Media Advertising and Sex

Advertisements are everywhere, combining images and words together to create a message to sell a product. The initial impression is that the advertisers are just trying to sell their products, but there often seems to be an underlying message. It is often heard that “sex sells.” So, many advertisers will use beautiful women and men in their advertisements to try to market a product. The hope is that “sex will sell,” and people will go out and buy what the ads are selling. There are many advertisements and commercials that use this approach. Prime examples of this are the advertisements for Orbit Gum and A Diamond is Forever. Also, the commercials for Levi jeans use sex to promote the sale of their brand. As a way to explain how and why the media uses “sex to sell,” many articles have been written concerning this. For instance, “Sex as Symbol in Fashion Advertising” by Arthur Asa Berger talks about the sexual undertones used in ads as a way to sell products. Similarly, Jean Kilbourne’s “Beauty…and the Beast of Advertising” discusses the portrayal of women in advertisements as sex objects. Finally, “Analyzing Signs and Sign Systems” by Arthur Asa Berger offers ways to analyze advertisements and their use of sex. No matter what the advertisement is for; although it may seem that an advertiser is only trying to sell a product, the ways the advertisements are presented often have a hidden meaning.

For example, in the ads for A Diamond is Forever; although, the company is selling engagement rings, it portrays a couple in a sensual pose. In the ad, it looks as though they are naked. The man is bending over the woman with his hands creating the shape of an oval around her. Their faces are touching, and ...

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...or a better lover if their products are used. With so many different advertisements out there, watch out for many ways that sex is being used to deceive people into buying products that cannot fulfill all the promises in the ads.

Works Cited

Berger, Arthur Asa. “Analyzing Signs and Sign Systems.” Reading Culture. 4th ed. Ed. Diana George and John Trimbur. New York: Longman, 2001. 192-193.

- - -. “Sex as Symbol in Fashion Advertising.” Reading Culture. 4th ed. Ed. Diana George and John Trimbur. New York: Longman, 2001. 186-191.

A Diamond is Forever. “Advertisement.” People. Aug. 2003: 64.

Kilbourne, Jean. “Beauty…and the Beast of Advertising.” Reading Culture. 4th ed. Ed. Diana George and John Trimbur. New York: Longman, 2001. 193-196.

Levi Jeans. ABC. Ch. 7. June 2002.

Orbit Gum. “Advertisement.” People Aug. 2003: 72.