| Sex in advertising is the use of sexual interest as a tool of persuasion to draw interest to a particular product, for purpose of sale. Interest in nudity (often also with
sexual aspects) may serve the same purpose.
Sexuality is considered one of the most powerful tools of marketing and particularly advertising. 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, who 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."
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 news casts, documentaries, and even tele-evangelists. 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 criticised on different grounds. Conservatives, especially religious ones, consider it obscene.
Many feminists feel it objectifies women (as women are more often portrayed in a
sexual manner than men). Some claim it reinforces sexism.
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 that Jeans are about sex. The abundance of bare
flesh is the last gasp of advertisers trying to give redundant products a new identity. In recent years ads for jeans,
perfumes, and many other products have featured provocative images that were designed to elicit sexual responses from as large a
cross section of the population as possible, to shock by their ambivalence, and often to appeal to repressed sexual desires,
which are thought to carry a stronger emotional load. The practice has a long history, having been used, for example, in early
twentieth century beer advertising[1] (http://www.androphile.org/preview/Museum/Exhibitions/budweiser_beer/budweiser_beer-Anheuser-Busch.html).
Perfume ads, promoting a product that in its essence has a primal appeal, are especially prone to use such techniques. The
adjacent YSL ad utilizes several powerful techniques aimed at a sexual response.
- The name of the advertiser appears poised to penetrate the woman's vagina.
- The presence of the smooth-chested boy, discordant with social norms, appeals to both
- subliminal desires
- overt desires of a homosexual, bisexual or pederastic nature
"Obsession", a Calvin Klein brand, is another perfume advertiser skilled at employing ambivalent sexuality.
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