Sex in Advertising
Over the past two decades, the use of increasingly
explicit sexual appeals in consumer-oriented print advertising has become
almost commonplace. Sexuality is considered one of the most powerful
tools of marketing and particularly advertising. Sex in advertising
is the use of sexual attraction as a tool of persuasion to draw interest
to a particular product, for purpose of sale.
Post-advertising sales response studies have shown it can be very effective
for attracting immediate interest, holding that interest, and, in the
context of that interest, introducing a product that somehow correlates
with that interest.
Further evidence comes
from Gallup & Robinson, an advertising and marketing research firm which
reports that in more than 50 years of testing advertising effectiveness,
it has found the use of the erotic to be a significantly above-average
technique in communicating with the marketplace, "...although one of
the more dangerous for the advertiser. Weighted down with taboos and
volatile attitudes, sex is a Code Red advertising technique ... handle
with care ... seller beware; all of which makes it even more intriguing."
This research has led to the popular idea that "sex sells".
The use of sex in advertising
can be highly overt or extremely subtle: from relatively explicit displays
of sexual acts, down to the use of basic cosmetics to enhance attractive
features. The more subtle end of this spectrum has penetrated all types
of media including newscasts, documentaries and even fast-food advertisements.
The use is not limited to visual media either: one of the criteria in
selecting DJs and announcers is the "sexiness" of their voice
Use of sexual imagery in advertising has been criticized on different
grounds. Conservatives, especially religious ones, often consider it
obscene. Some feminists feel it objectifies women (as women are more
often portrayed in a sexual manner than men). Some claim it reinforces
sexism.
Ivory Soap ads in World War I show sailors bathing on deck. Increasingly,
this argument has been complicated by growing awareness of androgynous
and homoerotic themes used in marketing. Calvin Klein has been at the
forefront of this movement, having himself declared, "Jeans are about
sex. The abundance of bare flesh is the last gasp of advertisers trying
to give redundant products a new identity."
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