Sex In Advertising Essay

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SEX in ADVERTISING – a revealing exposé
SEX: an Emotional TRIGGER
Sex, in general, is a controversial topic that usually attracts a lot of attention, which makes it highly exploitable for the attention craved advertisers. Sex is a means to “gain consumers’ attention” (Belch & Belch 2007). So then, what makes it so special? Why is it so appealing?

At its roots, sexual appeal is an emotional trigger. Brayan (2003) describes emotion as ‘the soul of advertising’. And in terms of advertising, there are countless emotions that an advertiser can tackle to help deliver the message in which he or she so desire to register into the audience’s mind. According to Brayan (2003), emotional messages used in an advertisement should ‘rouse your readers from indifference and propel them to …show more content…

Sex in advertising was rare, but nowadays sexy ads can be seen nearly everywhere. Clow & Baack (2002) explained that ‘everybody has heard that “Sex Sells.” Although this may be true, it may be a less powerful weapon than it used to be. Nudity does not have the shock value it once did.’ Before when audiences see nudity in add, they would look due to the scarcity and controversy. Now, where nudity in ads is so common, audiences would probably turn the page with little care for the ads.

...what does all this add up to?

IN CONCLUSION: SEX in advertising is UNETHICAL, SELLS and doesn’t SELL.
Determining the effectiveness of sex in advertising is not simple. Even though sexual appeal attracts attention, but at what cause? Then again, attention is the only thing advertisers really crave. Ethics aside, sex helps give products awareness, which is the focal point of advertising. On the other hand, whether sex sells or not depends highly on personal opinion. The only thing that has been proven as fact about sex in advertising is that sex attracts

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