Ads sell promiscuity over product
By Courtney Baldasare, Assistant Entertainment Editor
October 30, 2007 | 1:12 a.m.
Sex sells, and what sells ends up in the media. So when the television reveals Diddy seducing a scantily clad woman supposedly to sell perfume, it’s accepted and expected by viewers. But is the purpose frequently lost among the promiscuity?
Diddy’s Unforgivable Woman commercial does not stand alone. The veteran Trojan condom commercials raised some controversy, but the flames swiftly died as consumers became increasingly numb to the blunt and licentious message. Recent advertisements, including the PETA vegetarianism-promoting ad featuring Alicia Silverstone, have surfaced, exposing much more than just a product or a pretty face.
The idea that sex sells is a long-standing theory. According to Washington State University media professor Richard F. Taflinger's Web site, “the purpose of advertising is to convince people that products are of use to them in one way or another. If people agree, they will buy them … For many products it is possible to find (or invent) a sexual connection.”
Nearly every advertisement geared toward the teenage and young adult population is tainted with some sort of sexual connotation or another, whether it is very subtle or very obvious. A simple, low-cut shirt on a female is sexual nuance, but many have grown insensitive to such suggestions.
Classy companies also use sexuality to increase attraction to their advertisements. Unfortunately, the use of sex appeal has become the norm. Advertisements that don’t use sex appeal are seen as bland or unappealing to consumers. The products that exploit sex appeal are selling, and the companies are thriving, thus proving the speculation that sex does, in fact, sell.
Teenagers are constantly yelling for more respect and more credit for being people of substance and intellect. However, it is this same young generation that such loose advertisements target.
"If you look at any ad, it’s geared towards the younger audience because it contains beautiful women and beautiful men," said Ohio University freshman Zach Ochs. "Sex definitely sells.”
With the media expanding in numerous directions at the speed of light, many experts believe that the attention spans of teenagers and young adults are rapidly shortening. This assumption might make advertisers feel as though the only way to truly capture and keep the attention of an audience is to provide an advertisement with promiscuity attached to it.
Beneath the wanton advertisements and shallow displays of marketing, there still is a product that needs to be promoted, but many times, the advertisement itself can be so disturbingly sexual that it distracts the consumer from ever focusing on or learning about the product at hand. The focal point is shifted more toward the beautiful model or half-naked man holding it.
It is easy for the entire point of an advertisement to become lost. “Sexuality is the focal point, and the product is no longer important,” OU freshman Andrew Fritsch said.
It no longer seems a company-to-company battle of product quality or innovation but instead a battle of which one has the most jaw-dropping, eye-popping advertisement.
Products become more appealing to consumers -- especially young adults -- when the consumers know that the product is being used and praised by another noteworthy figure. Thus, celebrities and beautiful people are generally seen promoting products in commercials, print ads, billboards and all other types of advertisements. However, as of late, such advertisements seem to completely disregard their duty to encourage the sale of the product and instead focus mostly, if not solely, on the sex appeal involved in the ad.
Both the PETA and the Unforgivable Woman commercials are very unclear as to what each advertisement is actually attempting to sell. Vegetarianism is promoted only slightly by a few short, soft clips of Alicia Silverstone’s words of praise. The Unforgivable Woman ad is arguably worse, for the perfume is neither mentioned nor shown throughout the entirety of the extremely promiscuous commercial until the very end, when, even then, the name is only briefly mentioned.
This recent downfall in classy and focused advertising can be blamed in part by the advertisers and their companies. The original intention of advertisements has become somewhat lost. However, consumers of media are also to blame. A wide variety of tastes and interests could cause more meaningful advertising just as an increased attention span could cause more focused and relevant advertising. The original purpose for advertisements has strayed, providing for some very promiscuous commercials and prints. However, with a shift of focus and interest back to the initial reason for advertising, all may not be lost just yet. Time will tell whether or not this recent and alarming trend is here to stay.
---