Sex in Advertising: Does it sell?
Companies need strong advertisements if they want to make a sale. If consumers like their ads and find them interesting or funny, they are more likely to check their products and even purchase them. But what makes a good ad? It stands out, connects with the audience, is memorable, but most importantly, grabs attention. And here is where sex comes into the picture.
A bit of history
Sex first appeared in advertising in 1871 when Pearl Tobacco Company put a naked woman’s picture on one of their cigar covers. It not only drew people’s attention because it featured a lady without clothes, but also because they did something no one else had done before. Seeing their success, another company, known as W. Duke & Sons, started to used pictures of women that were sexually appealing at that time.
A few years later, in the 1900s soap companies also tried to sell their products using sexy images and slogans. For instance, the Ivory Soap ad depicts 25 sailor men having a bath together, while Woodbury Soap Company advertised their facial soap with the slogan “A Skin You Love To Touch”.
More and more companies started to use sex images in their ads, especially after the Sexual Revolution (1960–1980).
From Calvin Klein’s “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins” in 1981, Victoria’s Secret lingerie’s to today’s burger, perfume, and car ads, sex seems to be everywhere.
Why does sex grab attention?
It’s fun, exciting, and taboo in a certain way.
A beautiful lady in a bikini or a handsome, shirtless gentleman immediately grabs the attention, because they are nice to look at. They make people believe if they buy that perfume, shower gel, or bikini, they’ll look just as beautiful, sexy, and irresistible as the models in the commercials. Or at least they’ll feel like it.
What does sex in advertising look like today?
As we know from the beginning, sex is not necessarily used by brands that sell something related to it. While it seems somewhat normal for underwear and condom brands to use it as a tool, we might ask: why does a car, a hamburger, or a property website need to include sex?
It doesn’t. However, companies hope it’ll grab and keep customers’ attention and they’ll choose them over others.
We can find multiple examples of this online. Just to show a few:
These two are great examples of how to use sex with the service or product you want to promote that has nothing to do with sexuality. They are classy, appropriate, and will probably make you smile.
But this isn’t always the case.
Carl’s Jr is an American fast-food restaurant. They are mainly famous for selling their “all-natural” burgers which a few years back they advertised with sexy women. In these ads, the burger was only shown for a few seconds in a more than 30 seconds long ad. What was the idea behind it? Are women going to get skinny and sexy after eating that huge burger or will they at least feel like it? Probably not.
Alright, sex in advertising has a more than 100-year-old history, it’s overused, it catches consumer’s attention. But does it work?
Is the assumption ‘sex sells’ true?
It’s a complex question, with no clear answer.
Ever since sex first appeared in advertising, researchers have been trying to find whether it’s a good technique or not. While there are studies that say it has a negative or no effect, some on the other hand found that ads including sexual appeals are remembered more.
According to an article published in 2017 “more than 11,000 participants we found attitudes towards ads with sexual appeals were no different than attitudes towards ads without them”. It also suggests that “the effect of sexual appeals on purchase intention was not significant, although we did find a small but significant negative effect for sexual appeals on attitude towards the brand” (Wirtz).
However, Tom Reichert who published studies, researches, and even a book on this topic and was the head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Georgia, thinks differently. He said:
“Sex sells because it attracts attention. People are hard wired to notice sexually relevant information so ads with sexual content get noticed.” (Sorrow, 2012)
When might sex in advertising work?
If a company wants to use sex as a part of their commercial, they should consider their target audience as well as the product they are trying to sell.
Study shows that “there was a significant interaction between advertisement type and viewer gender: males recalled sexual advertisement better and females recalled non-sexual advertisements better” (Parker, 2007).
This suggests that if a company’s main focus are men, a sex-included ad could work better than a non-sexual one. But then again, the fact that they are more likely to remember it, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll buy the product.
Another study found that the success of a sexual advertisement not only depends on gender but also on geographical location. “Mostly in America sex appeal advertisement is effective in generating consumer attention but Asia and Europe sex appeal advertisement is not effective” (Sameer, 2018).
So, does sex sell or not?
Depending on the research, study, or article you are looking at, you’ll find different results and answers.
Yes, it does, if used properly, tastefully, and enjoyably but not if it’s given to the wrong audience or is offensive.
References:
Parker, Ellie, and Adrian Furnham. “Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non‐sexual advertisements.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 21.9 (2007): 1217–1228.
Sameer, Ibrahim. “Study on Sex Appeal in Advertising: Does it Effect Consumer Purchase Decisions?”. 2018
Sorrow, April Reese. “Magazine trends study finds increase in advertisements using sex”. UGA Today, 2012. https://news.uga.edu/magazine-trends-study-finds-increase-in-advertisements-using-sex/. Accessed: 7 November 2020
Wirtz, John G.; Sparks, Johnny V.; Zimbres, Thais M. “The effect of exposure to sexual appeals in advertisements on memory, attitude, and purchase intention: a meta-analytic review, International Journal of Advertising”. 37:2, 2017, 168–198, DOI: 10.1080/02650487.2017.1334996, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2017.1334996, Accessed: 7. November 2020
