Recognize this stunning gal? Sofia Vergara has been doing commercials for Diet Pepsi since she was 17 years-old, and it's been her gig for over 20 years. The now 44 year-old actress and model actually got her start on a Pepsi commercial; and is now the face of Diet Pepsi, stars in the hit TV show Modern Family, and was even named the 2011 face of Covergirl. In 2013, Forbes Magazine named Vergara the top paid TV-Actress. Her popularity is booming for the exact reason that 20th-century Canadian intellectual Marshall McLuhan says she should -- her sex appeal. Sex sells. Through all her commercials, Vergara uses her sex appeal to interact with the product. She flirts using her fiery red lipstick and provocative apparel in order to seduce and deceive others until she can have the soda can all to herself. The message? To have the same level of sex appeal as a model, drink Pepsi! But is this what we want on TV to show our children? In one of her recent Pepsi commercials, she lies to get a can of soda.
Though she may be beautiful, she (though it may be determined by writers) uses her body to manipulate people. This is not the example I want set for myself. This is not what I want my little brother to think women are like as he grows up. I don't want my daughter to have to see sex when she wants to have a soda.
Pepsi a far cry from the only company to use sex to sell a product. From lotion commercials to beer -- if we saw men doing some of the things we have women do... it would look ridiculous.
