Television shows with large amounts of sex or violence tends to attract more viewers. Advertisers want large audiences, but they also want viewers to remember the brand names of their products. A study was undertaken to determine the effect that shows with sex and violence have on their viewers. A random sample of 328 adults was divided into three groups. Group 1 watched violent programs, group 2 watched sexually explicit shows, and group 3 watched neutral shows. The researchers spliced nine 30-second commercials for a wide range of products.

After the show, the subjects were quizzed to see if they could recall the brand name of the products. They were also asked to name the brands 24 hours later. The number of correct answers was recorded. Conduct a test to determine whether differences exist between the three groups of viewers and which type of program does best in brand recall. Results were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (National Post, August 16, 2004).