Is a myth that needs to disappear. It is said that it sells because it immediately grabs people's attention. Humans are wired to notice sexually relevant information, so ads with sexual content are noticed. If I can grab your attention, I can sell you something. Ironically, most of us believe this, and most of the time we remember but nearly a century and a half ago, in 1871, the Pearl tobacco brand launched a poster to promote its cigarettes that did not show said cigarettes. Nor any message related to them. Nor anything that was not the brand.
There are many people who believe that this is the correct way to advertise, that we are exaggerating when we say that something is offensive, classist, sexist, or racist. These are the same people who classify us as the "generation of glass."
Since then, the use of sex in advertising has been a permanent constant. In 2017, it is no longer possible to advertise cigarettes because tobacco kills, but sex remains a very present claim. It makes us remember ads better - especially if we are men -, grabs our attention, and generates controversy.
However, a study by the University of Illinois, reported by The Drum, reveals that the assumption that sex sells may not be
But if sex sells, why doesn't everyone use it for everything? First of all, it doesn't work as we think. A clear example of this is the Carl's Jr. commercials shown during the Super Bowl. This hamburger chain made a name for itself, or so its CEO Andrew Puzder thought, with just one idea: women in very small bikinis eating very large hamburgers. Year after year, while Paris Hilton soaped up a car and ate a hamburger, a stupid fantasy at best.
"I like our ads. I like seeing women in bikinis eating hamburgers. They are very American," Puzder declared to Kate Taylor in Entrepreneur, in an article titled "Carl's Jr. CEO doesn't care if his ads offend you." And the headline was not in vain: more than half of the respondents were offended by the increasing tone of the Porky's spot that the chain was having. But of course, he is the client. He even made it clear that at least one of the ads had his "direct touch." And Carl's Jr. presented a three-minute-plus ad during the 2017 Super Bowl, basically apologizing to viewers.
Currently, there are many important brands that still see women's bodies as a way to ensure the success of their advertising campaign: Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, and Diesel are just a few of them.
In this type of advertising, models are forced to pose suggestively and with little or no clothing, such as Kate Moss at age 17 when she appeared topless in a campaign for Calvin Klein with Mark Wahlberg.
A clear example of how problematic it is to use sex as a advertising tool is a 2010 Calvin Klein ad. It shows model Lara Stone with little clothing surrounded by men. The ad was banned in Australia on the grounds that it
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