Sex and violence on TV shows my actually dull viewers' ability to recall the content of commercial spots.
More than 300 TV viewers in an Iowa State University study demonstrated consistently lower recall rates for TV spots in programs with sexual or violent content. The study, conducted by Iowa State professor of psychology Dr. Brad Bushman, involved 324 men and women, aged 18-54, who were randomly assigned to watch either violent, sexually explicit or "neutral" programming.
On average programs that did not contain sex and violence had a 39% advertising recall advantage over violent and sexual programming.
Immediately after these programs' were viewed, and 24 hours later, participants were asked to recall the brands advertised. - Richard Tedesco
