to believe that congruence in advertising may be the right choice.
Over time, people acquire certain brand knowledge and brand perceptions. This
happens every time they make contact with a brand in any way. This memory structure, which results from previous thoughts a consumer has had about a certain brand, is often referred to as a “brand schema” (Dahlén et al., 2008). A brand schema helps to reduce the cognitive effort the consumer has to exert in the case of a follow-up encounter with the brand, and may be seen as the result of all the previous cognitive effort exerted in relation to the brand (Dahlén et al., 2008). One’s brand schema about a certain brand could for example include expectations about the types of media and models a brand will use for their advertising campaigns.
According to this theory, a consumer’s brand schema is activated upon every
encounter with information about the brand, i.e. every time the consumer sees or hears about the brand (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). The information about the brand to which the consumer is exposed is more easily elaborated because of the brand schema. Less cognitive effort is required because the existing brand schema allows the consumer to place the information about the brand in perspective (Braun, 1999).
Consider the following example regarding the brand Calvin Klein. During her life, a consumer collects information about Calvin Klein through advertising about and experiences with the brand. She has gained information about the brand and, most likely unconsciously, incorporates it into her brand schema concerning Calvin Klein. The brand schema information can include, for example, the media where she has seen the brand Calvin Klein before, or the type of models they used in their campaigns. The next time she sees an advertisement in a magazine with just the Calvin Klein logo, the brand schema is activated and it is easier for her to process the advertisement. She can place this ‘new’ information in perspective alongside
the information she already has about Calvin Klein. When the advertisement is about underwear, it is highly likely to fit her brand schema, and it will be even easier to process (Dahlén et al., 2008).
Thus, a brand schema helps to process information about a brand more easily, and it creates expectations regarding what medium the brand will advertise on and what the advertisement will look like (Alden, Mukherjee & Hoyer 2000; Dahlén, Lange, Sjödin & Törn. 2005). When a consumer receives information about or sees an advertisement from a certain brand and the environment in which this message is displayed matches the consumer's expectations, this information or advertisement is easily processed. There is no need for in-depth processing, because the message environment fits the brand schema (Kent & Allen 1994; Machleit, Allen, & Madden 1993).
The positive effects that result from easy processing can be explained based on Processing Fluency Theory (Reber, Schwarz, & Winkelman, 2004). When a consumer can process a stimulus easily because of the match between her knowledge about a brand and the context in which it advertises, she will evaluate this stimulus more positively. Easy processing prevents a critical and more negative evaluation of the stimulus (Reber et al., 2004). This can be explained by the fact that when someone experiences more processing fluency,
psychological distance decreases (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008). Psychological distance is to what extend a stimulus feels close to the self or not. Less psychological distance leads to more positive impressions (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008). On the contrary, when there is
incongruence between an advertisement and its context, less processing fluency is experienced and increased psychological distance results.
These assumptions have been confirmed in an empirical study by Perry, Jenzowsky, King, and Yi, (1997), which examined the effects of a humorous advertisement when placed in either a humorous or a non-humorous context. The humorous advertisement in the
humorous context – i.e. in the congruent situation – was rated more positively in terms of brand image than it was in the non-humorous context. Perry et al.’s (1997) study also found that the congruent advertisement led to higher brand recall than the incongruent
advertisement. Thus, when an advertisement’s content and the context are congruent, more positive results of the desired outcomes such as brand image, click-through intentions, and brand recall are achieved than when the advertisement’s content and the context are incongruent.
Another theory that is often linked to contextual congruence is priming (Dahlén, 2005; Martín-Luengo et al., 2014; Shen, & Chen, 2007; Simola, Kivikangas, Kuisma & Krause, 2013). Each medium also has its own context. Youtube, for example, has a context with regular video clips and text, whereas pornographic video content websites show video clips that are sexual in nature. When the consumer is exposed to the particular context of a
medium, they form a mental schema regarding the medium itself (Simola et al., 2013). In this sense, the medium corresponds to the brand in brand schema theory.
When people are primed by certain content of a medium, they hold expectations about what kinds of advertisements are likely to appear. The medium works as a semantic prime. People process a message more easily when primed with content on a medium that is congruent to their expectations (Simola et al., 2013). The attributes of the medium and its content are also likely to carry over to the processing process of the advertising brand (Lee & Labroo, 2004). So, when a consumer is exposed to a Nike advertisement on a sports website, she is already primed with the theme of ‘sports’, so the processing of the Nike advertisement requires minimal effort. This will again cause positive advertising outcomes, according to Processing Fluency Theory (Reber et al., 2004).
The focus of priming, as discussed above, lies on processing. Congruence leads to easy processing, and incongruence leads to more extensive processing. However, priming also
affects the focus a person has on an advertisement. When a website’s content and the advertisement are congruent, the consumer may focus her attention easily on the
advertisement, because she already has the topic in mind. She has been primed with the advertisement’s topic before actually seeing it. According to Moorman et al. (2002), this type of congruence leads to the consumer allocating more attention to the advertisement.
Based on the above, the following hypothesis is formulated:
H1a: Advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality on a pornographic content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a weaker link to sexuality. In addition, advertisements with a weaker link to sexuality on a regular content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality
Incongruence in advertising
When an advertisement is incongruent to its context, i.e. when there is a mismatch with the consumer’s brand schema, more cognitive effort is required to process the
advertisement. The consumer has to think about the advertisement and the context in order for it to make sense (Fiske, Kinder, & Larter 1983). In line with this assertion, previous studies on advertising-context congruence have indeed found that an advertisement that is
incongruent to the consumer’s brand schema of a particular brand leads to more extensive processing than an advertisement that is congruent to the brand schema (Goodstein 1993; Moore et al., 2005). Thus, when a brand’s advertisement is placed in a context that differs from previous placements, this will likely conflict with the brand schema. A conflict with the brand schema will again lead to more extensive cognitive processing in order to understand
the incongruence (Meyers-Levy & Tybout, 1989). More extensive cognitive processing of the advertisement will lead to “enhanced confidence in resolution judgement” (Dahlén et al., 2008). Thus, the advertisement’s recipient will feel that she has made a more reliable
judgement. This does not happen when the advertisement’s content is congruent to its context (Dahlén et al., 2008). The consumer’s enhanced confidence will result in a stronger, more positive attitude towards the brand and advertisement, according to Lee (2000).
Incongruence can therefore lead to more extensive processing (Dahlén et al., 2008). Dahlén et al. (2008) ran an experiment to test this theory. They placed advertisements of mainstream brands (L’Oréal and Gore-Tex) in magazines that were either congruent
(Cosmopolitan for L’Oréal and Outdoor Sports for Gore-Tex) or incongruent (the placements were reversed). The results showed that brand image was more positive after being exposed to advertisements in an incongruent rather than a congruent context.
Furthermore, Pelsmacker et al. (2002) found contrast effects in their study.
Advertisements in an incongruent context led to the advertisement attracting more attention (Pelsmacker et al., 2002). The mismatch between the medium and the advertisement is interesting, and the consumer notices the ad because of the innovation. People do not expect the advertisement on the incongruent medium, which makes the advertisement stand out more.
This can also be linked to priming (Simola et al., 2013). When visiting a website, people are primed with a certain subject. When the advertisement does not match with this primed subject, the incongruence leads to an unexpected change of theme. This unexpected change of theme catches the consumer’s attention, which leads to improved recognition and recall of the advertisement and causes the consumer to elaborate on the advertisement more extensively (Heckler & Childers, 1992). This situation can also be referred to as the “isolation effect”. The distinctive incongruent parts of the advertisement will be remembered more
clearly, because it catches the attention of the visitor to the website (Martin-Luengo et al., 2014).
Based on the above, the following contradictory hypotheses are formulated. See Figure 1 for the conceptual model.
H1b: Advertisements with a weaker link to sexuality on a pornographic content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality. In addition, advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality on a regular content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality.
+ or -
+ or -
Figure 1. Conceptual model Website type
(Regular content vs. Pornographic content)
Brand recall
Advertisment link to sexuality (Weaker vs. Stronger)
Brand image
Method
Design and participants.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (Website type: Pornographic content website vs. Regular content website) x 2 (Advertisement link to sexuality: Stronger vs. Weaker) between-subjects factorial design, both factors were manipulated. Since two out of four conditions contained pornographic content suitable for adults only, all participants had to be eighteen years or older. The participants were recruited via e-mail, Facebook and face to face in the library of the University of Amsterdam. The recruitment text contained a warning that the experiment was suitable for people 18 years and older. The experiment was conducted in English, so the participants had to be able to
comprehend English. Hundred sixty-three people agreed to participate in the study. Of these 163 participants, six people needed to be excluded. These people needed to be excluded because they did not end the experiment properly. Sixty-five participants were men (41.4%) and 90 were women (57.3%). Two participants identified themselves neither with the male nor female gender (1.3%). The mean age of the participants was 25.4 years old (SD=4.94). Of the participants 93.5% had at least a bachelor degree. Sixty-five percent of the participants had a master’s degree or higher. Before the experiment could start it needed to be approved by the Ethics Review Board of the Graduate School of Communication (University of Amsterdam). The Ethics Review Board approved the experiment.
Procedure
For this study it was very important that the participants were warned in advance that the experiment might contain pornographic content. So, this was mentioned in the recruitment text, as well in the introduction text and informed consent of the experiment itself. The
participants were told that the study was about new forms of media advertising. The
they may be exposed to explicit pornographic content. The first question pertained to
participants' age. If the participant was younger than eighteen years old, he or she proceeded to the end of the experiment. After this the participants were asked about their gender and educational level. This was followed by an information text about the following experimental material. The participants were asked to have a good look at the webpage they would be presented with. The webpage they saw was either the landing page of user generated content website Youtube.com or Pornhub.com. The landing page contained an advertisement banner of Tommy Hilfiger for underwear. The model in the advertisement either wore a t-shirt in the weaker link to sexuality condition, or a tight boxer short in the stronger link to sexuality condition.
To cover up the real intentions of the experiment, the participants were asked a question about the number of video clips the landing page showed and their attitude towards the website. These filler question were followed by questions that measured participants’ brand recall, brand image and click through intentions. Also the opinion of the participant about the sexiness of the advertisement was asked as manipulation check. Before the participants were asked where they think this study was about, some other filler-questions were asked about the colours of the website they just saw.
The experiment ended with a debriefing that contained a brief explanation of the study's true goal and some information on what they could do to receive more information if they wanted to. The experiment took approximately 6 minutes to complete. In Appendix A and C you can find an overview of the full experiment.
Pre-test
To test if the two advertisements selected for the study really differ with respect to the strength of the link to sexuality, a pre-test was executed. Forty-two participants participated in
the pre-test. From these participants 35.7% was male and 64.3% was female. The mean age of the participants was 25.8 years old (SD=3.58). The participants were exposed to both
advertisements of an existing underwear campaign of Tommy Hilfiger with Rafael Nadal. In one of the advertisements Rafael Nadal wore a t-shirt and holds a natural pose. In the other advertisement Rafael Nadal is naked apart from a tight boxer short and holds a sexy pose (see Figure 1 and 2). The sequence of which advertisement came first was randomized in order to eliminate order effects. The link to sexuality was measured with a one-item seven-point scale previously used in the study of Severn, Belch and Belch (1990). The question that the
participants had to answer after being exposed right after one of the advertisement was: “I think this advertisement can be perceived as sexy’ (1=Strongly agree, 7= Strongly disagree).
A paired-samples t-test showed that the two conditions were significantly different in terms of link to sexuality. The Tommy Hilfiger advertisement in which Rafael Nadal just wore a boxer had a stronger link to sexuality (M=1.36, SD=0.58) than the Tommy Hilfiger advertisement in which Rafael Nadal is more covered (M=2.95, SD=1.59), t(41)=6.10, p=.000 (2-tailed).
Material
A pornographic video content website and a regular video content website were chosen to manipulate the type of website. The two websites were the landing page of
Pornhub.com and Youtube.com, respectively. These websites were chosen because the lay out of the landing page is very comparable and they differ mainly with respect to the content offered to visitors. The content of the Pornhub.com landing page contained pornographic texts and images and the Youtube.com landing page contained non-pornographic, regular, text and images.
website. The original advertisement was replaced by advertisement of an underwear campaign by Tommy Hilfiger. The pose of Rafael Nadal in the weaker link to sexuality condition can be described as casual. Also, as stated before, Rafael Nadal wore a t-shirt in the weaker link to sexuality condition, and a tight boxer short in the stronger link to sexuality condition. The advertisements were the same in terms of size and placement in both the conditions. See Appendix A for the experiment stimuli.
Figure 1. Weaker link to sexuality advertisement
Figure 2. Stronger link to sexuality advertisement
Measures
Brand recall (free recall). The measurement of the extent to which the participants recalled the brand of the advertisement on the webpage was based on the study of Furnham and Goh (2014). Two questions were asked in order to measure brand recall. The first free recall question asked if the participants saw an advertisement on the webpage to which he or she was exposed, and if so, from what brand. This question could either be answered correctly or incorrectly. Of the participants 125 people (78.6%) filled in the correct brand.
Brand recall (aided recall). After this question, the participants were asked to pick which brand they thought was advertised on the webpage out of twelve brands. The sequence of brand options was randomized for every participant. The options of brands that could be chosen were: Tommy Hilfiger, Sony, Spa, Diesel, G-Start, Nespresso, Nike, Ralph Lauren,
Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Calvin Klein and Levi’s. Again, this question could either be answered correctly or incorrectly. Of the participants, 91.7% recognized the correct brand.
Brand Image. To measure participants' brand image, a scale that has already been used by Graef (1997) was used. The seven point, four item bipolar label scale measured brand image (α=0.95; M=5.35, SD=1.46). The question that was asked was: “What do you think of the brand Tommy Hilfiger?” (1=Unfavorable, 7=Favorable), (1=Bad, 7=Good), (1=Negative, 7=Positive), (1=Unlikable, 7=Likable).
Click Through Intentions. To measure participants' click through intentions a scale by Yoo (2009) was used. The question that has been asked was: “I would click on the banner ad of Tommy Hilfiger to go to the Tommy Hilfiger web shop” (1=Not at all, 7=Definitely would) (Yoo, 2009). (M=2.15, SD=1.59).
Demographics and control Variables. At the beginning of the study, participants were asked about their age, gender and highest level of education. At the end of the survey the participants were asked if they had an idea where the study was about.
Manipulation check. A questions was asked to check whether the manipulation was successful. To check the link to sexuality of the ad, the same measure has been used as in the pre-test (M=4.80, SD=1.60).
Data analysis
The statistical program SPSS will be used to test all the hypotheses mentioned in the theoretical framework section. To test the predictions, two separate two-way ANOVAs were conducted with website type and link to sexuality as a fixed factors and brand image and click-through intentions as dependent variables. Two logistic regressions will be executed for the independent variable brand recall (free recall and aided recall).
Results
Randomization
In order to check if participants’ age was comparable over the four conditions, a One-way ANOVA was conducted. This ANOVA had the four conditions as the independent variable, and age as dependent variable. The ANOVA showed that participants’ age did not differ between the four conditions (F (1, 153) = 0.11, p = .74, η2 =.00). Secondly, Chi-square tests were conducted to check the distribution between the conditions for gender and
educational level. There were no differences in gender between the conditions, χ2(6) = 3.13, p=.792. The conditions also did not differ in terms of education level χ2(18) = 17.69, p=.476. The randomization was therefore successful.
Control variables
Before testing the hypotheses, it is important to know if it is necessary to control for the variables age, gender, educational level and attitude towards the website. To see if there is a relationship between these control variables and dependent variables brand recall, brand attitude and click through intentions, twelve bivariate correlation analyses were performed. For both age, education level and attitude towards the website, Pearson’s correlations were performed. For gender Spearman’s rho was used. See Table 1.
Table 1
Correlations between possible control variables and dependent variables Brand recall (Free Recall) Brand recall (Aided Recall) Brand Attitude Click-through intention Age -.21* -.20* .10 -.04 Gender .04 .08 .10 .14 Education level .06 -.09 -.05 .18 Attitude towards the website .16* .03 .17* .15 Note: *p <.05, **p <.001
There was a significant negative relationship between age and brand recall (both free recall and aided recall) which means that older people scored lower on brand recall (free recall) (r = .21, p = .008) and brand recall (aided recall) (r = .20, p = .010) than younger people.
Moreover, a significant relationship was found between attitude towards the website and brand recall (free recall) (r = .16, p = .040) and brand attitude (r =.17, p= .033). If people had a more positive attitude towards the website, they scored higher on brand recall (free recall) and had a more positive brand image. Because of this relationship, the control variables age and attitude towards the website will be included as covariates in the logistic regression for brand recall. The control variable attitude toward the website will be included as a covariate in the ANOVA for brand attitude.
Manipulation check
To check whether the perceived link to sexuality in the two advertisement conditions indeed differed, a manipulation check via a one-way ANOVA was conducted. The
advertisement link to sexuality was set as a factor, and the perceived link to sexuality as the dependent variable. The ANOVA showed that the manipulation was successful. Just as in the pre-test, the strong link to sexuality conditions were perceived as having a stronger link to sexuality (M=5.14, SD=1.51) than the weaker link to sexuality conditions (M=4.44, SD=1.61), F(1,155)=8.09, p=.005.
Main analysis
For the main analysis, the following hypotheses apply. Hypothesis 1a predicted that advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality on a pornographic content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a weaker link to sexuality. In addition, advertisements with a weaker link to sexuality on a regular content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality. Hypothesis 1b predicted that advertisements with a weaker link to sexuality on a pornographic content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality. In addition, advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality on a regular content website will lead to improved brand recall and brand attitude and increased click-through intentions compared to advertisements with a stronger link to sexuality.
Brand recall (free recall)
A logistic regression analysis was performed to ascertain the effects of website type and link to sexuality on brand recall (free recall). There was no difference between
participants that were exposed to a weak compared to a strong link to sexuality advertisement on the likelihood to have correctly recalled the brand of the advertisement, β(.41) = -.39, p=.33, OR = .67 [CI = .30-1.49]. The website type was a significant predictor of brand recall, β(.42) =.98, p =.021, OR = 2.66 [CI = 1.16–6.10]. In other words, the likelihood of recalling the advertisement brand correctly, was 2.66 times higher for a pornographic content website compared to a regular content website. In the second step, the interaction term between link to sex and type of website was added. However, no significant interaction-effect between the advertisement link to sexuality and type of website was found, β(.85) =.62, p= .468, OR = 1.85 [ CI = .53 - 9.73]. Therefore, hypothesis 1a and 1b must be rejected for brand recall (free recall).
Brand recall (aided recall)
A second logistic regression analysis was performed to ascertain the effects of website type and link to sexuality on brand recall (aided recall). There was no difference between participants that were exposed to a weaker compared to a stronger link to sexuality
advertisement on the likelihood to have correctly recognized the advertisement brand (aided recall), β(.58) = .11, p=.848, OR = 1.12 [CI = .35-3.52]. The website type was a not a
significant predictor of brand recall, β(.62) = .86, p =.166, OR = 2.37 [CI = .70-8.06]. In other words, the likelihood of recognizing the advertisement brand correctly (aided recall), was not higher for a pornographic content website compared to a regular content website. In the second step, the interaction term between link to sexuality and the website type was added. However, no significant interaction-effect between advertisement link to sexuality and website type was found, β(1.38) =1.49, p=.279, OR = 4.44 [ CI = .30- 65.90]. Therefore, hypothesis 1a and 1b must be rejected for brand recall (aided recall).
Brand image
A two-way Analysis of Variance was conducted with Website type and link to sexuality as a fixed factors and brand image as the dependent variable. Attitude towards the website was included as a covariate. The ANOVA indicated that neither the website type, F(1, 152) = .373, p = .543, η2 =.00, nor the link to sexuality, F(1, 152) = 1.321, p = .252, η2 =.01, nor the interaction between both factors, F(1, 152) = .012, p = .913, η2 =.00 had a significant effect on brand image. The results showed that participants exposed to an advertisement on a regular content website (M= 5.42, SD=.17) do not differ with regard to brand attitudes compared to participants exposed to an ad on a pornographic content website (M=5.27, SD=.17). Participants exposed to advertisement with a stronger link to sexuality (M=5.48, SD=.16) do not differ with regard to brand attitudes compared to participants exposed to an ad with a weaker link to sexuality (M=5.21, SD=.16). No interaction effect was found. When the advertisement on a pornographic content website had a stronger link to sexuality (M=5.42, SD=.23), the brand attitude did not differ when the advertisement had a weaker link to sexuality (M=5.13, SD=.23). When the advertisement on a regular content website had a stronger link to sexuality (M=5.54, SD=.23), the brand attitude did not differ when the advertisement had a weaker link to sexuality (M=5.30, SD=.23) See Table 2. Therefore, hypothesis 1a and 1b must be rejected for brand image.
Click-through intentions
A two-way Analysis of Variance was conducted with the Website type and
advertisement link to sexuality as a fixed factor and click-through intentions as the dependent variable. The ANOVA indicated that neither the website type (Pornographic content vs. Regular content), F(1, 152) = 1.486, p = .225, η2 =.01 , nor the link to sexuality, F(1, 152) = 1.015, p = .315, η2 =.01 nor the interaction between both factors, F(1, 152) = .935, p = .544,
η2
=.00 had a significant effect on click-through intentions. The results showed that
participants exposed to an advertisement on a regular content website (M= 2.31, SD=1.61) do not differ with regard to click-through intentions compared to participants exposed to an ad on a pornographic content website (M=2.00, SD=1.57). Participants exposed to advertisement with a stronger link to sexuality (M=2.28, SD=.18) do not differ with regard to click-through intentions compared to participants exposed to an ad with a weaker link to sexuality (M=2.02, SD=.18). No interaction effect was found. The click-through intentions on a pornographic content website did not differ between the advertisement with a stronger link to sexuality (M=2.05, SD=1.61) and the advertisement with a weaker link to sexuality (M=1.96,
SD=1.54). The click-through intentions did not differ on a regular content website between the advertisement with a stronger link to sexuality (M=2.51, SD=1.64) and the advertisement with a weaker link to sexuality (M=2.10, SD=1.57). See Table 2. Therefore, hypothesis 1a and 1b must be rejected for click-through intentions.
Table 2
Mean scores and standard deviations on dependent variables for the the website type and advertisement link to sexuality
Ad link to sexuality
Dependent variable Weak
M (SD)
Strong M (SD)
Website Type
Brand image Regular content 5.30 (.24) 5.54 (.24)
Pornographic content 5.13 (.24) 5.42 (.23) Click-through intentions Regular content 2.10 (1.57) 2.51 (1.64) Pornographic content 1.96 (1.54) 2.05 (1.61) Discussion
The current study is the first to investigate the effects of mainstream brands advertising on pornographic content websites in comparison to regular content websites. The study examines the effects of website type on brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions.
Congruence between the advertisement and its context is also taken into account as a
moderating factor. The investigation entailed placing mainstream brand advertisements with weaker or stronger links to sexuality on either a pornographic content website or a regular content website.
Some studies have shown that congruence between an advertisement and its context leads to reduced cognitive effort when processing the advertisement (Dahlén et al., 2008). This can be explained with reference to the brand schema that an individual possesses in relation to a particular brand (Dahlén et al., 2008). When the advertisement and its context
align with the individual’s brand schema, there is no need for in-depth processing (Kent & Allen 1994; Machleit, Allen, & Madden 1993). According to Processing Fluency Theory, this leads to improved brand recall and brand attitude (Reber et al., 2004). Based on this assertion, it was hypothesised that, compared to incongruent advertising, congruent advertising would lead to more positive brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions. However, results to the contrary have also been found (e.g., Meyers-Levy & Tybout, 1989; Pelsmacker et al., 2002). When an advertisement and its context conflict with the individual’s brand schema, this is thought to lead to more extensive processing (Fiske et al., 1983; Goodstein 1993; Moore, Stammerjohan, & Coulter 2005). More extensive processing, in turn, is considered to lead to a more positive brand attitude (Lee, 2000). Moreover, this so-called “contrast effect” is said to cause the advertisement to stand out more, which will lead to higher brand recall. Based on this line of thought, a contrasting hypothesis was proposed. This hypothesis states that incongruence between an advertisement and its context will lead to more positive brand recall, brand attitude, and click-through intentions.
In this study, contrary to expectations, no effects of (in)congruence were found. Results for subjects who were exposed to advertisements with either stronger or weaker links to sexuality did not differ significantly across the two website types (i.e. regular versus pornographic content). These findings contrast with those of previous studies, which have concluded that either congruence or incongruence is more beneficial in terms of brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions.
A possible reason for the lack of effect could be that participants did not perceive the advertisement with a stronger link to sexuality as sufficiently congruent to the pornographic content website and sufficiently incongruent to the regular content website. The pre-test results and those of the main study showed that participants perceived the advertisement featuring Rafael Nadal in just a pair of Tommy Hilfiger boxer shorts as significantly more
strongly linked to sexuality than the advertisement picturing a less exposed version of Nadal. However, the former type of ‘naked’ advertisement can still be seen as a regular mainstream brand advertisement; indeed, such advertisements are very common amongst underwear brands. Thus, despite the nakedness in the advertisement, the audience may still perceive it as incongruent when combined with a pornographic content website. Consequently, although the ‘more sexual’ advertisement in combination with the pornographic content website was set as the study’s congruent condition, it could be that it was not congruent enough. In addition, the ‘less sexual’ advertisement could be perceived as incongruent to the regular content website. Although the pre-test showed that the more dressed image of Nadal was perceived as
significantly less sexy than the less-dressed version of the tennis player, it may still be ‘too sexy’ for the regular content website. Thus, it may be that all advertisement conditions in the study were incongruent. This could explain the absence of effects. Moreover, no effects of link to sexuality (i.e. stronger or weaker) were found within website types. This could again be explained by the fact that the type of advertisement used in this study is very common in underwear advertising. Thus, despite the advertisement’s level of sexiness, subjects may have perceived both advertisements as ‘standard’ underwear advertisements, which explains the absence of effects across advertisement types.
Thus, unfortunately, based on the current study no conclusions can be drawn regarding the moderating effect of an advertisement’s link to sexuality in combination with website type effects on brand recall, brand image, and click-through intentions. Further research should focus more closely on this aspect and should amplify the differences between the conditions in terms of congruence. Two types of advertisements from the same brand could be used; for example, an underwear campaign with a strong link to sexuality and an accessory campaign with no link to sexuality. This should create more congruence and incongruence between the advertisement and its context. Furthermore, the pre-test should be
focus more on the actual congruence between the advertisement and its context. Not only the advertisement’s level of sexiness should be pre-tested, but also whether this level of sexiness is perceived as congruent to a certain context. This results of such a study should yield more evidence for one of the movements, congruence or incongruence.
An interesting significant effect of website type on brand recall (free recall) was found. The study’s results showed that participants who had been exposed to the same advertisement of a mainstream brand scored higher on brand recall (free recall) on a pornographic content website than on a regular content website. Mainstream brands like Tommy Hilfiger normally do not advertise on pornographic content websites; therefore, the advertisement stands out in this context. This is in line with Pelsmacker et al.’s (2002) findings. These authors mention that the contrast effect will lead to more attention being drawn to the advertisement. Because the advertisement stands out more, it is more interesting and noticeable to the consumer (Pelsmacker et al., 2002). This could explain why mainstream brands’ advertisements score higher on brand recall in a pornographic content environment. Further research should examine whether the result found in this study is really due to contrast effects. This could be done by using two different types of brands within the
pornographic content context: a sex-related brand and a mainstream brand. If the mainstream brand leads to higher brand recall than the sex-related brand in this context, this could be an argument in support of the contrast effect.
The fact that the same advertisement in different contexts leads to different outcomes is in line with Moorman et al.’s (2002) findings, which state that the same advertisement in different media types can have different effects on its audience.
No effects of website type on brand image and click-through intentions were found in this study. A reason for this could be that participants already have a very strong brand image
of Tommy Hilfiger. The literature explains that it is difficult to change or influence an existing attitude towards a brand (Renes, Van de Putte, Van Breukelen, Loef, Otte, &
Wennekers, 2011). Further research could replicate this study using some mainstream brands that are more well-known and some that are less so. In the case of less well-known brands, subjects may possess a weaker brand image, and the effect of website type on brand image and click-through intentions may therefore be stronger. In this case, the effects of website type – i.e. regular versus pornographic content – could be better examined.
Limitations and recommendation for further research
The current study has some limitations that warrant discussion. The researcher recruited all of the participants through his own network, and more than half of them were highly educated. The high education level of the sample is not representative of the general population. Previous research has found that pornographic content consumers have a range of education levels (Ahmed, Shafiq, & Liu, 2016). This fact may make the study’s external validity lower than it should be. Future research should take this into account and gather a more representative sample of the population in order to increase the research’s external validity.
Moreover, as noted before, future research should include more and different types of mainstream brands in the experiment. This study included only one mainstream fashion brand, namely Tommy Hilfiger. The outcomes may be different when a non-fashion-related brand is used. This could be because fashion brands occasionally ‘flirt’ with the theme of sex. Future research should investigate whether use of other non-sexual mainstream brands, such as Starbucks or Apple, will yield results comparable to those of this study. This may not be the case, since a brand with no association to sex may be seen as more incongruent to pornographic content websites. Further research should determine whether this is indeed the
case and, if so, under what circumstances. The fact that non-sexual mainstream brands do not often use sex-related advertising should be taken into account. Presumably, sex-related advertising will have to be created for these brands, since it does not currently exist.
Conclusion
According to this study, advertising on pornographic content websites by a mainstream brand could work if you want your advertisement to stand out. The results showed that brands were better remembered when they were placed on a pornographic content website than when they were placed on a regular content website. Unfortunately, no effects were found for brand image and click-through intentions. However, no negative effects for advertising on pornographic content websites were found for brand image and click-through intentions either. So in order to stand out as a brand, this unexpected way of advertising could help a brand to overcome the decreasing effectiveness of advertising in traditional media types.
Although previous studies found some interesting results concerning congruence and incongruence between advertisement and its context, these could not be confirmed by the current study. Future research should examine if congruence, or incongruence, plays a more important role than this study does suggests.
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Appendix A: Experiment stimuli
Experiment material; weaker link to sexuality advertisement on a pornographic content website
Experiment material; stronger link to sexuality advertisement on a pornographic content website
Appendix B: Pre-test
Participants were exposed to both advertisements. Dear participant,
Welcome to this short study and thank you for participating. For my master thesis at the University of Amsterdam I want to get insight in new advertising possibilities. As a start I would like to ask you two questions about two types of advertising. This questionnaire will take approximately 1 minute.
Thank you very much in advance!
“I think this advertisement can be perceived as sexy.” - Strongly agree
- Agree
- Somewhat agree
- Neither agree nor disagree - Somewhat disagree - Disagree
- Strongly disagree
Appendix C: the informed consent, the instructions and the experiment Welcome and informed consent
Dear Participant,
Welcome to this study and thank you in advance for your participation!
Please note that this study is for people over 18 only!
The objective of this research is to gain a better understanding into new platforms of advertising. In the course of this research, you will be presented with the landing page of a video content website.
For some participants, this website may contain sexually explicit pornographic content and text. After this, you are asked to fill in some questions. Please be assured that your responses will be kept completely confidential and anonymous.
The study should take you around 5 minutes to complete. Please note that this survey will be best displayed on a laptop or desktop computer. Some features may be less compatible for use on a mobile device.
You are invited to participate in a research project that is being carried out under the auspices of the ASCoR research institute, which forms part of the University of Amsterdam. ASCoR conducts scientific research into media and communications in society. Your participation in this research is voluntary. You have the right to withdraw at any point during the study, for any reason, and without any prejudice.
As this research is being carried out under the responsibility of the ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, we can guarantee that:
1. Your anonymity will be safeguarded, and that your answers or data will not be passed on to third parties under any conditions, unless you first give your express permission for this. 2. You can refuse to participate in the research or cut short your participation without having to give a reason for doing so. You also have up to 7 days after participating to withdraw your permission to allow your answers or data to be used in the research.
Should you have any complaints or comments about the course of the research and the
procedures it involves as a consequence of your participation in this research, you can contact the designated member of the Ethics Committee representing ASCoR, at the following
address: ASCoR Secretariat, Ethics Committee, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; 020-525 3680; ascor-secr-fmg@uva.nl.
Any complaints or comments will be treated in the strictest confidence.
We hope that we have provided you with sufficient information. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your assistance with this research, which we greatly appreciate. If you would like to contact me about the research, please email me at
tim.oostvogel@student.uva.nl or my supervisor Saar Mollen (s.mollen@uva.nl).
By clicking the button below, you acknowledge that your participation in the study is
voluntary, you may see sexually explicit pornographic content and that you are aware that you may choose to terminate your participation in the study at any time and for any reason.
The questionnaire What is your age? …
Which gender identity do you mostly identify with? - Male
- Female - Other
What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed, or are currently enrolled in?
- Less than high school - High school graduate - College degree - MBO degree
- Bachelor degree (HBO)
- Bachelor degree University (WO) - Master's degree
- Doctorate - Other
You will now be exposed to a webpage. Please have a good look. Imagine that you are visiting this website. After a few seconds you can click the arrows at the bottom of the screen to continue.
How many movie clips did the webpage show? If you don't know, please guess. …
I think the website I just saw is:
Bad 1234567 Good Negative 1234567 Positive Unfavorable 1234567 Favorable Unlikable 1234567 Likable
Was there an advertisement on the webpage you just saw? And if yes, from what brand? -No
-Yes, namely
What was the advertising brand on the webpage? Please choose one brand.
- Sony - Ralph Lauren
- Spa - Mercedes-Benz
- Diesel - Audi
- G-Star - Calvin Klein
- Nespresso - Tommy Hilfiger
- Nike - Levi's
The webpage contained an advertisement of Tommy Hilfiger. Please answers the next questions. There are no right or wrong answers.
What do you think of the brand Tommy Hilfiger?
Bad 1234567 Good Negative 1234567 Positive Unfavorable 1234567 Favorable Unlikable 1234567 Likable
I would click on the banner ad of Tommy Hilfiger to go to the Tommy Hilfiger webshop.
Not at all 1234567 Definitely would
I think the advertisement of Tommy Hilfiger can be perceived as sexy. -Strongly agree
-Agree
-Somewhat agree
-Neither agree nor disagree -Somewhat disagree -Disagree
To finish this survey, I would like to ask you where you think this research is about. 'I think this research is about:'
…..
Please click on >>> to register your answers. Dear Participant,
Thank you for taking part in my study. My master thesis research pertains to new media form and advertising. Your answers are very helpful!
You may just have seen the landing page of a sexually explicit content website or one with regular content. This study examines the effects of advertising on sexual explicit websites by mainstream brands in comparison to ‘regular’ websites. According to the current academic literature, congruence between the medium and the message affects the advertisement effects. It is not clear yet if this effect is positive or negative. This study tries to give more insight on this matter.
If you would like to know more about my master thesis or would like to receive more information about the outcomes of this study, please let me know via e-mail,
tim.oostvogel@student.uva.nl Kind regards,
