Female nudity in advertisements, arousal and response: a parsimonious extension

This study extended a 1990 report of LaTour, Pitts, and Snook-Luther by further analysis. Relationships between the key dimensions of High Activation (tension) and General Activation (energy) and ratings of attitude toward the advertisement were analyzed in a test of two hypothetical models performed on ratings by 134 undergraduate business students who responded to the paper-and-pencil tests which operationalized the constructs. In addition, attitude toward the brand was added to the formulation to evaluate the tenability of direct effects of arousal on attitude toward the brand (Ab) and indirect effects "filtered through" attitude toward the advertisement (Aad). Analysis supported the idea that excessive rated tension induced from an erotic advertisement has negative consequences. As predicted, different structural relations between these variables occur under different conditions.