Today 's Day And Age Sexuality And The Advertising Market

This leads them to become brand conscious and focus more on the newest clothes and latest trends. To prove his argument, the author refers to David Elkind’s (a psychologist) study “The hurried child”. According to Elkind this “hurried child” is under a constant pressure to buy branded products, and is forced to act like an adult and hold a level of sophistication that is beyond its years.

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?

Today, every media consumer is ‘’exposed to sexual imagery in advertising. Sex’s use and misuse is constantly before everyone and elicit strong criticism’’ (Richmond & Hartman p.53). As anyone can notice, the use of sex in the media has been happening for several decades and the reason for it is simply because it works. Advertisements that are ‘’naturally sexy’’ tend to be remembered more often than ads that are not. Regarding this fact, the question arising is how ethical is it to use sex appeals in advertisements. In other words, should sex be used as a tool for advertisement? Advertising draws people in and them into buying things based on how the ads make them feel. It is not always fair to assume that everyone knows what the advertisers are doing. This paper will discuss whether sex sells by defining it at first, when and where sexual appeals are used in ads, who is the primary focus in advertising, and the ethical dilemma of using appeals in advertising. But to be more concise about the subject, this paper will be firstly looking at a case study.

Sexuality is a fundamental aspect to culture and to individual identity. Sexuality is not static; the norms regarding sexuality changes over time and is relative to culture. In the modern age, the methods and means for media expression have multiplied to new, great heights. The opportunity to consume media is omnipresent in many cultures of the 21st century. The media has affected sexuality over the course of the past two decades specifically. The paper considers the spectrum and quality of affects media has had and continues to have upon sexuality in cultures around the world. Media does affect sexuality, yet the consumers have the power to affect the media; media representation of sexuality and it affects, then are an expression of tension, conflict, or the struggle for balance between the unspoken laws of culture and the influence of the few media companies who own most of the world's media.

Advertisers around the world face one of their biggest challenges today which is to be able to break through the massive amount of commercials and advertisements that people see each day. The average person is opportuned to see about 2,500 advertisements each day. These advertisements can be from a commercial about a detergent that makes your cloth smell really good after washing it to another commercial that is about people seeing you as a celebrity because you are driving a certain brand of vehicle. So how can these advertisers differentiate themselves from the other commercials that you see everyday? They simply use sex. Sex in advertising can be defined as the use of any type of sexual imagery to draw the interest of the consumer to buying a particular product or service.

It’s been a common practice of American society to shame sexual promiscuity while simultaneously using sex and sexual innuendos to sell everything from music to shampoo. When big companies use this ad tactic it surprises people and angeries the feminists of the internet; even though it’s been a practice since ads started targeting more than one demographic. Why are women’s panties so sexualized? If you think about it, they’re just a piece of cotton-spandex cloth with some lace or a bow. Advertisers have taken this sexualization and ran with it and it plays into the beauty myth, “During the past decade, women breached the power structure… eating disorder [cases] rose exponentially and cosmetic surgery became the fastest growing medical specialty…

After watching the documentary “Merchants of cool”, it became clear that trying to market to teenagers can be very difficult. Trends are always changing, therefore the advertiser’s ideas on how to market their products, must also keep changing. They use what is called “the giant feedback loop” to win over their audience. Companies study teenagers, most of whom are trend setters, and create an alluring image of their products that appeal other teenagers. The products take on the new trend, and as a result, the teenagers buy them. The teens want the products because what they are seeing is an image of what they strive to be. Eventually, the trend will be over, and the cycle repeats itself.

The retail giant “Abercrombie & Fitch” (A&F) have produced their casual clothing products based towards the younger consumer base for decades. Abercrombie & Fitch originally built its business plan, “plan around what had been called the sexualized marketing of young, beautiful, and barely clothed models whose sculpted torsos and suggestive postures hinted at an anything-goes party scene” (Olson). This type of marketing consistently kept the company in hot water making the average consumer think as if they are not good enough for the A&F clothes and style.

As young adults struggle to find their sense of security and personal identity, they often rely on media as a guide for who they are expected to be in society. Sexual exploitation can take on many forms and is abundant in all sources of media, especially television and social media sites. Rapidly developing technology and continual emphasis on sexuality has made this behavior not only acceptable but a standard in global society.

Iris, age 11, stated that “consumption [is] not an act of personal power or even pleasure but an act of submission to power – the power of the market to influence all girls’ clothing practices” (Jackson et al., 2013, p.152) In regards to sexualization, fashion marketing can be a negative influence on girls and their journey to becoming teenagers and then adults. But this negative influence can be averted because every girl has their own opinion, despite what media and marketing present. They have the power to deem what is desirable and appropriate in their own eyes, with or without the influence of media. In Jackson et al.’s study, girls gave their opinions on certain styles and clothing items seen in their video diaries. Many of the girls had negative comments regarding clothing they considered “inappropriate” for their age group and how certain items can draw attention to the body. Nikita, age 12, discussed after buying a sheer, white tunic, she had to wear something underneath, and stated how other girls will wear it differently in saying, “sometimes it’s a bit inappropriate if some girls, you know, wear them with nothing underneath, it looks really disgusting” (Jackson et al., 2013, p.154). Elodie, age 12, was critical of media’s influence and claimed that “a lot of girls at [her] school are influenced by the whole Playboy Mansion

Marketers definitely learn from teens and their interest so it is not surprise that it is in fact the teenagers who technically come up with what is the trend or the brands to like. With this information, marketers are able to advertise accurately and grasp teenager’s attention more precisely. The correlation between the three of these components will only evolve during this era of heavy technology usage adding billions of value to companies and helping young people get into the marketing business as well. Although the consumer and marketer may not be completely proportional in terms of salary, both parties benefit in this

Sex, indecency, violence, danger, disaster and death. These are topics that catch the eye of the average person. They catch our attention because they interesting subjects. They intrigue us. They spark our curiosity. They also raise a lot of controversy. Companies will use these words in their advertising to grasp the attention of all viewers. In this day in age advertisers will stop at nothing to get an edge on their competitor and will use such topics as sex and death to get ahead. Today, in this paper I will using the example of sex in advertising to portray this controversial area and exploit it's problem areas. Sex and indecency are very mature areas and should not be used loosely. In today's society almost anything

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

"Teens are such easy prey for big name companies who advertise using the pressure of popularity, looks and sex to force us to buy their product that, as it turns out, we never wanted or needed in the first place"( ). Teens lives are filled with stress.

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