Does Sex Really Sell?
Statistically, ‘sexed up’ adverts sell products, but does that make it morally acceptable?
Companies have used sex as a strategic selling point for their products since even before the 50’s.
Why?
Because it apparently makes you want to buy the product. After all, humans are naturally intrigued when something is associated with sex. However, why can’t products be advertised in a more family friendly manner? After all products like a Subway sandwich should be for everyone, including kids, right?
Therefore, I personally don’t think sex should be used as a selling point and here’s why:
1. You’re intrigued, but are you actually interested?
If a product is associated with sex, yes maybe you’ll be intrigued at first glance, because something ‘raunchy’ was shown and it caught your eye.
However, did the sexy advert really interest you? Enough for you to remember the name of the product and the company? To the extent that you wanted to find out where to buy it? Or did it interest you to the point that you actually considered spending money on it? I’m guessing no because, quite frankly it’s unnecessary.
For example, Nikon unnecessarily ruined my plans of buying my mum a camera for her birthday because, all I can envision now when I think of the camera are two girls in matching underwear, messing about on a hotel bed whilst pulling, what I think are supposed to be, ‘sex’ faces.
In all honesty, the advert did intrigue me but instead of the sexual advert making me want to buy the camera, it actually did the opposite because it felt like I was going to buy my mum something inappropriate. I want my mum to be able to capture family memories on the camera, but I simply cannot think innocently now when I see Nikon products. So ultimately, the sex didn’t ‘sell’ to me and I’m sure it didn’t to many other daughters and sons.
2. Are we in the 21st century?
Sometimes I feel like I’m being thrown back into the 20th century when I see some of the adverts that are hovering around nowadays. There’s me thinking all the sexist crooks and anti-feminist swine’s are slowly hiding their irrelevant faces into dark caves, and then BAM I see this…
These adverts are the the epitome of sexism in the media. This begs the questions- have we really moved on from sexualising women? Or have we just gone back in time… times 1000? Because from what I see, these 21st century adverts are no ‘better’ than the ones from the 20th century:
Sexist sayings and phrases like, ‘I can’t cook’ or ‘You mean a woman can open it?’ whilst holding their boobs together in a black bra, or pouting their red lips next to a red ketchup bottle screams the sexist voices of society-
‘women are only good for two things, cooking and sex. If she can’t do one, then she best be able to do the other’…
…It makes my blood boil.
I used to ask myself, am I asking for too much when I say that I wish products didn’t advertise in such undermining ways towards women? But then I saw this and realised I am definitely not asking for ‘too’ much…
Peta, a global animal rights company is trying to convince people to ‘go vegetarian’ by plotting a white, blonde, naked, female on top of some red chillies. Now that’s some appropriate vegetarian imagery for you… not. The fact the company has to sexualise women, and vegetarianism really does say a thing or two about what is acceptable in our western society.
This acceptance is a result of firstly, normalising the objectification of women, and secondly, sexualising products. This unwanted normalisation isn’t helped when people like the President of the United States says it’s ok to ‘grab her by the p*ssy’. His example essentially gives other men the prerogative to think in the same way.
However, lets not forget young females are not the only victims of sexualisation and objectification in the media, males are too. Thus, the combination of bad role-models and sexual advertising, leads young people of both genders to believe that these distorted representations of genders are acceptable.
Well I’m here to say they’re not acceptable, they’re not the ‘norm’ and they are definitely not necessary. Sex is not needed to represent products or even animal rights. So, on behalf of the other right-minded people reading this, we are not asking for too much- just some morality and equality!
3. Do the adverts even make sense?
Sexism, anti-feminism and objectification are the last things we, as a society, should be witnessing. But to top it all off, the adverts don’t even make sense because over half of the time the products have nothing to do with sex at all! For example, this Yves Saint Laurent perfume advert:
There is no clear, or necessary reason why sex had to be the main ‘storyline’- if you can even call it that. But, as mentioned earlier it was most likely because the sexual behaviour would gain the audiences’ attention, who are then expected to overlook the sexist undertones and buy the perfume. However, thank goodness other people on social media can see the illogical and non-existent correlation between sex and products. Thus, through social media women are fighting back and they’re voices are starting to be heard. Resultantly offensive and demeaning adverts are being banned, for example the ‘are you beach body ready advert’. However, although women’s voices are starting to be heard, the masculinist expectations of men in adverting is on the rise.
So although social media can be used as a speech platform to express thought. It also administers media internationally, including adverts. Therefore, when young people (the biggest users of social media) see sex ridden adverts such as these, they are influenced to believe that unnecessarily associating things with sex this normal (read my I Don’t Mean to Come Across Rude But… article for more about social media influence). This subsequently leads boys into thinking that they need to be a ‘macho man’ who is obsessed with having sex, and women are led to believe that they need to be sexy and domesticated.
So, for the sakes of both genders and our society it’s crucial that our younger generation are exposed to and influenced by family friendly, educational and gender equal adverts- not pointless sexed up perfumes.
