The Effectiveness of Sex Appeal in Advertisement
Sex is everywhere. It's in every magazine, on every television station, and in every movie. Sex appears in advertisements for everything from shoes to food to computers. It is understandable why advertisers use sex appeal since it sets their ads apart from the countless others. Ads with sex can be more memorable, but sometimes too much sex overpowers the ad, drawing attention away from the brand. Overdone sex appeal can offend the target audiences, therefore causing the ad to be ineffective. Sex in advertising also tends to stereotype women and be bias towards men. Overall sex appeal can be effective if used in the correct context, but can also render the ad ineffective if
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Other studies state that sex appeal in advertising is also effective in eliciting fantasy (Richmond and Hartman 1982). In their research Latour, Pitts, and Snook-Luther (1990) found a positive relationship between the arousal evoked by sex appeal in ads and evaluations of the brand. Another study shows that sex appeal enhances brand recall only if it is used in an appropriate way (Richmond and Hartman 1982).
While sex can be an effective tool in advertising, it also can be counterproductive. Many consumers become so focused on the use of sex in the ad that they ignore the brand name, thus producing the opposite of the desired result. Reichert, Heckler, and Jackson (2001) found that when sexual stimulus is used in advertising the viewers' attention is directed towards the sexual information in the ad rather than the brand. One study suggests that sex appeal overwhelms the message of the ad and is negatively correlated to recall and persuasion (Stewart and Furse 2000). The extensive use of sex appeal in ads also tends to stereotype women as well as distorting society's idea of how women should look. Some advertising executives see the use of sex appeal as "men's desperate attempt to make their advertising break through the clutter" (Vranica 2003). Sex in advertisements tends to focus on women with their target audience being men, forgetting about the major consumer demographic women make up.
Overall it is understandable why
In the documentary Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women by Jean Kilbourne, she talks about how women are depicted in advertisement. The average American will spend 2 years of their life just watching advertisement, and most of these people will make the claim that the ads were not effective to them. Jean Kilbourne stresses that the advertisement companies make their ads quick and cumulative so that they almost seem forgettable. However, the advertisements will still resonate in your mind unconsciously. Kilbourne argues that the objectification of women in the advertisement industry: negatively affects the mental health of women with the societal need to be perfect, encourages the eroticism of violence, and tells women they need
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
As stated by Fite, Fite, Mcelwee, Neal, & Smith (2000) sex in advertising can be viewed as unacceptable and poor in taste by some viewers and acceptable or essential to others. The debatable issue of does "sex sell" has become a great importance to society as well as the advertising companies. Random students at Northern Kentucky University were interviewed by Fite, Fite, Mcelwee, Neal, & Smith (2000), about there opinions of the use of sex in advertising. The students had several different opinions, here are a few examples:
Everyone has heard the phrase “sex sells.” It seems to be a major factor that drives people to buy. Advertisers manipulate this behavior by creating ads that showcase their products as a way to gain love, beauty, and desirability. Advertisers frequently use sex appeal with flirtatious images as an attention grabbing device to play with the public’s emotions. Because the public is a diverse group of individuals, it is difficult to target the masses by focusing on hobbies, sports, or flaws. Because of this, advertisers target sexuality, something everyone can relate to. In the February, 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine, they overtly demonstrate this. In an ad for Kinky Vodka, they represent multiple sexual innuendoes such as provocative body posing, stereotypical feminine colors, and seductive wording.
Sexist ads show that society is dominated by the same masculine values that have controlled the image of women in the media for years. Sexist advertisement reinforces gender stereotypes and roles, or uses sex appeal to sell products, which degrades the overall public perception of women. The idea that sexism is such a rampant problem comes from the stereotypes that are so deeply embedded into today’s society that they almost seem to be socially acceptable, although they are nowhere near politically correct. Images that objectify women seem to be almost a staple in media and advertising: attractive women are plastered all over ads. The images perpetuate an image of the modern woman, a gender stereotype that is reinforced time and time again by the media. These images are accepted as “okay” in advertising, to depict a particular product as sexy or attractive. And if the product is sexy, so shall be the consumer. In the 1970s, groups of women initially took issue with the objectification of women in advertisements and with the limited roles in which these ads showed women. If they weren’t pin-ups, they were delicate
An important controversial issue that America faces today is the debate of sex in advertising. Edward A. McCabe and John Carroll are two authors that present opposing arguments about this issue. McCabe persuades the reader into thinking that sex in advertising is no big deal, while Carroll explains why this is a major problem in America. Sex ads are defined as any type of advertising that shows pictures of partial nudity with wording that relates to the body in a sexual way, usually portraying women. Sex in advertising has been around for a long time but has the industry become too sexually explicit?
Advertisements can be found all over in our society. They are on television, in newspapers, on the Internet, and even on the sides of cars and buses. Advertisements greatly influence the way people shop and view products. Many companies use gender stereotypes as a strategy to advertise and sell their products. These advertisements show that men still have a more dominant role over women. Ads are openly sexist and objectifying towards both women and men and usually have a clear gender difference. After looking at many different ads for different products, one thing became clear. The advertisements used for adults and children help guide our society into the stereotypical gender roles we currently have and teach us that objectifying both men and women is acceptable.
The use of sex in advertising as mentioned earlier is said to have boasted a lot company’s revenues, but it also has its negative side which has caused a lot of problems in societies around the world. The idea of using sex in advertising is a very smart way that advertisers use to gain attention of consumers, but it has it's negative effects like depicting women as sex objects, forcing sexual innuendos on children, causing body dissatisfaction among youths even adults and it also attracts negative backlash on the companies that use it. It can attract the wrong kind of attention and sometimes it won't lead to the company becoming a bigger and better brand.
Everyday we expose ourselves to thousands of advertisements in a wide variety of environments where ever we go; yet, we fail to realize the influence of the implications being sold to us on these advertisements, particularly about women. Advertisements don’t just sell products; they sell this notion that women are less of humans and more of objects, particularly in the sexual sense. It is important to understand that the advertising worlds’ constant sexual objectification of women has led to a change in sexual pathology in our society, by creating a culture that strives to be the unobtainable image of beauty we see on the cover of magazines. Even more specifically it is important to study the multiple influences that advertisements have
Different strategies are used in all advertisements. Every aspect of the advertisement is strategically planned to appeal to the audience. For example, an advertisement that does a great job of using sex appeal to reach its audience is “Carl’s Jr all natural burger”. This ad appeared during the super bowl forty-nine, and it was a big hit. The ad features ,22-year-old model buxom, Charlotte McKinney. Throughout the video it shows her walking through the town and appearing as if she is nude. She gets all the attention from the guys in the town as she saunters past. in one scene there’s a man reaching for a tomato as she walks by, she turns around and gives him a flirty look and it emerges as if he is grasping her gluteus. At the end she appears in a bikini nearly nude “I love going all natural,” she purrs, opening wide to take a bite out of a big, juicy, “all natural” hamburger. Advertising appeals aim to influence the way consumers view themselves and how buying certain products can prove to be beneficial for them.
The use of sex in advertising may create unrealistic ideals for men regarding women, however, it is a powerful tool for selling products. Through the years advertisers have shown through their advertisements that sex does sell products. Especially when selling to the male viewers. Sex is the second strongest of the psychological appeals, right behind self-preservation, and its strength is biological and instinctive, the genetic imperative of reproduction (Taflinger). Sexual desire is an instinctive reaction in animals, and a person?s perception of a suitable mate is the basis (Taflinger). That perception is usually a set of criteria that the opposite sex must meet, and those that meet and exceed those criteria will provide the chance for
Sex is everywhere you turn. Victoria’s Secret is notorious for their ads that plaster billboards and the sides of buildings, featuring scantily-clad women suggesting an obvious sexual air. The bags you receive at Abercrombie feature half-dressed models, often two of which may be kissing or touching one another. These sexual images are far too present in the every day lives of young children, much younger than what used to be acceptable. Aside from this moral questionability, ads such as these often contain images of unrealistic body types, which exploit insecurity to make consumers use their product, the result of which can be dangerous to mental and physical health. Finally, when I see ads like the one to the right, and rack my brain
Nowadays, sex appeal is essential element for advertising; sex is everywhere that has been becomes the media constant companion. Sexual in advertising has many types such as nudity, sexual behavior, physical attractiveness, sexual referents and sexual embeds that make sex is exist in advertising across many forms (Reichert & Lambiase, 2003). Therefore, Reichert (2007) state that sex in advertising has been defined as advertising tool for a wide variety of products that use sexuality in the form of nudity, sexual imagery, innuendo, and double entendre. Shahid as cited in Reichert (2007) said that sex in advertising really works in some products, at least for advertisers like Calvin kelvin, Dolce & Gabbana and Victoria’s Secret. They are successful through use erotic appeals to get commercial success. A message if want has opportunity to influence viewers, at least let their seen or heard, use sexual in advertising is effective approach, therefore, sex used in advertisings primarily to attract attention to the advertising (Reichert,2007;O’Barr,2011再找2个) . Sex in advertising
Pollay (1986) had suggested that advertisements are very persuasive and use stereotypical portrayals when using sexual content and therefore, those adverts have a way of manipulating the consumer by using sex appeals. Those advertisements use fantasies and illusions to draw the buyer in rather than the reality to manipulate the buyer into wanting things that they in reality may not need in the first place. (Klempner, 2004, Zailckas, 2006). Younger people are harder to connect with so adverts need such content to draw the younger viewers in (Strasburge and Donnerstein, 1999).
In terms of women and sex appeal, the world of advertising has changed a considerable amount. Many of the advertisements which are seen in newspapers, magazines, and television fail to portray women in a more positive light. The image of females in numerous advertisements are merely viewed as fascinating "objects" while they are also being displayed in a fashion that is supposed to appeal only to men, i.e. exploitation of the body. Though these types of advertisements are very effective at selling their products to consumers, it seems as if the minds ' of women, especially younger women/teenage girls are being corrupted as they are pressured to live up to the ideal image: sexy and thin with a little extra curves.