A war is going on inside your television. Among the sitcoms, reality shows and prime-time dramas are commercial time slots – opportunities for advertisers to claw and scratch their way through the clutter and grab your attention. Similar battles are occurring within the pages of magazines and on the billboards lining highways.
With the fight for viewers’ attention growing more difficult in a highly saturated market, advertisers are searching for ways to stand out and win the battle for your attention. One prominent tactic is the use of sexual imagery.
But does sex sell?
According to Donna Rouner, a Colorado State University associate professor of journalism and technical communication, the success of advertising that uses sexual imagery often depends on the product being sold.
“Research has shown that people are pretty turned off by sex in ads if neither the product nor the lifestyle being portrayed [are relevant to] nudity or sex,” Rouner said. “Where sex works for people generally is when the product itself has to do with sex or intimacy or nudity.”
Kathleen Kelly, an associate professor of marketing at CSU and the director for the Center of Marketing and Social Issues, agreed with Rouner.
“It’s often around how [advertisements] can be sensual, because it fits with the type of product we’re promoting,” Kelly said. “You really have to look at whether it complements the product, makes sense for the product and [think about] how far to go.”
Junior accounting major Nick Lederhos said that advertisements for the clothing brand Abercrombie and Fitch, which often feature models wearing little to no clothing, do not appeal to him.
“They go too overboard without focusing on the [clothes],” he said.
the buzz factor
Whether people love or hate a sexually explicit ad, Rouner said they’ll probably remember it, and possibly talk about it – or so advertisers hope.
“It creates buzz,” Rouner said. “That kind of effect is something that advertisers like. Even though it’s not selling [the product], it is making people pay attention to [the product]. Negative publicity is better than no publicity.”
However, while consumers may remember sexually explicit ads, they won’t necessarily remember the product.
“If you get really caught up in the sexuality of a commercial, you think ‘oh, that is effective because I’ve got them watching,’ but you often forget what’s being sold,” Kelly said.
But for high-end fashion labels like Dolce and Gabbana, a company who has become notorious for their sexually explicit print ads, the purpose may not be to sell a specific product, but the brand itself.
The company received criticism in particular for a 2007 ad that featured a woman being pinned to the ground by a man, while other men watched them – an image that many perceived to be a depiction of gang rape.
“It’s all about branding,” Rouner said. “You may never buy that product, but you will have that branded notion of Dolce and Gabbana as being on the edge, racy and sexual. In that sense, the advertising works in terms of attention and branded belief about that organization.”
targeting an audience
Although the success of sex in advertisements is sometimes questioned, Kelly said sexual imagery is used strategically. In fact, behind every 50-second television commercial, 8-by-11-inch print ad and 75-foot-long billboard, there are hours upon hours of consumer research and target audience analysis.
“The purpose of advertising is to get you to buy stuff,” added Elissa Braunstein, an associate professor of economics. “Consumption is at the root of the American economy. It’s the big driver of economic growth in the United States.”
According to Kelly, advertisers often conduct research to find niche groups to target as a means of breaking through the clutter of a heavily saturated market.
“[Advertisers] are constantly looking for a segment that isn’t already being [focused on],” she said. “What you see happening a lot now is that if a company is trying to target a young market, and particularly a young male market, they’re more likely to use sexuality or sex in advertising.”
Kelly cited Burger King as an example of this strategy. The prominent fast food company released multiple television and print ads in 2009 that played off of sexually suggestive themes.
“[Burger King was] competing with McDonalds head-to-head for so many years going after families and McDonalds wins that game hands down,” Kelly said. “With young males being the group that eat fast food the most, they positioned their promotion to target this group.”
While sex may have nothing to do with burgers, it might get the average young male’s attention.
“It’s easy to say ‘well that was a stupid ad,’” Kelly said. “[But] I’m not the target audience. I always have to remind myself of that.”
men vs. women
Research has shown that men react more positively to sexually explicit ads than women, a fact that Rouner attributes not to the display of nudity or sexual acts itself, but the implication that these images make about gender.
“Males tend to like nudity, sexuality and sexual explicitness across the board, but women tend not to like it because they are the ones who are the objects of the sex,” Rouner said.
A 2009 study in Journal of Consumer Research, suggested that women react more favorably to sexual imagery in ads if it is within the context of a committed relationship.
The study said this is likely due to the fact that men tend to have positive attitudes toward casual sex, while women tend to care more about relationships involving intimacy and commitment.
Rouner agreed, and said most ads with sexual imagery that we see today reflect men’s ideals rather than women’s.
“[Advertisements] are very male oriented, so they don’t show a lot of committed relationships,” Rouner said. “I don’t think women are objecting to the sexual act or the nudity. I think they are objecting to the oppression of it, the oppressive nature of it.”
Adriane Ciavonne, a senior journalism and technical communication major, agreed and said that ads objectifying women bother her.
“I think that men have never been on the other end,” she added. “They don’t really know what it’s like [to be objectified].”
defining the problem with sex in advertisements
Braunstein teaches Gender in the Economy a survey course, which focuses on different gender issues within the economic system, including the issue of sex in advertising.
She explained that sex in advertising becomes an issue when problematic images of women are used and that suggesting this tactic is justified simply because it works is a “cop-out.”
“[The saying] ‘Sex sells’ is too passive,” she said. “It’s missing the other side of the equation. It partly sells products because advertising uses it to sell products. They could use other kinds of images and be just as effective.”
Kelly said businesses are starting to become more aware of their responsibilities in regards to minimizing harm.
“Certainly businesses have improved a lot in recent years with regards to recognizing that they have a lot of responsibility and accountability to the public,” she said. “We’re doing a much better job of it. They have had to really get into this area of corporate social responsibility.”
But according to Rouner, a lot of changes still need to be made in how sexual images are used in advertising.
“It’s clear to me that really good ads can exist without sexualizing or sexually objectifying people,” Rouner said. “You can use sex in advertising in a beautiful way, just like art.
Tags: burger king, dolce and gabbana, media, sex in advertising, Volume 5 Issue 2
