Sex Sells in High-End Fashion Advertisements

Sex Sells

The desire to be desired. High end fashion advertisements are known primarily for their jaw-dropping qualities! Constantly on the verge of crossing the line and being considered culturally unacceptable, these ads individually signify a common message and appeal to young women. They are promoting sexuality and making their image a desirable part of the readers identity. Due to their costly price tags, these advertisements are marketing only to a select few, the elite class, but the identity displayed in the image portrayed is marketed to a large amount of consumers. High-end fashion companies should refrain from demonstrating a false illusion of the elite class that they display through sexuality because they are generating a fictional fantasy of the superior class and an identity crisis for young women.

This is what many young women fantasize about and this is the reason advertisements for high-end fashion companies, such as this Calvin Klein Ad, demonstrate in their campaigns. The Calvin Klein Ad pictures young woman, lying topless by the ocean on volcanic rocks. Her breasts are covered by the arm of a shirtless young man who is lying behind her. Their body language displays strong sexual desire for one another. The young woman has her eyes shut while illuminating an orgasmic facial expression, whereas the young man’s eyes make direct contact with the reader. The rocks that they are lying atop of are very dark and provide a dark contrast with the woman’s vibrantly yellow jeans, which immediately catch the eye. With this focus being obtained, it would be hard to not notice her perfectly bronzed, toned abdomen, attracting a particular amount of attention with the display of her ever so desirable hip bones. Th...

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... They continuously attempt to shock society by printing provocative, controversial and borderline culturally unacceptable ads. Adverts convey a central signified concept of sexuality. They do this by demonstrating women as sex objects, appealing to all variations of young women. Whether fulfilling an individual’s want to be desired, allowing the reader to escape by creating a temporary sexually alluding false identity, or fulfilling the fantasy of a woman’s want to be overpowered by a man, adverts are utilizing the shocking advertisements to subconsciously implicit a strong, controversial, message to consumers.

Work Cited

Calvin Klein Jeans. Advertisement. Vogue. Sept. 2012. Popofstyle. April 13, 2014. Print

Guess. Advertisement. Vanity Fair. April 2014: 24. Print

Dolce and Gabbana. Advertisement. Vogue. Jan. 2008. Pintrest. April 13, 2014. Print