"Our results confirm that the effect of exposure to media content is not limited to violence and could have the potential to influence a high spectrum of behaviour," said Nicolas Guéguen of the Université de Bretagne-Sud.

Guéguen and Céline Jacob from the Université de Bretagne-Sud collaborated with Lubomir Lamy from Université de Paris-Sud on the study published in the journal Psychology of Music.

87 females each spent five minutes in a waiting room where one of two carefully-selected tunes played in the background.

They were then moved to a different room where they discussed the difference between two food products with an average-looking young man.

At the end of their conversation, the man asked the girl for her phone number as he wanted to take her out for a drink.

Success or failure was determined by the music playing in the waiting room.

When a 'neutral' song -- 'L'heure du thé' by Vincent Delerm -- was played, only 28 per cent of women gave their number out.

But when 'Je l'aime à mourir' -- a well-known love song by French songwriter Francis Cabrell -- was played, that success rate nearly doubled to 52 per cent.

"The results are interesting for scientists who work on the effect of background music on individuals' behaviour," Guéguen said.