Sooner or later, we all have to face the fact that SEX does sell. But why?
Why does Lady Gaga instantly become #1 on the charts compared to Carrie Underwood, who has been in the business longer and released more albums? I think the answer to that is this: if Carrie Underwood paraded Hollywood and MTV scantily clad in her skimpies, she would be the talk of the show.
Sex gains ATTENTION. Marketers and companies have to compete against thousands of other advertisements. It is enough of a taboo subject that we want to see more, but we're still shocked and captivated when we do. People yearn towards romance, love, acceptance, and self-esteem. Products that use sex as their advertising method attempt to satisfy some of these customers needs by telling them that you will be sexy if you buy this, you will get romance, you will get love, you will have intimacy.
Using sex to promote products and services is acceptable to the point where it becomes so uncomfortable and offensive that customers begin to boycott your products and spread negative attitudes.
For instance, this ad by Dolce and Gabanna seems to promote rape and creates an angry attitude by it's customers. Even though their brand is being kept in the limelight and recognized by more people, the appeal or their company and image after this ad become negative, even to the point where International Amnesty ask for their advertisements to be removed completely from selected countries because it promotes violence against women.
The website CreativeBits has an article that displays multiple raunchy and sexual ads ranging from travel to cosmetics, further emphasizing the fact that we are exposed to so much sex in ads in today's time that we almost become numb to it and find it perfectly normal, something that would have been a SHOCK and outrage to people a couple of years ago.
