Civil society organisation has expressed concern of usage of nudity and sex appeal in advertisement.

Would you consider such advertisement as offensive or effective? Discuss. Background: Sex Sells Sexual appeals have been a part of marketing since the introduction of modern advertising. This technique is often used in conjunction with bandwagon mentality, repetition, or alleged subliminal messages (Mooij, 2005). The use of sex appeals is an increasingly popular technique to sell products, namely those that are image-based, such as candy, liquor, cigarettes, jewelry, fragrance, cosmetics and fashion goods. One explanation is the increase in the exposure to and preponderance of advertisements. Advertising is a pervasive in our society on television, radio, magazines, newspapers, handbills, posters, billboards, direct mail and on the Internet. Advertising is everywhere. We are besieged with commercials at airport baggage carousels, on corporate telephone lines, on flashing screens at the local market, etc (Cohan, 2001). Sex appeals seem to capture the attention of the viewer, which is one of the primary goals of advertising. Sex is manifested in advertising in many forms. The most common

manifestation is having models wear sexy or revealing clothing (Reichert, 2003). Most people think that advertising in general has no influence of them. People do not typically admit that they are influenced by advertising (Cohan, 2001). Clearly this cannot be the case. Advertising supports more than 60 percent of magazine and newspaper production and almost all of the electronic media. Companies spend over $200 billion a year on advertising (Kibourne, 1999). The more likely explanation is that American consumers are conditioned to the exposure to advertisements- since they are a staple of life. The tendency in our society is to view commercial persuasion as neutral, since we are constantly exposed to it. However, this may not necessarily be the case. The use of

advertising in general has ethical questions associated with it, but these are amplified when impressionable teens are the target of techniques such as sexual appeals. This is important because there is no denying that sex is used to target teens. Over the years advertising and marketing communication messages have created a lot of debatable ethical issues, due to the public belief , that advertisements nowadays deeply affect

the way people perceive themselves and the world surrounding them, including crucial actions and behaviours. The are two main components advertisers aim to effect; the affective component, where affective message strategies are applied by invoking feelings and trying to match them with the product or service offered in an effort to increase the likeability of the product, and also the cognitive components, where the Ad focuses on the attributes and benefits of the product, encouraging the consumer to buy it. Such components are affected by the leverage points in an Ad; these are the features in the Ad that helps the consumer transfer the advertised message into personal value. In order to achieve that, over the years, advertisers have attempted a wide variety of advertising approaches, there are seven main ones; fear, humor, sex, music, rationality, emotions and scarcity. Advertisers use one or combine several of these appeals to ensure that their targeted audiences receive their message. Sex appeal can be defined as messages, whether as brand information in advertising contexts or as persuasive appeals in marketing contexts, which are integrated with sexual information, in particular, this appeal can be defined as the degree of nudity or sexual explicitness in an Ad, It can be found in the visual, audio, and verbal elements of advertisements Lately, the use of sex appeal in advertising has been increasing in Western countries and becoming more blatant as advertisers attempt to find ways to break through the media clutter, it has become one of the most popular and effective tactics in consumer advertising in most of the Western countries such as the United States.(Liu&Li&Cheng2006), male and female contact in advertisements has tripled in the past 30 years, decorative models are used to add a sexual stimulus to a product despite its irrelevance. Sex appeal is used to form some kind of brand awareness, using the shock technique. (Clow&Baack,2007) Such techniques are intentional and are sometimes meant to be controversial to grab more attention, increasing the viewers interest to follow the Ad, to eventually create the desired brand awareness and enhance persuasion. In support of the different claims of advertisers, many researches have studied sex appeal and nudity and its effect on advertising, almost all of them indeed proved that they do grab attention regardless of all the other different variables, such as age, gender or cultural background. (Walker1999)

Sex Sells, is a very well-known term in the advertising world, but now it is a much less powerful technique than before, due to the ethical dilemma surrounding it. Sex appeal is one of the most controversial advertising approaches found, that is although popular, faces a lot of criticism. Specially, the fact that many advertisers believe that consumers around the world have similar needs and desires and global marketing is becoming more homogenous (Chan, etal2007). Sex appeal vs. adolescents Many adolescents, watch a lot more programs than originally created for their specific age group, making them susceptible to a great deal of advertising messages including the ones that contain strong sexual content (Foley1999). The use of females in many Ads as sexual icons, have lead to the distortion of many beliefs and norms, especially in the minds of the young and innocent, at such age the mind of young people is not fully developed to be able to wisely differentiate between what is appropriate and what is not. Many of these Ads featured, use a minority of very thin female models those that are viewed as beautiful. Leading to the distortion of young females images of themselves, research have shown that many view themselves as being too fat, or ugly after viewing some of these Adolescent girls worldwide are facing risks to their health due to increased pressures for slimness. Exposure to sexual content have been found to cause 3 main mental health problems, especially on young girls; such as eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression The excessive exposure to sexual content has lead young people as well as many adults to treat it as something ordinary, youth now look up to the models or spokespeople in Ads as idols, they try to imitate them in their looks, outfit selection and style. Many well established outfit stores are following the sex appeal trend, using it as a way to attract young people to go in and buy from their stores, an example of such trend is the wellknown store, Abercrombie and Fitch; they now feature a quarterly mega log, that has become some kind of teen manual, it had texts such as a friend is someone I can betray with love and sex has nothing to do with sin. However, the Editors note stated that parental guidance is required for under aged children, but yet again age is subjective, although younger children wont be exposed to this magazine, older ones that are allowed will be equally affected Many marketers defend their strategy, by stating that is it a branding strategy.

Sex appeal is based around the appearance of nudity and the use of sexual attractiveness or suggestiveness (Bello et al., 1983). In a broad sense, Reichert et al. (2001) defined sex appeal as messages, whether as brand information in advertising contexts or as persuasive appeals in marketing contexts that are associated with sexual information. Since the mid-to-late 1960s, the use of sex appeal in advertising has been increasing in Western countries such as the USA and becoming more overt as advertisers attempt to find ways to break through the media clutter (LaTour and Henthorne, 1994). Price (2002) even claimed that sex appeal has become one of the most popular and effective tactics used in advertising. The prolific use of sex appeal in advertising suggests that it holds a number of potential advantages if used appropriately (Courtney and Whipple, 1983). First, the main purpose of using sex appeal is to attract attention (Reid and Soley, 1983). As early as the 1960s, researchers (Baker, 1961) had already found the grabbing value of sex appeal in advertising. In other words, a sex appeal ad will tend to not only attract initial attention but also retain this attention for longer periods of time than an ad without such appeal. Taflinger (1996) explained that the grabbing value of sex appeal comes from the fact that sex is the second strongest of the psychological appeals, right behind self-preservation. Second, using sex appeal in an ad may also help the audience remember the ad better; in other words, sex appeal can enhance the audiences recall and recognition of an ad, the advertised brand and the main message points (Reid and Soley, 1981). Shimp (2007) explained that sex appeal in advertising can enhance brand and message recall because sex content is often easy to relate to and memorable. The third role that sex appeal may serve in advertising is to evoke emotional responses, such as arousal, excitement or even lust, which in turn can create stimulation and desire for the product (Taflinger, 1996). LaTour et al. (1990) found a direct relationship between the positive arousal evoked by sex appeal and the positive evaluations of the advertised brand. Reichert et al. (2001) and Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) both noted that sex appeal, whether in the form of pictures, stories or sounds, evokes sexual thoughts and feelings among the audience, which can lead to favourable attitude towards the ad and the advertised brand. Finally, due to the aforementioned roles that sex appeal may play, some researchers (Saunders, 1996) believe that sex appeal ads are more persuasive than non-sex appeal ads. Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) claimed that sex appeal may enhance the persuasion impact because they may lead the audience through a favourable processing of an ad.

Reichert et al. (2001) also reported that sex appeal could attract attention and, therefore, could increase the likelihood of affecting persuasion, especially in a saturated media environment typified by passive viewing exposures. Owing to the impact of sex appeal on persuasion, Grazer and Keesling (1995) argued that sex appeal ads may gain higher buying intentions than non-sex appeal ads. However, there are uncertainties associated with the use of sex appeal (Judd and Alexander, 1983). First, previous studies (Reid and Soley, 1981, 1983) have consistently documented that sexual content may be eye-catching and entertaining, but It may distract the viewer from the main message and hence result in a reduction of recognition and recall (Steadman, 1969).More recently, Severn et al. (1990) argued that the use of explicit sexual messages in ads may interfere with consumers processing of message arguments and brand information, which in turn may reduce message comprehension. MacInnis et al. (1991) and Grazer and Keesling (1995) both claimed that the use of sex appeal may increase consumers motivation to process the ad and their attention to the ad, but may not necessarily enhance brand recall or induce positive attitudes towards a brand. Another uncertainty about the use of sex appeal lies in the gender differences in processing sex appeal. Numerous studies have demonstrated that men and women react differently to diverse forms of sex appeal due to their own implicit sexual and personal motivations and desires (LaTour, 1990; Price, 2002). This may be due to the fact that men and women have different perceptions about what is sexually attractive or being sexy (Garrett, 1993). Men are more concerned with a womans anatomy and appearance while women are more concerned with a mans intellect and personality (Zarchikoff, 2000). As the biological and psychological needs of men and women differ, the effectiveness of sex appeal is gender related (Grazer and Keesling, 1995). For example, using partially or complete female nudity may attract mens attention but may offend women (Taflinger, 1996). Reichert et al. (2001) pointed out that ads appealing to one gender may be offensive to another gender. Responses to sex appeal advertising Finally, the effectiveness of sex appeal also depends on its appropriateness to the advertised product. Richmond and Hartman (1982) claimed that sexual stimuli may enhance brand recall only if an appropriate relationship remains between the product category and the advertising

execution. Simpson et al. (1996) made a similar claim that positive attitudes may be induced by using sex appeal if there is relevance of the sex appeal to the advertised product. However, since sex appeal is widely used to sell all kinds of products and services, it is not easy to differentiate products appropriate for sex appeal and products inappropriate for sex appeal In their constant quest to attract consumers and associate products with cool or luxurious and hedonistic lifestyles, some advertisers have consistently pushed the boundaries of what is ethically and socially acceptable. American advertising has always embraced erotic suggestiveness while usually staying clear of full nudity and explicit sexuality. Campaigns that blur that distinction often arouse controversy and even protest. Advertising is both applauded and criticized not only for its role in selling products but also for its influence on the economy and on society. Introduction Sex in advertising has been the theme of much of 20th Century Advertising. It seems like all we see these days are advertisements which use the human body and sexuality to sell all kinds of products from food and cars to colognes and exercise equipment. It is virtually impossible to tune into an type of media they days and not encounter some type of an ad which uses sexuality to sell it's product. Most of the time sexuality and the use of the product in a real world setting is irrelevant, but for centuries if sexual connotation is put upon the use of a certain product then the product has been a success in the market place. This paper looks at some of the underlying issues surrounding sexual appeals within the consumer world. We look at what sexual appeal is, how it has changed over time, and how effective it really is in influencing consumer buying behaviour. Furthermore, we designed a survey to see how effective sexual advertising is today, and how these results relate to past studies. Sexual appeals in advertising appear in two major forms: sexual suggestiveness and nudity. Sexual suggestiveness involves situations that either portray or imply sexual themes or romance. Another form of sexual appeals in advertising is nudity or partial nudity, a technique often used by brands in the fragrance industry. Sex appeals in advertising are used frequently and with explicitness. The trend is not restricted to North America but is prevalent all over the world. Sexual material in advertising gets instant attention from the consumer, while also retaining what they have seen in their long term memory. These advertisements often feature attractive

models in provocative poses it is a strong attention-getter. The sexual content or symbolism in advertisements will enhance recall if it is... From these economic and social controversies, new questions arise regarding the responsibility for and control of advertising. What is the proper role for participants in the marketing process? How much latitude should marketers have in the kinds of products they promote and how they advertise them? And what about consumers? Dont they have some responsibility in the process? Finally, what is the proper role of government? What laws should we have to protect consumers? And what laws go too far and violate the marketers freedom of speech? Offensiveness in Advertising Offensiveness is another short-term style argument that also speaks to externalities. Many parents, for instance, were incensed at Calvin Kleins ads because they perceived them as pornographic, thereby causing a social cost that extended well beyond the limited scope of merely selling clothes. More recently, Abercrombie & Fitch came under attack for showing nude and seminude models in the companys quarterly catalogs. The fact is, people just dont want their children exposed to messages that they deem immoral, offensive, or strictly adultoriented. Taste, of course, is highly subjective: What is bad taste to some is perfectly acceptable to others. And tastes change. What is considered offensive today may not be so tomorrow. People were outraged when the first ad for underarm deodorant appeared in a 1927 Ladies Home Journal; today no one questions such ads. Yet, even with the AIDS scare, all the broadcast networks except Fox still restrict condom ads to local stations, and all forbid any talk of contraception. Taste is also geographic. A shockingly bloody ad for a small surfwear company in Sydney, Australia, showed a gutted shark lying on a dock. Protruding from its cut-open belly were a human skeleton and an intact pair of surfer shorts. The tagline: Tough clothes by Kadu Triple stitched. Strongest materials available. Homegrown and sewn. Today, grooming, fashion, and personal hygiene products often use partial nudity in their ads. Where nudity is relevant to the product, people are less likely to regard it as obscene or offensiveexcept, as in the case of Abercrombie & Fitch, when the advertising is targeting kids. In many European countries, in fact, nudity in commercials is commonplace. Even the

usually staid Brits are starting to see womens breasts in TV commercials and posters.36 Some industry observers predict that nudity in U.S. advertising will increase in the twentyfirst century but there will be fewer overt sexual scenes of the Abercrombie & Fitch style. Ethical advertising means doing what the advertiser and the advertisers peers believe is morally right in a given situation. Social responsibility means doing what society views as best for the welfare of people in general or for a specific community of people. Together, ethics and social responsibility can be seen as the moral obligation of advertisers not to violate our basic economic assumptions, even when there is no legal obligation SEX: an Emotional TRIGGER Sex, in general, is a controversial topic that usually attracts a lot of attention, which makes it highly exploitable for the attention craved advertisers. Sex is a means to gain consumers attention (Belch & Belch 2007). So then, what makes it so special? Why is it so appealing?

At its roots, sexual appeal is an emotional trigger. Brayan (2003) describes emotion as the soul of advertising. And in terms of advertising, there are countless emotions that an advertiser can tackle to help deliver the message in which he or she so desire to register into the audiences mind. According to Brayan (2003), emotional messages used in an advertisement should rouse your readers from indifference and propel them to action. These emotions can include, but not limited to, pleasure, leisure or peace, guilt, sadness, love and most importantly LUST.

...the Cause! A sin it might be, lust is still a great tool for drawing attention, which owes its emergence entirely to the entertainment industry. According to Copley (2004), Hollywood, fashion trends and MTV have had great influences on the tastes of todays audience, which have grown to favour, lust for or are attracted to sexually explicit contents in ads. For example, MTV, a television channel dedicated to music related shows, plays music videos of scantily clad women on a regular basis.

Fountains of Wayne Stacy's Mom music video In actuality, sexual appeal in advertising was hinted since before the 1900s, long before MTV came to be. According to Sivulka (1998), advertisers used heads of beautiful women in their ads in the 1850s, and after the Civil War the heads acquire bodies. In particular, Sivulka (1998) emphasizes greatly on the usage of tightly clothed women in circus ads in this same period. Depending on individual opinions, the history of sexual appeal in advertising can be traced even further back.

So is sex appeal in advertising ethical? Why do advertisers choose sex as their medium to promote? And does it really sell? Next: The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY...

The UGLY: Sex is Offensive While sexual innuendos in ads are not new in todays societies, the blatancy of its use IS, according to Wells et al (2007). Sex in advertising is becoming increasingly overbearing and advertising that portrays women (or men) as sex objects is considered demeaning and sexist, particularly if sex is not relevant to the product (Wells et al 2007). Not only reporters but the public especially angry housewives are very much against sexually explicit ads.

Miller Lite, an American beer company, created a TV advertisement showing two scantily clad women in a catfight; these women were apparently arguing over their preference in the lightness in beer (Tellis 2004). This commercial was highly criticised by the media and has also offended many feminists. The AWNY gave this commercial, which was simply named catfight, their Grand Ugly award for portraying women in the most offensive manner (Wells et al 2007).

Miller Lite 2003 TV commercial

Another not so well received advertisement was the 2005 Carls Jr. Spicy Burger television commercial. This commercial featured Paris Hilton, the famous heiress of the Hilton hotel fortune, reality TV star and a singer, in a skin-tight swimsuit soaping up a Bentley and crawling all over it before taking a big bite out of the burger (Silver 2005).

Paris Hilton in Carls Jr. Spicy Burger Commercial 2005 This particular commercial has offended many conservative audiences including the highly sensitive members of the PTC . Silver (2005) quoted Melissa Caldwell, research director for the PTC, saying, "This commercial is basically soft-core porn". The PTC wanted to limit the commercial to air only during specified TV programs, but the CEO of Carls Jr. felt differently about the issue and told the PTC to Get a life! (Silver 2005)

Spicy Burger Commercial...?

The mentioned commercials are just two of many advertisements audiences found to be distasteful or indecent. According to Belch & Belch (2007), numerous studies on the distastes consumers have towards advertising revealed that consumers find most advertising insult their intelligence and that most advertisements are done with poor taste. Seeing as indecent and sexually suggestive ads are becoming more and more common, Belch & Belch is definitely not exaggerating the extent of the findings. In the UK, an ad featuring a naked model, Sophie Dahl, promoting Yves Saint Laurent Opium fragrance attracted around 1000 complaints to the ASA (Hackley 2005). When this ad was featured in a fashion magazine, audiences found it acceptable in context. The complaints arose when the ad became a billboard display, which was deemed inappropriately sexual (Hackley 2005).

Another issue raised when sex in advertising is concern is the perfection of body image in relation to self-esteem problem. Clow & Baack (2002) explained that one of the major flaws in the use of sexual appeal in advertising is the fact that it makes the audiences feel insecure about the way they look.

Thin Female Model

Fit Male Model

Clow & Baack (2002) said that although the models in advertisements have gotten thinner, the levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders among women have risen. Men also suffer from similar issue. According to Clow & Baack (2002), men feel they are not muscular enough and are too thin or too fat. Funnily enough, the gender of the model men views to get this affect does not matter (Clow & Baack 2002).

The fact of the matter is, contemporary models used in todays ads presents an image of perfection to the audiences, which consequently increase the audiences desires to have similar features as the models. These desires can turn into obsessions and obsessions can force people to take extreme measures in order to achieve what they want. This is why anorexia, bulimia and BDD continue to manifest and the plastic surgery industry continue to grow.

In a study done by Belch & Belch (2007), women seem to have developed a strong dislike towards sex in advertising. When ask if they feel that there is too much sex in advertising, more than 50% of the respondents answered yes.

Courtesy of Belch & Belch (2007)

In this same study by Belch & Belch (2007), women continue to vote against sex in advertising. With strong percentage for statements such as Ads with sexual themes are a sign of general deterioration of moral and social values and ads with sexual themes pose a threat to the proper upbringing of children.

It is safe to say that most, if not all, ads that uses sexually suggestive contents to attract attention is unethical.

But, is there anything wrong with that...!? Technicalities aside, unethical ads attract a lot of attention ...isnt that what really matters most in the field of advertising!?

The GOOD: Sex Sells According Reichert et al (cited in Frith & Mueller 2006), attractive bodies and sexual stimuli are often used to grab the viewers attention and to lend interest to a product or service. Like it or not, sex is an attention magnet. Ads based on sex appeal generally draw the attention of audiences (Tellis 2004). It is often hard to keep from glancing at ads with sexual contents. People who are against it will look at it to criticise and people who are for it will look at it for the appeal. The frequency and persistence of sex appeals in advertising and the attention that such ads get from the audiences and reporters, either positive or negative, have led many people to believe Sex Sells (Tellis 2004).

Clow & Baack (2002) explained that the reason why Calvin Klein exploits sex appeal and continue to include nudity in ads is simple: higher sales.

Calvin Klein Underwear ad

Even though, Calvin Klein was forced to cancel one of its controversial ads, sales of CK Jeans rose from USD 113 to USD 463 in just one year (Clow & Baack 2002). The attention of controversial advertisements, whether its negative or positive, forces its way into the media which further promote the product indirectly.

CK Jeans ad

Calvin Klein Jeans ad

Sex appeal and nudity in advertising have been studied and researched many times throughout the course of history. According to Clow & Baack (2002), almost all of them conclude that sex and nudity do increase attention. As hinted earlier, sex attracts. People will look at ads that contain sex appeal regardless of the gender of the individuals in the advertisement or the gender of the audience (Clow & Baack 2002). On a side note, Clow and Baack also mentioned that the attention is greater for opposite-sex situations.

Belch & Belch (2007) did a study on the use of sexual appeal in advertising called Attitude towards Sex in Advertising: Men versus Women. Their study found that the majority of men admit to having attractions towards ads with sexually suggestive themes.

Courtesy of Belch & Belch (2007)

63% is a viable amount, seeing as it represents more than half of the sample frame. Belch & Belch also found almost half of the men sampled said that they favour or like ads with sexual themes.

Courtesy of Belch & Belch (2007)

In the end, most people will look at ads that are sexually explicit because, whether for the eye-candy or out of disgust, its eye-catching.

The fact is now clear, SEX attracts sights. But, whats more important, though, is does SEX actually attract sales?

The BAD: SEX Sells...? The debate of whether sex appeals in ads help a products sales is a never ending one. According to Frith & Mueller (2006), there are sexy ads featuring some degree of nudity in countless magazines, but the question of whether all these sexy bodies really sells products still remains controversial. Researchers have proved that sexy ads attract attentions, but it is much harder to find out if those attentions translate into sales and profits.

As mentioned, even though Calvin Klein Jeans saw enormous growth in sales subsequent to a cancelation of a controversial advertising campaign (Clow & Baack 2002), it does not mean that the increased sales owe its entirety to those ads. While it is possible that the controversial ad helped promote the products involved, to say that the sales only happened because of the ads might be a bit of a stretch.

Calvin Klein Jeans ad

Although Ads with sexual contents draw attentions, the brand recalls of those ads are found to be less than considered essential. According Clow & Baack (2002) although sexually oriented ads attract attention, brand recall for ads using a sex appeal are lower than ads using some other type of appeal. The Can you hear me now? advertisement campaign by Verizon wireless is a prime example of excellent non sex appeal ads.

Verizon Ad

According a study done by Belch & Belch (2007), the percentage of men able to recall the brand of ads with sexual contents is below average and women have an even lower percentage.

Courtesy of Belch & Belch (2007)

More importantly, the percentage of both men and women that purchase products with sexually suggestive ads is even lower. Whether these findings can

Courtesy of Belch & Belch (2007)

be held accountable is a matter of opinion, it does give an overview of how much sex appeal sells.

Sex in advertising was rare, but nowadays sexy ads can be seen nearly everywhere. Clow & Baack (2002) explained that everybody has heard that Sex Sells. Although this may be true, it may be a less powerful weapon than it used to be. Nudity does not have the shock value it once did. Before when audiences see nudity in add, they would look due to the

scarcity and controversy. Now, where nudity in ads is so common, audiences would probably turn the page with little care for the ads.

...what does all this add up to?

IN CONCLUSION: SEX in advertising is UNETHICAL, SELLS and doesnt SELL. Determining the effectiveness of sex in advertising is not simple. Even though sexual appeal attracts attention, but at what cause? Then again, attention is the only thing advertisers really crave. Ethics aside, sex helps give products awareness, which is the focal point of advertising. On the other hand, whether sex sells or not depends highly on personal opinion. The only thing that has been proven as fact about sex in advertising is that sex attracts attention.