I would say that the equally offense-laden parallel for PUA would be methods for getting men to commit. I don't know whether they've been as carefully studied as PUA--- at a minimum, it's a harder subject because the cost of experiments is higher.

Well, whether it's been researched or not, it's certainly being sold:

"At Last… A Fail-Safe Way To Naturally Move From A “Casual” Situation With A Man To A Deeply Committed, Long-Term Relationship… Without Experiencing All Of The Resistance, Withdrawal And Ups -And - Downs That Come From Not Knowing Where Things Are Going And If You’ll End Up Together…"

On a side note... I actually was at a conference where the guy who writes the sales material for the above products discussed the psychology of their advertising methods for using women's fears of "dying alone" to drive sales, as an example for how to identify and exploit irrational fears in general.

So yes, advertising is definitely researched at least as much as PUA, especially by PUAs-turned advertisers. ("Christian Carter/Catch Him And Keep Him" is a brand owned by the same company that owns "David DeAngelo/Double Your Dating" -- both are character/stage names, like "Sara Lee" or "Ronald McDonald". And the names are alliterative for reasons that were also discussed at that conference...)