It all started back in the 1800s when products like tobacco and bars would have risky pictures of women that were located on the label of their products or signs. It kept on going through the 1900s showing up more on clothing commercials and signs. There is one slogan from Calvin Klein that has a picture of a woman with the jeans on that says...
"Want to know what gets between me and my Calvin's? Nothing."
The reason that sex is a great market for advertisement and businesses is that a person's brain is so simple. We have a survival aspect. This means that we only tend to care about things that will keep us alive and thriving. We are known to have fight or flight mode, which helps us in dangerous situations. Every person needs food and water to survive and keep us alive. Last but not least people need sex to reproduce and keep their lineage going throughout the years. So businesses and advertisement communities tend to use all three of these things in one commercial or ad.
For example, let's talk about the famous Carl's Jr. commercial that was featured in 2005 with Paris Hilton. I feel like this commercial shows all of the three things that I listed above. It is a very sexualized commercial; Melissa Caldwell said, "This commercial is basically soft-core porn." It also involves a burger where Paris Hilton is seductively eating it and licking her fingers. Because of this, it would make the people attracted to her want to eat at Carl's Jr or people would want to be as seductive as her while eating the same burger from the commercial.
There are so many places that are now using sex in their commercials and ads to sell their products and up their sales in businesses. companies that sell alcohol, food, perfumes, clothing, shoes, gum, and even PETA! The list could go on but there are a few for you to think about.
Nowadays the sex in the commercials is usually closely related to humor. This is because it gives the people a good laugh and they forget about companies using men and women to seductively sell their products. Some of the companies that produce these commercials are Durex, Doritos, and Axe. Most of these commercials also appear around the time of the Superbowl because that is when a lot of people are surrounded around their tv's; the Superbowl is also known for the funniest and best commercials so why not make sex sell when everyone is watching?
A lot of the companies that do this have gotten their commercials banned from television because they are so risky. I think that it is incredible how car and shoe companies use sex to sell their products because it has nothing to do with those places... even food! Over time it has gotten worse and the companies are thinking of more ways to include sex in their campaign.
Sheetal Tadiparty
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