Abstract

This research builds upon the literature on the effects of sexualized advertising and seeks to examine its impact on consumers’ delayed discounting. More specifically, this research examines to what extent arousal induced by sexualized advertisements as well as consumers’ trait impulsivity influence consumers’ tendency to discount financial rewards. In a computer-based lab experiment, 263 participants were randomly assigned to sexualized advertisement exposure or exposure to neutral images (control) and completed a financial discounting task. The financial discounting task included two monetary rewards amounts ($1,000 and $25,000) across six different time delays (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years) and interest rates (.000 to 1.000 in .025 and .050 increments). Trait impulsivity was a measured variable. In the context of discounting of financial rewards, this research found no significant relationship between sexualized advertising induced arousal or trait impulsivity, and delayed discounting. The results have implications for future investigations of the influence of consumers’ affective states on decision-making.

Keywords: Delayed Discounting, Affect, Arousal, Valence, Impulsivity, Financial Rewards, Financial Decision-Making