Sex in Advertising: How and Why Sex Sells

Marketers continue to use more sex in advertising for a greater range of products.  The merchandise that are traditionally associated with sex appeals are usually designer clothing, alcohol and fragrances which appear to be featuring sexual imagery that is increasingly explicit.

Sex in advertising is the use of sexual interest as a tool of persuasion to draw interest to a particular product for the purpose of sale (wikipedia.org/wiki/sex_in_advertising).

When we define sexuality, we can look at it from a biological, emotional/physical or spiritual point of view (www.media-awareness.ca, 2005).  Sex is a reproductive mechanism and it is a basic biological drive that exists in all species (Price, 2002).  Emotional or physical sex represents a bond between two individuals and it is an expression of profound emotional feelings.  It is a physical manifestation of emotions of love, trust and caring (www.media-awareness.ca, 2005).  Spiritual sex on the other hand, is an expression of inner human spiritual life; it is an ethereal, unearthly connection between two individuals (ibid).

Courtney and Whipple (1983, p.103) described sex in advertising as sexuality in the form of nudity, sexual imagery, innuendo and double entendre…employed as an advertising tool for a wide variety of products.  They state that sex in advertising can be considered mediated messages (i.e. Television commercials, magazine ads) containing sexual information with the persuasive purpose of selling branded goods.  Advertising is commonly defined as any paid-for mass-media communication (Brierley, 2002, p.2).

When sexuality is used in advertising, certain values and attitudes towards sex are being ‘sold’ to consumers along with products.  Historically, the trend in advertising has been to eroticise women more often than men (Reichert, 2002).   According to Reichert (2003, p.29), sex in advertising has been the motivation for increased consumer interest and sales, for example, W. Duke & Sons inserted trading cards into cigarette packs that featured sexually provocative starlets to increase sales in 1885.  Duke grew to become the leading cigarette brand by 1890.

Nonetheless in recent years we have begun to see men being portrayed in a similar manner, though we are still more likely to see women sexualised in advertisements.  This is evident when we look at ads that depict couples, or in advertising campaigns that use men and women to advertise the same product, see figure 1.

Fig.1 CK One Fragrance

Calvin Klein has been responsible for many controversial ads depicting explicit images of sex.  Here we can see a male and a female model half naked from their waist up.  The woman is more sexualised than the man as she is standing in front of him on display.  It is clear to see that the man has the power over the woman; he has wrapped his arm around her, with the other entering her jeans.  They are standing outside as we can see a brick wall behind them, which leads one to assume that this is a ‘one night stand’, not a romantic couple in love.  The bottle resembles a sex toy as the man is using it to touch her body which is giving her pleasure, at the same time using it to cover her breast.

The use of sex in advertising can be highly explicit or extremely subtle: from relatively graphic displays of sexual acts, down to the use of basic cosmetics to enhance attractive features.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sex_in_advertising)

According to Taflinger (cited in Price, 2002) sex is the second strongest of the psychological appeals, right behind self-preservation.  He also points out that gender plays an enormous role in the effectiveness of the advertising.  Messaris (1997, p.48) claims that advertising is easier and more effective on men as they are more responsive to the visual aspects of sex, and women on the other hand are more prone to be attracted to images of romantic attachments than sexual imagery.

Types of Sexual Advertising Content

According to Harris (1994, p. 206) sexual information is any representation that portrays or implies sexual interest, behaviour or motivation.  It is often integrated within the advertisements as images, verbal elements or both.  Dolliver (1999) claims that an Adweek poll revealed more than 70 percent of respondents think there is too much sexual imagery in advertising, and that advertising analyses suggest ads are more sexual than ever before.  These ads are more than just ‘scantily clad models’ as sexual content can vary in form and meaning (Reichert, 2003, p.11):

Nudity/Dress – refers to the amount and style of clothing worn by models. Examples include revealing displays of the body as illustrated in figure 1, ranging from tight-fitting clothing, to underwear and lingerie, to nudity as demonstrated in figure 2 below.

Fig. 2 Opium by YSL

This figure shows how far advertising can go to sell a product.  Sophie Dahl is posing naked on a velvet cloth in an advertising campaign for Opium perfume.  She is lying on her back cupping one breast in her hand wearing nothing but gold shoes.

According to the Guardian (2000), this was the most complained about advertisement as it offended people and broke the British codes of advertising.  Sophie looks like she is having sex but the man is missing.  She seems to be enjoying the Opium experience – Opium has drugged her and she is not herself.  This is an odd image and message to use to sell a fragrance and one may not feel comfortable looking at it.

Sexual Behaviour – refers to the individual and the interpersonal sexual behaviour.  This includes flirting, eye contact, posturing, and movement (body language, non-verbal and verbal communication) as seen in figures 3 and 4.  Sexual interaction between two or more people typically includes hugging, kissing, voyeurism, and more intimate forms of sexual behaviour (see figure 5).

Fig. 3 CK ladies underwear advertisement

Fig. 4 CK men’s underwear advertisement

Figures 3 & 4 exhibits a male and female model that composes eye contact with the audience and seem flirty, especially figure 4.

These images have also created controversy as the models look extremely young to pose in such manner, especially in figure 3, as it resembles child pornography.   According to Reichert (2003, p.208), Calvin Klein’s remarks to complaints were that when advertising gets publicity, it’s like free advertising, and there is nothing wrong with that.

These pictures exemplify models that have opened their legs and are showing their underwear.  The girl is more sexualised than the boy, as her body language is very sexual, lying on her back, almost like pornography picture but the boy’s image is more acceptable as it looks like a normal pose laying on his side.

Figure 5 is a Gucci ad which displays sexual interaction between two people. We do not get to see their faces but they are almost kissing.  The woman appears to be more dominant which is playing on the fact of gender role reversal today, as women are considered to be equal to men. She is holding a hand bag that virtually resembles a whip, and her jacket makes her look more masculine, where as his open shirt makes him look feminine.

Fig. 5 Gucci fashion

Physical Attractiveness – refers to general level of model’s physical beauty.  Often incorporates facial beauty, complexion, hair, and physique. Figure 6 shows Rimmel’s beauty products endorsed by supermodel Kate Moss.  We can see big waves in the background which links to Rimmel’s waterproof products.  Kate Moss is famous for her styles and good looksand this campaign encourages its audience to buy their products to look as good as Kate who is a trend setter.  The ultimate message here is that these are the main ingredients to Kate’s success and could be yours too.

Fig. 6 Rimmel Cosmetics

Sexual Referents – are allusions and references to objects and events that have sexual meaning by means of double entendre and innuendo.  It also includes facilitating factors that enhance or contribute to sexual meaning, such as setting, lighting, and design elements.

 Fig. 7 Bed advert

Figure 7 illustrates a double entendre.  Here we have an advert for a bed with a tag line of ‘size does matter’ referring to the bed but at the same time to a man’s genitalia. We can see the model with his top half of the body revealed and his head bowed looking down below as if he is ashamed.  The advert on the other hand is saying that with a big bed, a man does not need to worry about anything else.

Sexual Embeds – are contents interpreted as sexual at the subconscious level.  These include words like sex, nonsexual perceptible objects that can connote sexual body parts and sexual actions, and small images of genitalia, body parts, and people.

Fig. 8 Durex advert

This is very obvious in the example shown in figure 8.  We can see the silhouette of a woman under transparent clothing who is pregnant but does not seem to be happy about it.  Her head is bowed down in shame and the word ‘oops…’ tells us that this is the result of un-protected sex and now it appears that she is facing the consequences which she would not have to deal with if she had used Durex condoms.

Does Sex Sell?

The above examples show that sex in advertising can be very effective to sell a good but it is only effective if the advertisement makes sense and does not leave the audience puzzled.  Research claims that successful adverts follow three golden rules of using sex in advertising;

1. Carefully aimed and tastefully done
2. Avoid using sex as a ‘cheap shot’
3. Used in an appropriate context

Unfortunately it is possible to go too far and beyond the golden rules as demonstrated specifically in figure 2.  Sex has always been a vital selling tool throughout its history.  Matthews (2000 p.16) claims that while sexual barriers are inevitably being broken down in Britain, the industry believes that overuse of sexual imagery will always be less acceptable here than any parts of Europe.

Unsubtle sexual portrayals inevitably land them in trouble with regulators as well as with many female members of the public who find too much female nudity offensive.  In contrast, Milczarek (2000, p.13) argues that marketers are under pressure to make the ads sexier, saying that the freedom to use sex to sell products is good because it shows that one is becoming less conservative.

How Does Sex Sell?

Sexual imagery has become a way of differentiating a product from others.  With fashion and fragrances, attractive models are its mainstay as sexual content may sometimes not sell a product but it gains attention and fills a brand with sensual identities.  Similarly sex in advertising will continue to be used to market products that are not traditionally associated with sex.

Sex in advertising often uses women in some sort of sexual behaviour to sell a product than men.  While some advertisers are making attempts to portray men in more feminine roles, we are still seeing advertisements that continue to primarily target women as those who are still controlled by the male population.  This is very clear in advertisements that feature couples together in the same ad as men appear to be the more dominant which is particularly used frequently by Calvin Klein.  This type of action leads to sexual exploitation of women.

As cited in www.kafka.uvic.ca, research by Archer et al., (1983) reveal that 65 percent of a man’s picture is typically devoted to his face compared to 45 percent of a woman’s.  They suggested that men are important for their intellect and personality, and women are important for their attractiveness and figures.  According to Price (2002), in print advertisements, women appeared with their mouths open 65 percent of the time compared to 55 percent of the men.

As cited in Reichert (2002), Soley and Reid (1988) found that women were dressed sexually-suggestive, partially clad, or nude in 31 percent of ads in 1964 compared to 35 percent in 1984.  During the same time 6 percent of male models were dressed sexually in 1964 compared to 14 percent in 1984.

This study also found that women continued to dress in revealing clothing (40 percent) in 1993 as well as did men (18 percent).  In addition sexual contact between models was more sexualised.  For example, 21 percent of heterosexual couples engaged in explicit sexual contact (e.g., passionate kissing) in 1983 in relation to 53 percent in 1993.  Very intimate contact also increased from 1 percent to 17 percent over the same time.  These statistics prove that sex is effective in advertising otherwise these figures would not have existed.

Sex in advertising is used through various levels of explicitness and intensity depending on the product being advertised.   These advertisements could be highly graphic, leaving little to the imagination or it could be subtle and implicit.  The explicitness and intensity is important to consider as it determines the type of response being sought from the audience.  Highly intense messages are more likely to be offensive than low intensity messages.

In order to grab the attention of the viewer, advertisers must appeal to some human aspect whether it be humour, emotion, or sex (www.nku.edu).  Sex has become the most popular and most effective tactic in advertising simply because it plays upon the biological needs of every single human being (Price, 2002).

According to Reichert et al., (2003, p.113), sex in advertising serves to grab attention and build brand recall as those ads that contain sexual content are highly remembered in comparison to ads without sexual content.  Lambiase and Reichert (in press) revealed three promises common in sexual advertising appeals:

1. Sexual attractiveness for the consumer
2. Likely engagement in sexual behaviour (and more enjoyment from these encounters), and
3. Feelings of being sexy or sensual (sex-esteem)

They suggest that these promises claim that if you buy the product and use it as directed, you will end up in a situation like the one advertised.  Nevertheless, according to Reichert et al., (2003, p.113), results generally suggest that sexual appeals increase attention to advertisements but not to the product or brand information.  Advertising’s tendency to sexualise images and messages is to create desire and influence brand and product choices. They accomplish this by advertising in a very sexually explicit manner to men and more implicitly and ‘romantically’ to women.

Conclusion

Sexuality is a fundamental characteristic of people that influences their thoughts and behaviours.  These important variables include attention, feelings about the ad and about the brand, memory, and intensions to purchase the advertised product (Reichert et al., 2003, p.1).  Sexual appeals are persuasive appeals that contain sexual information integrated within the overall message.  This information conveys sexual information that varies in form and meaning.

As cited in Reichert, (2003, p.20) psychologist Buss refers to sex as a drive to have offspring’s and to further one’s own kind.  He states that a person’s sexuality shapes his/her approach to the world, interactions with others and self perceptions. For most people sex is fundamental to human existence – a need as are intimacy and the desire to be attractive and valued by others(ibid).

Sexy ads work as beauty and good looks turn people on and attractive models and illusive words draw the desired attention.  Advertisers know that attractive models serve as implicit argument to buy the brand: ultimately good looking people use the brand therefore the brand will make you good looking.

This is encouraged by seductive poses of models.  They can communicate by flirting with the viewer or someone else in the ad.  They make eye contact with the audience, speak in seductive tones – making references to the brand with sexual inferences like the Herbal Essence campaign featuring women excitedly exclaiming “Yes! Yes! Yes!” as they wash their hair.

Matthews (2000, p.16) states that if the storyline is strong enough, and the sexuality is hinted at, rather than screamed at the UK consumer, then sex-along with vanity  and greed remains a very powerful marketing tool in Britain and one which will continue to be used either effectively or ineffectively.

As Milczarek (2000, p.13) claims, if the media such as TV shows continue to feature more explicit acts and languages, advertisers are bound to follow suit as it arouses interest and motivates people to buy.

When it comes to determining what type of advertising is appropriate, advertisers must use their own judgement of the attitudes of their target group, but anytime it is irrelevant to a brand, that’s when it is inappropriate.  Davis et al., (2000, p.15) claims that the use of sex comes down to one thing: relevancy.  Sex could be used to sell condoms, fragrances and lingerie but it would be inappropriate for products such as toothpaste, fridges or desktop printers.

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