*This Blog Post was written during my Masters Degree*

If you haven’t just read this line in the over the top, sultry way that Dervla Kirwan (the voiceover actress) in Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) food adverts then I applaud you. Even M&S  themselves have mocked their famous ‘Food Porn’ ads, see the video below.

What is it about this advert that keeps us intrigued? But more importantly, how can I stop the voice in my head from saying everything in that slow and sultry style when I’m writing this?

So why have M&S tailored their food adverts to have a sultry appeal. We can use Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to explain how these style of adverts can motivate consumers to go out and purchase M&S food.  We start with the fact that M&S foods adverts satisfy our basic physiological needs. As humans we are heavily influenced and motivated to get food. M&S have masterfully  utilised this approach as they want you to think of them whenever you buy food. They want to help satisfy our need for food, but while also making it clear that ‘this is not just food, this is M&S food’. They have taken what was once just a basic message, ‘I need food’, to ‘I need  M&S food’. 

Now where does the sultry voice come into play? Well we’ve all heard the phrase ‘sex sells’ but how true is it? Research that looked into sexuality in advertising reported that both gender don’t mind the use of overt sexuality as long as men and women are equally involved. In the case of M&S their food adverts do both involve men and women which can put them in favour with the consumers as research has shown that consumers can be turned off by too much sexual imagery. 

But how effective are sex appeals in advertising campaigns? A meta-analysis looked at the effects of sexual appeals on memory and found that consumers recognise adverts and can recall adverts that have sex appeal more than adverts without sex appeal. But sex appeal has no effect on consumers remembering the brand that was featured in the adverts. 

Yet M&S seem to have the balance of both being sultry but also having a slogan that will remind you of the brand. Research that looked into impact of brand image and advertisement on consumer buying behaviour found that if people are aware of the brand, have good brand perception, loyalty and association they will automatically have a stronger brand image in their minds and the brand will become part of their buying behaviour. Which can be seen in the M&S food adverts due to the slogan of ‘this is not just food, this is M&S food’. But also because their brand has a good brand perception as seen in this advert below. 

M&S have found that perfect combination of a sultry tone while still enabling them as approachable to their consumers, and while bringing some humour to their previous food adverts.