Sensory, Snob, and Sex Appeals in Wine Advertising

This article presents and discusses the results of a study designed to test the effectiveness of three ad appeals in triggering hedonic and behavioural responses to novel and familiar wines. The sensory appeal consisted of an objective description of each wine's aromatic qualities; the snob appeal included additional vague personality trait descriptors; sex appeal consisted of a short description and a suggestive background picture. Compared to men, women anticipated more pleasure from a wine described in objective sensory terms and were willing to spend more money for that wine. Men liked the ad with sex appeal more than other ads. anticipated more pleasure from the wine advertised with sex appeal, and were willing to pay the most amount of money for that wine. Compared to men, women recalled more of the ads' central claims. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for wine advertising.