Does Sex in Advertising Sell?

Posted by: Joe Tanner

Hell yes it does, and it’s been used for a long time to sell anything from cigarettes to soap, as seen below. The 1871 tobacco label served to position the Pearl Tobacco brand and a World War 1 era ad showed sailors bathing on deck to sell Ivory soap.

The question I asked myself is: when is it appropriate to use this form of advertising to sell your product? At what point is it considered going over the edge? You wouldn’t use it to sell children’s toys would you? Well, I thought not, until I saw this calendar for Matchbox Cars…but it was student-made, so it probably never actually ran.

But then I thought… What about doctors? They’re pretty professional, right? Well, this calendar was done up by EIZO medical imaging high precision displays for the examination and diagnosis of radiographs. They thought of craftsmen who are showered with pin-up-calendars at the end of every year, this kind of present is less popular among medics. EIZO breaks this taboo by showing absolutely every detail.

The reality I began to see through my research was that sex in advertising can be used to sell almost any type of product. Besides houses, toilet paper or car rentals.

All this writing and research began to make me hungry so I thought about getting a drink and a bite to eat. Whaddaya know, there it was again…

After spilling the pop on myself, I had to throw on a new pair of jeans and socks…

…but it’s alright dude, you can keep the socks…

…I’ll just throw on a pair of sneakers before I go out.

And to my surprise, apparently in Germany at Gibsnisch Rent-A-Car “sex in advertising” can be used to rent cars…

and aerobics supplies from Aerobics First In Halifax.

Time to wrap it up, clean this blog up a bit and smell like a man…

Well, based on my research, I’ve noticed that in most cases sex in advertising works (with maybe the exception of the car rental one). It’s an attention grabber that grasps onto the curious human mind, a little bit of eye appeal, and something that makes the ad a little more memorable. It’s either gonna make people enjoy it or will create some kind of controversy that’s gonna bring attention to it. Either way, you’re getting noticed. As seen in this clip from the Associated Press regarding a Calvin Klein Billboard in New York:

So is it pornography or advertising? Just listen to what the lady says at the end…what was that….it makes you wish you had their jeans and stuff? But I thought you said earlier it was too hot for reality and “totally hot porn”.

This type of advertising has been around for a long time and, in my opinion, does a good job of getting noticed. The prudes can make their complaints and get ads taken down or banned, but in the long run they’re only helping the ads get noticed. Maybe people need to just chill out a bit and realize that the culture is evolving. Just sit back, have a Bud Light and enjoy the human body, like the people in this video:

PS: I stayed away from the obvious….condom, booze, Viagara and lingerie ads.

Categories:
news
|
Tags:
branding,
marketing,
sex
|
3 Comments

3 Responses to “Does Sex in Advertising Sell?”

Sean says:

March 21, 2011 at 7:50 am

Nice post…like to see sex sell adult incontinence supplies…lol
Sid Williams says:

May 31, 2011 at 1:51 pm

This was a good read until the naked barbie’s haha.
Deb Cakes says:

January 12, 2012 at 8:31 am

I loved the Bud Light ad! Brilliant!