Charlotte Storey
Nov 3 · 3 min read
Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

SEX SELLS: Dos and don’ts 101

SEX IS PERFECTLY NORMAL.

And…

IT SELLS BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE SEX.

Simple as.

In the case of advertising, sexual appeal will always come out on top — no pun intended — when it comes to tempting an audience purely because everybody knows it is a very big turn on (pun absolutely intended). The purpose of sexual appeal is to further enhance the sexual fantasies and desires of the audience and with the use of sexual language and imagery, audiences are attracted, wanting more.

Adverts like this have been around ever since the nineteenth century and they have been proven to be quite alluring as well.

Take a look at Pearl Tobacco if you don’t believe me. (1)

Pearl Tobacco, 1871 (Vintage Art, Vintage Advertisements)

You can probably tell by the brand that their business is cigarettes… the question is, how do you give a product like that sexual appeal?

Simple. Just slap an image of a naked woman on the packaging and watch people get go crazy.

As you can see, the packaging features pretty much a naked woman. Yes, we can see that she has a cloth lightly draped around her but in any case, she is naked almost to the point where it is pornographic. In my opinion, this advert was very well executed as it made the tobacco brand quite popular. It also proves that almost any kind of product can be given sexual appeal.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should apply it everywhere.

Although I agree that sexual appeal is a good marketing strategy to use when promoting fashion and beauty products, I do not agree that it should be used for every instance.

Take food for example. Is it just me or is this image cringe-worthy?

Burger King — Designed by Local Singapore Agency

As we can see by this Burger King advertisement (2), a woman is positioned with her mouth wide open ready to “eat” this large seven inch sandwich, thus we can deduce that the advertisement suggests “oral sex”. Not only is this extremely inappropriate, but I also find it to be quite demeaning as the advertisers use women as a target for sexual advances. Eventually, this ad was removed as it received quite a lot of criticism.

Although sexual appeal can be a good thing for most adverts, it will always be risky because it can cause offence if not delivered in the right way. This is why great care should be taken when it comes to this kind of advertising otherwise potential backlash could be received in the future.

So, if you are going to do it, make sure you do it properly so that both parties feel good.

Oh and always use protection.

(1) Pearl Tobacco, 1871. Vintage art, vintage advertisements. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/439945457321000529/

(2) Burger King. Targeting Women — Fast Food Advertising. https://advsoc2014.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/targeting-women-fast-food-advertising/

Clippings Autumn 2019

Writing from Creative and Professional Writing students (PP1) at CCCU, 2019

Charlotte Storey

Written by

Clippings Autumn 2019

Writing from Creative and Professional Writing students (PP1) at CCCU, 2019

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade