SEX AND ADVERTISING
SELLING SEXUAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES
HOW DOES SEXUAL ADVERTISING WORK?
As many believe, sex is used to capture the audience’s attention. Attractive bodies are employed to grab attention and stimulate desire, which advertisers hope will be transferred to the product. This can be classified under a term called ‘borrowed interest’. However, more often than not people tend to focus more on the sexual stimuli itself than the message of the advertisement. Sex in advertising is built on a premise that people are curious about sexuality, they desire to be attractive to others, they desire for romance, intimacy, and love. However, this is just the initial or short term effect of sexually driven advertisements.
EFFECTIVENESS OF SEXUAL ADVERTISING
A research on the processing of sex-in-advertising suggested that sexually driven advertisement have a relative advantage at attracting attention to the ad. Viewers are more likely to encode and remember the sexual images in the ad. Moreover, encoding of the text in the ad is more likely to happen when it is integrated with sexual content. On the other hand, encoding of brand names are inhibited, and thoughts and cognitions are directed toward the sexual elements in the ad rather than the message.
Sex in advertisements act as a distraction, even if the sex is irrelevant to the product being advertised, it can play a positive role in the communications process. Danielenko (1974) cites an argument for using sex in advertising based on the premise of blocking counterarguments of a hostile receiver. The claim is that a sexy stimulus distracts the consumer and no counterarguments are initiated. The result is that the consumer remembers less about the ad, but is persuaded more than if a non-distracting stimulus is used. Therefore the consumer would be more inclined to purchase the product.
On another note, it is observed that males recalled sexual advertisements more accurately than females and that females showed better ability at recalling non-sexual advertisements. This supports Dahl et al‘s (2009) findings which showed women responding positively to sexually explicit adverts only when it was linked to commitment and intimacy, whereas men had no preference between the sexually explicit adverts which showed either some image of commitment or lack thereof.
Ads often sell a sex-related brand benefit. Research discovered that 73%, almost three-quarters, of sexual ads in magazines contained a sex-related brand benefit. Common implicit or explicit benefits in advertisements are; if you buy our product: (1) You’ll be more sexually attractive, (2) have more or better sex, or (3) just feel sexier for your own sake.
Many companies have successfully used sex in advertising for sustained periods of time, namely Calvin Klein and Victoria’s Secret.
Consequently, these brand benefits send across a message to its audience. A message that does not just relate to the brand itself, but to sexuality in general. For example, when Calvin Klein uses young people in provocative poses a message that "innocence is sexy" was portrayed. Advertisements in Versace have depicted the link between pain and violence with sexiness and glamour. In turn, the messages illustrated influences people’s perception of sexuality.
GRAB ATTENTION AND AROUSE DESIRES
Sex is used to sell values
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2261141/Kate-Moss-unrecognisable-amazonian-goddess-Versaces-steamy-new-ad-campaign.html
Source : http://www.ametcalfdesign.com/lesson3.html
Source: http://www.couponswithoutemail.com/abercrombie-fitch-young-and-sexy-destroyed-jeans/post/
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2261141/Kate-Moss-unrecognisable-amazonian-goddess-Versaces-steamy-new-ad-campaign.html
Sex used to capture attention. Not related to products and has no value
Source: http://fastfoodsociety.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/from-perrier-to-sprite/
Source: http://stylediary1.blogspot.sg/2013/03/hyper-sexuality-in-fashion-and.html
Source: http://fastfoodsociety.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/from-perrier-to-sprite/
Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/hansaplast_long_pleasure_condoms_blonde
Source: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/think-twice-foursquaring-stranger-say-aids-ads-144627
Source: http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/sex-sells-50-creative-sexual-advertisements/
Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/hansaplast_long_pleasure_condoms_blonde
Product is related to the sexual depiction in ad
TYPES OF SEXUAL ADVERTISING
Basically, all advertisement theories can be applied to sexually driven advertisements. Sexually driven advertisements have the same goal as non-sexual advertisements. That is to persuade the audience to purchase the products. In addition, the theories of advertisements largely depends on the type of product advertised.
For example, in the Consumer Involvement Theory there are four categories:
- High involvement / emotional
- High involvement / rational
- Low involvement / emotional
- Low involvement / rational
In this aspect, many would think sexual advertisements tend to focus more on visual and emotional appeals as it stimulates people’s desire for the product. Generally, sexual advertisement could be classified under the emotional categories. Yet, it can be also classified under rational ones if the product is of great importance and high cost like a car. Therefore, how theories can be applied to sexual advertisements are still based on the products advertised.
HOW IS IT LINKED TO ADVERTISING THEORIES?