Shockvertising is a set of advertising tactics that sends its message through the breaking of norms, presentation of shocking images, exploiting the audience’s anxieties, and various other ways. It is a quick way to break through the clutter of similar advertisements in today’s oversaturated world of advertising. While shockvertising is a relatively common tactic in the non-profit sector, this thesis focuses on its use in the for-profit sector and the specific pitfalls and benefits it faces in this context. The focus here is on advertisers, as those who are sending the message, rather than on the receivers. This is done to build a sturdy theoretical base for anyone interested in using or studying shock in their advertising.    The core of the study shows factors influencing the conception and subsequent creation of a shocking ad while also connecting it to the effect it has on the audience. Through interviewing professionals in the field and connecting their experience to previous studies, the AMEE model is created to facilitate an easier and safer way of using shock in advertising. This model and its thorough explanation can also be found separately in the appendices.   Many important factors that influence the success and effectiveness of a shocking ad have been discovered, analysed, and presented in this study. The findings show that the most important factors are a relevant and purposeful Source of Shock, alignment with the Brand Image, the understanding of the Receiver, and the Context in which a shocking ad appears.

To break through the clutter of advertisements, some advertisers uses sexual appeal as a technique to increase visibility and sales. The purpose of this study is to examine, from a Swedish and South Korean perspective, how the attitude towards sexual appeal in advertising differ between generations. Culture and age has been proven to be factors affecting attitude towards advertisements, and previous research has found that the attitude towards sexual appeal in advertising between Swedish and South Korean university students only differed slightly. To examine the attitudes, data was collected through a questionnaire. The results suggest that the attitudes of each age group are generally rather similar, regardless of culture. Ages 18 to 30 showed most negativity towards sexual appeal in advertisements.

This study has investigated whether cultural differences affect how one perceives sexual advertising. The study has focused on Sweden and South Korea, which showed great differences in Hofstede's cultural framework. Sweden, according to Hofstede, is considered to be a feminine country and has low uncertainty avoidance. In contrast to South Korea, which is considered masculine and is one of the most uncertainty avoiding countries in the world. The study examined whether these cultural aspects affect how the consumer perceives sexual advertising. To answer this, data was collected through a questionnaire, with Swedish and South Korean university students as respondents. The results showed that there were differences in how Swedish and South Korean participants experienced sexual advertising, although not as great differences as expected. The South Koreans proved to be more easily upset by the advertising than the Swedes, however, it turned out that no one felt interested in buying the promoted product, regardless of culture.