Sex in Advertising - Term Paper Example

Sex in Advertising Introduction In any company or organization, the main objective of the top management and other employees is to attain a desired place in the market. This place or market domination can only be achieved when a company considers the customers’ needs and demands while developing a new product. Companies and organizations face many marketing challenges while introducing a new product in a market. To be successful in a new market, companies have to implement an appropriate marketing plan because it brings a positive impact on the success of the company’s product in any specific market. Companies make use of different types of marketing methods in order to attract customers’ attention towards their products or services. A well-planned and properly managed marketing plan for a product is very important for the success of that product in the market. Advertising is a key tool, which is used to promote a product to its target audience. The main purpose of advertising is to create awareness in the public about a newly launched product or a service. “The channels advertising is run through to reach its target audience includes Internet, print, broadcast, outdoor, and point of purchase” (Cyprus). Some of the most widely used marketing methods include pod casts, brochures, television ads, newsletters, electronic mails, and sex-oriented advertising. A suitable mode of advertising not only results in attracting a large number of customers but also results in increasing productivity and profitability of the company. In this paper, we will describe sex-oriented advertising in detail in order to get a better understanding of the costs and benefits of this specific mode of advertising. Sex in Advertisements The presence of sexual images in advertisements is one of the most debatable issues these days. Being humans, we all possess the sense of sex and the advertisers make use of this sense to promote their products and services to the public. Putting sexual images in advertisements in order to catch the customer’s eye is known as sex in advertisements. Marketing managers take sex-based advertising as the most useful way of advertising a new product. They believe that every individual possess sexual feelings and when a person comes across a bill board where a product is being displayed by a semi-nude man or woman, the person stops for a while and looks at the bill board to view the ad. “Sex appeal can increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer's attention” (Levit). Advertisers try to attach some sexual hotness to their brands by associating the products with sexual imagery. Sex plays a great role in creating awareness among the public about the products and services delivered by a company. That awareness results in increasing the volume of sales for those companies that make use of sex-oriented advertisements to sell their products and services. Here one thing to be mentioned is that not all marketers make an appropriate or legal use of sexual images in advertisements. Sex in advertisements is one of the most controversial issues for many countries. Some marketers associate such images with their products, which have no link with the actual products. For example, showing skin in the ad of sunglasses is a negative use of sex in advertising because sunglasses have no link with skin show. Marketers should only add sexual images in those ads where they make some sense. They should not make a wrong use of sexuality by adding sexual images to such ads where there is no need of showing skin. Advertising companies believe that showing sexual images play a huge role not only in the success of ads but also in increasing the product’s sale volume, whereas some people believe that sex-oriented advertisements spoil the immature minds of the children. Ad Campaign of Abercrombie Abercrombie is a clothing store, which is famous for its sex-oriented advertising campaigns. Some of its most famous men garments include plaid shirts, classic shirts, premium sweaters, classic pants, vintage shorts, boxers, belts, and underwear. Some of the women garments included in the Abercrombie store are tanks, A&F jeans, A&F crops, denim shorts, classic shorts, butt sweatpants, classic skirts, classic tights, pants, and handbags. Abercrombie is known for its sexualized clothing and advertising campaigns that it launches for its products. Abercrombie has faced many scandals during the last 10 years. One of the setbacks for Abercrombie was when the Illinois State Senate passed a resolution in which the members of the senate condemned Abercrombie’s advertising technique. This resolution suggested citizens and shareholders to boycott Abercrombie's products and to take a stand against the company's marketing strategies (Levit). Even at that time, showing skin in ads was common but the point of argument was related to the completely nude images shown in the magazine. The sexual images shown in the ‘XXX Wet, Hot Summer Fun’ magazine featured nude models frolicking in natural settings which raised a point of criticism against Abercrombie. Inclusion of sex in the advertising campaigns has given rise to many controversies. Sex in advertising goes against the cultural and moral values of a society. Some people in every part of the world belong to such societies where it is considered offensive to show skin in the public for advertising a product or a service. Sex advertising is not successful in religious societies because people belonging to those societies do not want to see nude body parts in any form of advertising. Some marketers go beyond the limitations and show almost completely nude men and women in the advertisements, which is totally against the cultural values of most of the societies. For example, a woman wearing just a lingerie appears in the ad of Coca-Cola not only goes against cultural values but also destroys the real spirit of the ad. Another example is that of a woman and a man kissing each other in the ad of a newly launched fragrance. It also goes against the real spirit of the ad because kissing has no apparent link with the perfumes. Gucci Hairy Advert Gucci hairy advert is another controversial aspect of sex advertising, Gucci, in one of its magazine campaigns, showed a picture in which the model was pulling down her knickers showing off her public hair, which were shaved in the form of letter ‘G’. In that ad, the advertisers mentioned the first letter of their brand ‘Gucci’ in a very controversial form. Many people raised voice in order to put a ban on such ads. Such ads are not only insulting for women but also leave a very negative impact on the children who get a chance to view such ads. Showing skin in ads is allowed in many countries but showing irrelevant sexual images or erotic images in ads does not make a sense. Therefore, government of every country should make some rules and regulations regarding sex-oriented advertisements. How Sex Affects Consumers? The main philosophy behind showing skin in the advertisements is that humans like to see the semi nude or nude images of the opposite sex. It is in human nature that men want to see the sexual imagery of women, whereas women want to see the imagery of men in advertisements. For example, an advertisement related to women’s under garments will be equally attractive to the men. Similarly, an advertisement showing men’s under garments will also be equally attractive to the women. Therefore, marketing professionals make use of human nature in order to promote their brands more effectively as compared to those advertisements where there is little or very less skin show. Gunter found that sex-oriented advertising campaigns grab audience attention, improve memory for the commercial message, and affect public attitude towards the product or service being advertised (200). Advertising and sex are closely related to each other. In today’s world, almost every new brand is advertised using sex-oriented advertisements. It is because people show more interest in those advertisements in which they find some sexual appeal. It is human nature to show interest in opposite sex whether in terms of studying some sexual material or viewing a sexual image. We can take an example of a person who is browsing internet for some purpose. If some sexual content appears on the screen, he will take some time before closing the webpage whereas he may not spend time on a webpage, which only shows the product details without any sexual contents. Advertisers make use of this human nature and create such advertisements, which are able to gain the customers’ attention even for a very short amount of time. Almost every advertisement related to a new brand makes use of skin in order to attract a variety of customers. “The use of sexually suggestive images to sell just about everything really emphasizes the point that sex is a merchandiser's best friend” (Gifford). There are many advertisements that compete with each other in order to gain customers’ attention towards them. Skin show is really a success factor for most of the advertisements these days but it cannot be said that more skin show is the main factor behind the success of a brand. Some marketers make use of more skin show as compared to others but even then, they do not succeed. The reason is that people want to see something different from just the skin show. Researches show that people are more attracted towards quality of skin show as compared to volume of skin being shown in the advertisements. The effectiveness of an advertisement can be increased by using semi-nude sexual images because they attract the customers’ attention more effectively. Quality of skin show is a different thing than quantity of skin show. Sexy clothing and less nudity is sometimes more attractive and appealing as compared to complete nudity. Advertisers are very proficient in reading minds of the people. They create their advertisements based on the public’s interest. Complete nudity does not always make a sense. Therefore, advertisers mostly avoid complete nudity in order to gain public’s interest in the product launch campaign. Customers can be easily attracted towards those advertisements where there is some skin show because it is the nature of human to be curious about the opposite gender. Gunter asserts, “Sexual content may also make an advertising message and the product being advertised more memorable” (200). Young people not only appreciate the style and figure of the models but also remember the ads for a long time. Ads containing sexual content prove to be very beneficial for the companies, which is the reason why sex-oriented advertisements are becoming more and more popular day by day. Reichert and Lambiase state that “Sexual imagery somehow makes advertising more effective” (134). The use of sexual themes in advertisements puts both positive and negative impacts on the minds of the consumers. To some consumers, it is very attractive and appealing whereas some consumers feel insulted by display of the erotic images. Adding sex in the advertisements makes the product look more striking to the consumers. It is because sex is one of the main human desires. Those advertisements appear to be more eye-catching to the consumers, which contain some sexual material whereas those advertisements, in which all focus is towards products and its details, appear to be less attractive to the consumers. Therefore, we can say that sex-oriented advertisements are more successful in gaining interest of the public as compared to other forms of advertisements. Conclusion Summing it up, sex-oriented advertising is one of the widely used methods of advertising. Successful advertising campaigns result in increasing the profitability of the companies. Advertising companies believe that sex imagery plays a great role not only in the success of advertising campaigns but also results in increase in the product’s sales. Customers can be easily attracted towards the company, which uses sex-oriented advertisements for its products. Inclusion of sex in the advertising campaigns also gives rise to controversies. Sex in advertising goes against the cultural and moral values of a society as in some parts of the world, it is considered offensive to show skin in the public for advertising a product or a service. Therefore, the government of every country should put some limitations on the quantity of the skin to be shown in the advertisements. Works Cited Cyprus, Sherry “What is Advertising?.” What is Advertising?. 08 Sep. 2010 Wisegeek.com. 07 Oct. 2010 . Gifford, Amy “15 Ads that Prove Sex Sells... Best?.” 15 Ads that Prove Sex Sells... Best?. n.d. Inventorspot.com. 07 Oct. 2010 . Gunter, Barrie. Media Sex: What are the Issues?. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 2002. Levit, Mark “Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?.” Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?. 15 Feb. 2005 EzineArticles.com. 07 Oct. 2010 . Reichert, Tom, and Jacqueline Lambiase. Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 2003. Read More