Abstract

Individuals' sexual attitudes and their level of erotophobia/erotophilia was related to their recall of sexual and non-sexual television adverts embedded within programs, with and without sexual content. Eighty-eight participants aged between 18–26 were placed in one of four conditions and shown ‘Sex and the city’ or ‘Friends’ with embedded sexual or non-sexual advertisements. There was a main effect of program type and advertisement type. Advertisement recall was hindered in the sexual program compared to the non-sexual program and sexual advertisements were recalled more than non-sexual advertisements. Those with liberal sexual attitudes and erotophiles showed lower recall of sexual advertisements. Limitations of the study are considered.