Sex Sells
Have you ever noticed that bra adverts do not seem to be directed towards women? I’ve never seen an ad telling me that a bra is the comfiest I’ll ever wear. Telling me it will feel like I’m not wearing one at all, only, with a little more support than if I wasn’t. I rarely see adverts for bras made of sensible, comfortable, plain materials in nice, muted colours that won’t show through my shirt. They’re all lace and silk and mesh in bright reds and deep purples. I rarely see an advert for a bra, or in fact, for any type of clothing, where the women look like me. No ‘size 6–10 depending on the store’ women. No ‘5ft4in at best’ women. No ‘I have barely an ounce of muscle on me and I’m decidedly un-toned’ women. No ‘no butt to speak of and barely any boobs’ women.
They are all perfection. Or at least, what we are told is perfection. Slim and toned and tanned. Long hair and perky boobs that aren’t too small or too big with long, thin legs that seem to go on forever.
Why? I don’t look like them, and no matter how much I work out, or eat right, I’ll never look like them. You can’t work out to make yourself taller. I want to see what bras and clothes look like on my body. My short, untoned body. I don’t particularly care which bra has the silkiest silk and the laciest lace if it’s not comfortable. I don’t particularly care if it makes my boobs look bigger if the payoff is that when I take it off I’ll have welts on my shoulders. So why are the bras in adverts so uncomfortable looking?
Because sex sells.
You make a bra look super sexy, with a beautiful model strutting around, men falling about her, and you want that bra. You want that to happen to you. You want to look like that, because everywhere you look, in magazines, on TV, on social media, everyone looks like that. You want to look like that too. You want men falling at your feet. You want to see the envious look that you give to other women, and this bra, this incredible bra of scratchy lace and slippery silk will make you look like that (even though the majority of people will not see this bra, as it will be under your clothes — though, having said that, it’s bright enough to show straight through your white work uniform). You think men will think you’re sexy. You think they’ll want you.
Just look at perfume adverts. Every lady in every perfume commercial is conventionally beautiful. Exactly what you see on the TV and on social media and in magazines. She always seems to be playing hard to get with a man, as well. They say humans are attracted to scents, so these perfumes must make you smell so great that you might as well be the pied piper of men.
But don’t for a moment think men have it any better. I have never once seen a man in real life with abs like those you see on underwear adverts. I’m sure men out there exist, but I don’t think they are the majority.
I have never once seen a car accident caused because a man put on a certain body spray. Beer and car adverts are the same. Conventionally attractive, tall, tanned, muscular (but not too muscular) men. They seem to be wealthy, really wealthy, and surrounded by beautiful women. They also always seem to live somewhere warm. Although I am sure they are out there, I have never once seen a beer commercial that was not set in the sun. Some men have to live in the rain. Some men are not able to afford a private beach house somewhere warm for the winter. Some men do not have the time, the money, or desire to spend every spare moment at a gym. So why do all the beer and cologne and underwear commercials feature only that one rich, handsome, carefree type of man? The one that fits society’s definition of ‘sexy’?
Because sex sells.
You think that you will seem richer if you have that cologne. You think that if the guys in the beer commercial are drinking it and yet still have abs like six rocks, then you can too. You can avoid that beer belly! You think women will think you’re sexy. You think they’ll want you.
But do you?
Do you really think they’ll want you? Do you men really think women will think you’re sexy in those boxers drinking that beer? Do you women really think men will think you’re hotter in that bra they can slightly see through your shirt? Do you care? Do you?
I don’t. I don’t care. Yet I still buy these uncomfortable lace bras that no one will ever see. I still wear that perfume even though I’m a little bit allergic, and it doesn’t make men fall at my feet. I still buy that dress that looked so great on the tall, slim model, so unlike me, in the catalogue.
Sex sells, and it sells to me, even if I don’t care about looking good for anyone else.
I want to look good for me.
I want to feel sexy.
No one will ever see my new silk or lace bra, but I’ll know I’m wearing it.
I see so many complaints about how sex sells. And sure, an ad telling me that this bra is THE comfiest bra in the world would be nice, (and I’d definitely buy one) and an ad for the ‘poor man’s beer’ or the ‘short on cash perfume’ would be useful, as well as a breath of fresh air, at the end of the day, sex sells. It sells to people like me, who just want to feel a little bit better about themselves.
Is that really so bad?
