Everyone is born with sexual desire (Kalb). Therefore, sex is sometimes successful when used in advertising to sell products because consumers can easily relate to its tempting value (“Does Sex Really Sell?”). Sex in advertising is the use of explicit sexual content or suggestions in order to sell a service or product. It has been stated that sex is one of the primal urges found in humans, and “this underlying, pre-programmed disposition to respond to sexual imagery is so strong, it has been used for over 100 years in advertising” (Sugget). However, using sex in advertising to sell products is only successful if the right group of people are targeted, the product is sex-related, or the advertising company is popular and well-experienced enough to correctly use this marketing strategy.
Personalization and relevancy are important components when trying to deliver advertising campaigns that are successful. The basic and essential goal of many advertisers is obtaining the attention of the audience that they are targeting (Cyprus). As the internet has improved over the last 20 years, it has become much easier for sexually graphic material to find its way into people’s homes. By targeting the right people, sexual ads can sometimes attract the viewers’ attention. For example, sex is sometimes more effective when young men are the target (“Does Sex Really Sell?”). Men are typically attracted to provocative imagery in ads. Studies by popular magazines such as FHM and Maxim have shown that semi-naked and sexy women on the magazine’s cover attract men more than a magazine with a famous male star on the cover would, even if the famous male is someone that the men would like to read about. Men genetically respond to sexually provoca...
... middle of paper ...
...such as David and Victoria Beckham, Christiano Ronaldo, and Meagan Fox.
Meanwhile, Nissan displays sexy women in bikinis in their ads. In 2011 viewers were disappointed to see a Nissan commercial featuring a comparison of a model wearing a bikini and a Nissan Juke side-by-side. Many people did not find the ad amusing, claiming that it was rather sexist, instead of sexy. These companies’ logic is to demonstrate how their products can help meet consumers’ needs of love, desire, intimacy, and romance (Rogers).
“We are sexual beings,” and therefore, marketers use consumers’ sexual impulses to their advantage (Raszl). Sex has traditionally been a topic not talked about or openly discussed, but today it is rarely taken as a surprise (“Does Sex Really Sell?”). It can be concluded that although sex doesn’t always sell, it definitely draws some form of attention (Kalb).
In a consumer-driven society, advertisements invade the minds of every person who owns any piece of technology that can connect to the internet. Killbourne observes that “sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women,” (271). Advertising takes the societal ideology of women and stereotypes most kids grow up learning and play on the nerves of everyone trying to evoke a reaction out of potential customers, one that results in them buying products. Another point made
Have you ever wondered where the saying, ‘a picture says a thousand words’, come from? Well, I do not know who came up with this fantastic phrase, but nonetheless, I will be describing and analyzing two different magazine advertisements, trying to put in words what I think the advertisers wanted consumers to receive when those potential buyers viewed their ads. The two advertisements that I chose, Caress and Secret, try to encourage female consumers of all ages to purchase their hygiene products. Although both ads, Caress and Secret, appeal to the same gender with hygiene goods, they differ in design, text, and message. They attempt to please the female buyer with color, texture, and sexuality. This makes it prevalent, that the agents must grab the attention of possible buyers in order to sell their product. The advertisers must choose a variety of marketing strategies to the reach their targeted consumers.
Advertisements are all over the place. Whether they are on TV, radio, or in a magazine, there is no way that you can escape them. They all have their target audience who they have specifically designed the ad for. And of course they are selling their product. This is a multi billion dollar industry and the advertiser’s study all the ways that they can attract the person’s attention. One way that is used the most and is in some ways very controversial is use of sex to sell products. For me to analyze this advertisement I used the rhetorical triangle, as well as ethos, pathos, and logos.
“Selling sex is illegal, but using it to promote economic growth is not.” (Sexualization and Sexploitation of Women in the Media; Rosery Films) What actually happened to our culture, people wondered? Has advertising gone too far? And are we being corrupted by sex? According Sex in advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal, in 2005, approximately one-fifth of all advertising used overt sexual content to sell its product. Society’s interest with sex and the advertising designer’s acceptance of it as an effective tool have served each other for the course of the twentieth century. And has always been separated on the extents to which sexuality can and should be used to sell. Advertising has become the single largest source of visual imagery in our social society. No matter where we look, we see advertisements trying to sell us things. Provocative advertising has been characterized as a deliberate attempt to gain attention through shock. (De Pelsmacker & Van Den Bergh, 1996) In 2007, The American Psychological Association sent out a press release to the media stressing the harmful effects of sexualizing our youth: “The proliferation of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandisin...
In her essay, she describes the effects that sexualized advertising has on the psyche of the viewer and what it implies for the society that accepts it. Kilbourne asserts that by creating such advertisements, it is both encouraging and allowing one to downplay the effects that sex has. She claims, “sex in advertising
I chose sex in advertising for my research topic because I do not know about it well, even though a lot of sexual images and texts in advertisements. When I was a little kid, I often surprised by ads with sexy woman. Even now, I sometimes have my eyes glued to such kinds of advertising. I wonder that there are some physiological reasons why people pay attention to sex images. Also, learning about sex in advertising is useful for my career because I want to work for an advertising company in the future. I infer that sex sells has both good and bad aspects and I can use it effectively by learning it accurately. If I use it effectively, we can make much money. However, we also take a risk by using sex in ads because some extreme images may give a bad reputation on products and company. Also, I care about the danger of sex in advertising, too. If I were a parent, I do not want my children to see some ads because they are too excessive for children. By researching this topic, I hope I can learn what is harmful for young people. I think sex sells have both good and bad effects on commercial and ethical aspects. Now, I have three questions about sex in advertising. First, I want to know when and how it has been used. I think there should be many famous advertisements with sexual images. Next, I would like to learn about how effective it is. I infer that there are both positive and negative effects in the advertising. Lastly, I want to know how boys and girls react to the advertisement. Some ads focus on to get male customers and others target on female. I also want to know how reaction relates to purchasing. Some people may not change their purchasing behavior even though they notice the ads and are ...
First off, the design of the advertisement creates an alluring atmosphere. When first looking at the advertisement, the model captures’ the consumers attention first rather than the product because the model’s headshot takes up the entire page. The model has natural looking makeup on and shows off her bare skin. She also has curly voluminous hair and the lighting illuminates this glow and beautiful shine on the model’s hair. The model portrays to be perceived as this sexual icon in the advertisement because she achieves to create a seductive look with her overall appearance. Next the background of the advertisement is dark and has minimum lighting. The tone of the mood of the background creates this seductive atmosphere in the whole design. The mood and the attractiveness of the model signal this sexuality in the advertisement, which appeals to woman....
The use of sex in advertising may create unrealistic ideals for men regarding women, however, it is a powerful tool for selling products. Through the years advertisers have shown through their advertisements that sex does sell products. Especially when selling to the male viewers. Sex is the second strongest of the psychological appeals, right behind self-preservation, and its strength is biological and instinctive, the genetic imperative of reproduction (Taflinger). Sexual desire is an instinctive reaction in animals, and a person?s perception of a suitable mate is the basis (Taflinger). That perception is usually a set of criteria that the opposite sex must meet, and those that meet and exceed those criteria will provide the chance for the highest quality offspring with the best chance of survival (Taflinger).
Many of which include sexuality and the over-powering of women. Piecing, for example, is when advertisements use a portion of the body, usually sexual, that will take up the majority, and in the far corner will be the actual commodity. However, the use of sexuality in advertising has a different effect between men and women. “Focusing on spontaneous evaluations of sexually themed ads, these authors found that in contrast to men, who reported positive attitudes, women on average exhibited a marked negative reaction to explicit sexual content in advertising” (Dahl 215). Women prefer the intimacy instead of a spontaneous sexual
The basic strategy of this kind of gender stereotypes is men will ignore the advertisements by paying more attention on woman if the advertiser includes woman’s image, and if they use male photograph in advertisement it will attract more female consumers. Therefore, people will pay more attention on advertisement and then have more possibility to shape positive attitude of that product, or at least, bear that product in mind when they need to consume it (Courtney and Whipple, 1983, p.74). Moreover, it is not only a strategy to attract more consumers, more importantly; it is a method to stand out in a “male-dominated work environment in advertising”, and it challenges the value of patriarchy and “double sex standards” (Fedorenko, 2015, p.476). However, sexy female image are often controversially critique as gender stereotypes of women in advertising. According to Laura Mulvey’s idea of “male gaze”, it points out that female are sexual objects to men to please them in an “erotic spectacle” (1992, cited in Marcellus, 2009). In Sonata’s ad, this woman dresses sexy in order to be a sexual reward, a tool to attract men and accessory of a successful man. This expression of women object to the idea of feminism that has mentioned before, women is independent, and the reason for being sexy and glamour is not to please men and fulfil male’s desire of sex. So, this advertisement provides a negative feeling for women that reinforce the gender stereotypes of women looks sexy in order to satisfy male’s desire of
There are many companies that use sex appeal in their ads today. For instance Victoria Secrets is one of the top sellers in lingerie. They show skin in every one of their ads. All of their models put on the sex appeal for all commercials and magazines. That is what helps them sell. Women look at those ads and see those girls floating on clouds like angels and feel they could feel the same if they wore that purple bra or red underwear. By showing these girls constantly looking sexy in their ads make women feel sexy just wearing them. That is the whole point of using sex in your ads. It?s amazing what a little skin can do. "In advertising, sex sells. But only if you're selling sex (Richards).
In this particular advertisement, they are selling a very sleek attractive car. The advertisement was in the open road, with an attractive blonde woman wearing a bikini. There are no beaches around, she is not going for a swim, she is just there to look good. All of this quotes say, “The Pursuit of Perfection”. This ad is obviously selling both sex. The beautiful woman in the bikini is suggesting that with this car, you automatically get girls of this caliber. Almost as if it is all inclusive, including her. Most people consider the public display of sex or suggestive things taboo. People by nature are attracted to things that are “off limits”. This is an advertising tactic of taking things that are normally considered bad or taboo and making them acceptable and desirable. This is a truly effective tactic, based on the fact that rebellion sells, people want what they can not have. In the “Selling of Rebellion”, Leo states, “The central message here is very serious and strongly antisocial: We should all rebel against authority, social order, propriety, and rules of any kind. “Obey” and “Rules” are bad (Leo,198). This is saying that people will want to do something that is taboo just because it is “off limits” and it feels good to do something people tell say you cannot. This is also selling elitism by selling a certain status. Lexus is already considered a more expensive or high quality brand of car, and they use their
n today's world it`s practically normal to see every kind of ad, and they are everywhere! In the article “Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals” By author and professor Jib Fowles. Who claims that advertisers give “form” to people’s deep-lying desires, and picturing state of being that individuals yearn for…” stated by Professor Fowls. I will describe the fifteen apples that advertisers use when trying to sway to the public to buy their product. These apples are the following… sex, affiliation, nurture, guidance, aggress, achieve, dominate, dominate, prominence, attention, autonomy, escape, feeling safe,aesthetic sensation, curiosity, and Physiological needs. By observing some magazines which are frequently bought, I will examine three full page advertisements to to see what of the fifteen appeals are working in each ad to convey that desire.
The portrayals of men in advertising began shifting towards a focus on sexual appeal in the 1980s, which is around the same that women in advertising were making this shift as well. According to Amy-Chinn, advertisements from 1985 conveyed the message that “men no longer just looked, they were also to be looked at” as seen in advertisements with men who were stripped down to their briefs (2). Additionally, advertisements like these were influencing society to view the male body “as an objectified commodity” (Mager and Helgeson 240). This shows how advertisements made an impact on societal views towards gender roles by portraying men as sex objects, similarly to women. By showcasing men and women in little clothing and provocative poses, advertisements influenced society to perceive men and women with more sexual
Goodman (1997) asserts the average young person views more than 3000 ads per day on television (TV), on the Internet, on billboards, and in magazines. At this rate, teenagers are exposed to a vast range of advertisements that create awareness and knowledge of products and services in the market. Moreover, the objective of advertisements is to increase sales and grow profits. Though advertisers are not psychologists, they are aware of strategic techniques that will cause teenagers to be convinced to buy their product. For instance, the method of using product placement and celebrity endorsement is common, and in spite of this, advertisements tend to be more memorable namely due to popularity. According to the traditional hierarchy-of-effects models of advertising state that advertising exposure leads to cognitions, such as memory about the advertisement, the brand; which in turn leads to attitudes, i.e. Product liking and attitude toward purchase; which in the end leads to behaviors, like buying the advertised product