Preview

Sex Sales

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
457 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sex Sales
-Sex Sales-

In the American culture today, sex seems to be a very big, controversial thing in advertising. In almost every television ad or magazine ad, there’s a reference to sex. Sex seems to attract many consumers in America to buy products such as fragrances, clothes, tools, and pretty much any other products used in America today. This shows that many Americans respond very well to ads that contain sexual references.
In Britney Spear’s new fragrance commercial, it shows her and a guy walking down the hall and they both go to their own room. Then it shows two scenes. One of the scenes show the guy sitting on his bed and the other scene shows Britney on her bed. Then they both started thinking about sex, and it shows a few short scenes of them having sex and exposing some of Britney’s body. This is all happening in their mind and then at the end, the product is shown. To the consumer, the commercial tells them, “If I buy this fragrance, maybe I’ll get lucky with the guys and make them think about having sex with me.” Sex sells, because sex is one of the many things that most people in America desire, so they respond quickly to it.
Even on billboards and flyers there’s sexual references. On a billboard in the city of Chicago was advertising the restaurant, “Hooters.” Instead of just saying, “Come and enjoy our food with the family and have a great time,” there’s a picture of a girl in skimpy shorts and a tight shirt that reveals some cleavage. Why couldn’t they advertise using something else not sex related? It’s because sex attracts people and it makes people want to go eat at that restaurant so they can see girls in skimpy outfits. This is all true because most people in America see sex as something wild and forbidden. They desire it and want to be wild and that’s why they go for the products or go eat at the restaurant. This proves that sex is a part of our culture and it’s popular, that’s why the American people respond well and quickly

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    American Apparel has built a fast growing empire on some of the most risqué, porn-influenced ads ever seen in mainstream media. Usage of the porn-influenced ads are in hopes of saving the company from financial troubles. Everyone knows that American Apparel ads are sexy. They usually feature coy, semi-dressed women lounging on a bed or sofa. Although this is a good way to catch the eye of consumers, they also lead to many problems with too much nudity exposure, which becomes may offensive to some of the public. American Apparel’s usage of high sex appeal will generally attract attention from the public, and the more attention towards the brand the more likely the brand will sell.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article “Tow Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” by Jean Kilbourne, which was published in 1999, describes how women are shown in today advertisements. Sex in advertising has taken a completely bizarre way to advertise about a certain product. Women are usually shown in inappropriate matter to attract consumer’s attention. Most of the advertisements today are based on pornography features. In addition, the use of sex content in advertisements has a negative impact on consumers because it shows women as a cheap tool in business. Those kinds of advertisements indicate that men are always the rulers and women are their easy target. Sexuality plays an important role in marketing and advertising today. Big companies earn…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    6. “Sex sells!” is a common saying in advertising. Using classical conditioning terms, explain how sexual images in advertisements can condition your response to a product.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The picture on page 398 is a great example of sex and advertising. The woman…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The increasingly popular obscenities and nudity are infinitely related to the theory of sex sells. It is used to arouse the interest in a particular product, service or brand. The thought process that we follow our primal urges of food and reproduction has been used in advertising for a long time. However, there is also a fine line that can be stepped over and people can be turned off.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Advertisements are all over the place. Whether they are on TV, radio, or in a magazine, there is no way that you can escape them. They all have their target audience who they have specifically designed the ad for. And of course they are selling their product. This is a multi billion dollar industry and the advertiser’s study all the ways that they can attract the person’s attention. One way that is used the most and is in some ways very controversial is use of sex to sell products…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American public has a very short attention span, so only the most colorful, attractive advertisements will hold a person’s attention long enough to see what the ad is selling. For instance, sex is used to sell just about everything. It is perhaps the only element that can be used by advertisers that the public will never get tired of seeing. A good example of this is alcohol advertisements. What does sex have to do with alcohol? Nothing, but it gives off the impression that when one drinks alcohol it will lead to sex. Of…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When advertisements didn’t have that much sexual activity and now there are condom commercials and such that are on regular television channels. This is having a huge negative impact in the way that it is teaching young children. In Kilbourne article, “Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising And Violence,” Kilbourne says, “Sex in advertising is more about disconnection and distance then connection and closeness” (Kilbourne 459). Mark Crispin Miller also states in his article, “Getting Dirty,” that “They take pains to analyze the culture which they help to sicken, and then, with much wit and cynicism, use their insights in devising their small dramas” (Miller 132). This advertisement is made clear that makers are making everything more sexual. For example with the Trojan advertisement “Two Times” the couple is yelling in the store because it can hold two times better than a regular condom. As they are yelling at the top of their lungs and throwing their arms up in joice as they are taking almost all of the boxes off of the shelf and into the cart that they have. Then they run out of the store without getting anything else, trying to hurry to get home. This saying that they are excited that it works two times better and they can’t wait to try it. (“Trojan- Two Times.”) Another advertisement that has sexual context is the Doritos commercial, keep yo’ hands off my momma. The mom invites her date in the house and starts to walk into the other room. The man was looking at the woman's butt because she was wearing a tight fitting mini skirt. When the mom walks into her room the mom’s date takes a Dorito and the boy slaps him and says “keep your hands off my momma, keep your hands off my Doritos” (“Doritos Commercial - Keep Yo' Hands Off My Momma!”). Yes the one advertisement was about a condom but they both were involved with sex. This could be very problematic because it is…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sexual behaviors are portrayed in many ways in the media and through advertising. For example, almost every ad in a magazine for jeans or pants has a half-naked people in the photograph. Commercials for beauty products usually include naked woman. Other clothing commercials sometimes show a two people kissing and take clothes off alluding to the fact that they will end up having sex. Its not that having sex is wrong or anything like that, yet, it makes it…

    • 686 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    African-American Women

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Women, beauty, sex, money--they may seem like completely unrelated words but when combined together create a powerful driving force within American society. This “driving force” is known as media, though, in this essay, I will be focusing mainly on advertisements. There are a variety of ads being made everyday and can be spotted almost everywhere; billboards, magazines, shops, and even online, just to name a few. However, many of these ads--ranging from food to fashion--have began involving women in them. Not just any women either; these women are the idealized women American society has conceptualized as they flaunt their bodies whilst also implying sexual themes. Individuals, literally and figurative, by into the way these advertisements…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although, if the advertisement for some reason featured violence, then there wouldn’t be as much attention towards it. In spite of the fact that the United States is a melting pot of many different cultures, sex is still a taboo in this country. It could be because since the beginning of time on this country we were told at a young age to not speak of anything related to sex and females were often the ones being sexualized. Why is it okay for a man to show his chest, but if a woman does the same then she is shunned and called horrible names? All this does is tell young girls to be ashamed of their bodies and it allows young boys to think that a female who is showing off her body is automatically promiscuous (which, don’t forget, is shunned as well!) This could also be the reason that many rape crimes go unreported in the United States. Additionally, it could also be the reason that rapes occur in the first place. People aren’t that exposed to sex in the public that when they finally are they don’t know how to react. The explicit messages in this specific American Apparel advertisement is that sex appeal and nudity almost always work which is pathetic and troubling because it shouldn’t always work. We should be accustomed to viewing the human body nude because it is natural! This also discourages other marketers from trying out different advertising tactics because they know that sex appeal will always work. The implicit messages are quite troubling in the sense that sweatshops and unfair labor is immensely unsettling, but still exist. We don’t hear about them in the United States, so we judge other countries for having these poor working environments yet we are the ones who endorse them. As long as they’re not on our land and not happening to…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Writing Assignment 1

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sexuality is a major part of popular culture. America has made sex both alluring and taboo. Advertisers however know that sex sells. Once again, only the extremes are used. Commercials and ads use models to promote; women with tan skin, white teeth, big eyes, and large breasts. Men buy things when an attractive woman is telling them to, and the reverse is true for women. These advertising everywhere from television, to the internet, to magazines. This is very detrimental to society, because it promotes objectification of sexuality and both genders. Camel cigarettes, for example use an appealing woman as an object to sell another object. The model is no longer a woman, and she’s only as valuable as what she is selling. People buying the product support all of this, and the cycle never changes.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This objection comes in several varieties. One is that sex is only used to grab attention. Some people refer to this usage as “borrowed interest.” In other words, advertisers attempt to take the interest generated by sexual information and use it to generate interest for their brands. In a related sense, detractors argue that while sex may stop traffic, it only produces—at best—a one-time sale that won’t build brand value needed to sustain long-term growth.…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    (2003, September). Peddling sex: Taut and trim flesh hits billboards as advertiser's aim low. [Electronic Version]. Business Mexico, 13(9), 48. Ramirez, A. & Reichert, T. (2000). Defining sexually oriented appeals in advertising: A grounded theory investigation. [Electronic version]. Advances in Consumer Research, 27, 269-273. Reichert, T., Heckler, S., & Jackson, S. (2001, Spring). The effects of sexual social marketing appeals on cognitive processing and persuasion. [Electronic version]. Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 13-28. Richmond, D. & Hartman, T. (1982). Sex appeal in advertising. [Electronic version]. Journal of Advertising, 22(5), 53-61. Severn, J., Belch, G., & Belch, M. (1990). The effects of sexual and non-sexual advertising appeals and information level on cognitive processing and communication effectiveness. [Electronic version]. Journal of Advertising, 19(1), 14-22. Taflinger, R. (May 28, 1996). You and Me, Babe: Sex and Advertising. Retrieved March 16, 2004, from…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sex In The Media Sociology

    • 1916 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Moreover, men and women are affected tremendously by the ads they view, so sociologically this is affecting each individual that views these ads psychosocially. The significance of sex in the media is that everyone who picks up a magazine and browse through it will encounter some forms of sex. We should care about this topic because sex in the media is one of the leading causes of eating disorders in America. Another reason why we should care about sex in the media is because the media tries to sell sex to all ages. The media tends to attract more of the younger crowd due to how they construct their ads as well as what they make the focal point of the advertisement. In this essay I am going to break down three specific topics that are embedded in the general topic of sex in the media. These three specific topics all go hand in hand with the production of sex in the media and how successful the ads are conveyed to the viewers. The three topics that I am going to discuss are selling sex through advertisement, images of the perfect body, and the impact sex ads have on the…

    • 1916 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays