Reconciling the Paradoxical Nature of Violent Advertisements: A Thematic Analysis

Violence is an important macro-environmental force that has been increasing both in society at large and within advertising in particular. Despite the concern associated with violent content in both print and broadcast media, there is a scarcity of scholarly research or even inquiry into what constitutes violent advertising and its impact on consumer processing and attitudes. The limited research that has been conducted has largely been restricted to content analysis in which the proportion of violent ads was determined relative to all advertising. Anderson (1997), for example, found that 6.8% of advertising run during the Major League Baseball Playoffs contained violent content. The remaining literature dealing with violence in advertising can be classified into two streams: (1) explorations of advertising recall as a result of viewing advertisements with violent content, and (2) effects of advertisements with violent content on various groups (e.g., children and women).