Sex sells… even on social media.
What exactly do we think about when we say “Sex sells”?
I’ve asked four people hoping to get the idea of what other people might think about this subject. Asking Irina (20) what is the first thing that comes into her head when she hears “Sex sells”, she said “the commercials with women that show a little too much”. Then I asked Mike (20) and he supports the idea of ‘sex-appeal’ saying that “the sex-appeal is selling really good, especially in the ads or anything related to the public, like mass-media”. Then I asked Andy (20) and Penny (20) and both of them hold the same point of view such as “the use of sex in the media and how it (talking about sex) could be used to sell”. And in the end, I asked Bianca (19) and received an answer that shows her thoughts about sex that sells and about what is going on in the world. This was her answer “When I hear “sex sells” I can’t help but laugh. But then a feeling of sadness overwhelms me because I know it’s true. Half naked women on the covers of magazines, girls being told to dress in a certain way because it attracts the male eye, no movie makes it to top without at least one sex scene or a woman being sexualised because of her looks. Sex is everywhere and is used because it attracts the viewer or the reader. The audience grows in the moment when an Instagram model posts a bikini picture, we get young girls following people like Kim Kardashian posting “body positivity” pictures online to gain more fame and attention, she is in fact posting to sell her body to social media for money. So yes, sex sells, and is worth a lot of money”.
These are only a few answers out of all I received, but I’m not going to add all of them, mostly because most of them are related to media. But there was a different one, one that didn’t sound like the others. It was a single word that actually represents a real big problem of the community and the world, “prostitution”. That was the answer of Ana (20). And when you think about it, it can be another meaning of sex that sells itself and makes lots of money.
Now, if we go back to their answers and have a look at the numbers in the brackets next to their names, that represents their ages. They all are 19–20 years old so obviously, they are teenagers or really young adults. Most of them have this idea because they are all on social media all the time and we can see the influence of social media in Bianca’s answer, when she talks about Instagram models and bikini pictures. And I can actually support this idea, but with Facebook. I’ve been there (not with the bikini pictures). But I remember one day I posted a picture and I was wearing a dress, I’ll put the pictures underneath.
When you look at this picture, nothing wrong comes into your head. I’m not naked and I definitely don’t show too much. It is a normal picture in a normal dress. The only thing is that it’s a bodycon dress that shows my figure. I saw the difference of this picture and any other pictures I ever posted in the likes. This particular one has 357 likes. Then, I take as an example another one (I’ll attach it underneath, as well). It is taken in London, you can see the Big Ben, you would think people would actually like it because, well, everybody loves London. This one has only 127, which is not even half of the likes of the first one. And I could go on and on, on this because I saw it on other accounts as well. As soon as there’s a curve in a picture or you show a bit of skin or something that is more than just a pretty face, people like it (talking both about women and men). I know this sounds stupid, but sex sells… even on social media (where you don’t actually get money for getting likes).
I am going to say only a few words about media and commercials because I am sure everybody knows how things work in this subject. You make an ad, put it on television and people don’t change the channel when they see some skin. It is, in a way, the same thing that happens with the likes on social media, but here, they get money because sex sells.
Sex sells everything and especially it sells women. Sex makes money out of women, mostly. I am not going to say that men are not a part of this whole “making money out of sex” because I know everybody knows those commercials with the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. There are adverts where he has clothes on and adverts where he doesn’t. But he is part of commercials especially because people like him, people want to be like him and they know that and in this case, sex sells again (both pretty face and nice body). I’m going to attach a video with one of the commercials just to get a quick idea of what I mean.
Now, I just googled what Altice is and found this “Altice is a Netherlands-based multinational telecoms company, founded and headed by the French billionaire Patrick Drahi, and the second largest telecoms company in France, behind Orange.” If anyone can tell me, what is the link between Ronaldo’s half naked body and the actual telecoms company, I would be glad to listen.
There are so many things to say about sex and about how sex is sold because after all sex is not a person that has a stand in the market and is going there everyday trying to sell body parts of women or men. Sex has always been sold by the people that buy it.
With thanks to Susie G Scott
