Sex Should Not Sell

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Recommended: the influence of advertising on consumers

Sex should not sell
Do not ever underestimate the persuasive influential power, of gorgeous women with more cleavage, or the power of a gentleman with a muscular body, to increase the consumer’s consumption. Tom Reichert in his book “The Erotic History of Advertising” emphasizes the idea that sometimes this frequent use of the sex sells technique increases some consumer interest and builds a strong brand identity (Reichert). In fact, Sex was used to advertisements since the 1900’s when the tobacco companies used some erotic images on their cigarettes’ boxes (o’bar). If there is more effective way to increase the consumer purchasing power and make a higher brand recall, in an appropriate way, such as humorous ads; why do marketers always resort to the sex ads? Sex ads should be banned not only because of the inappropriate content that affects the values of the society but also because it manipulates the consumer using his instincts.

Azouz 2
Marketers always use sexual provocative images that sometimes are not even related to neither the brand nor the story of the ad itself. Sex In ads is only a hook to grab the audience’s attention. In most cases, there is either a sexual insinuation or sexual innuendos or inappropriate sexual poses that is sometimes not related to the product. Rebecca Chacko commented on this in her article ”the Mystery of Sex in Advertisements” “the racy nature” of the sex advertisement catch the audiences and make them unintentionally engaged with the ad. For example pizza hut’s commercial in which they showed Jessica Simpson wearing a sexy red dress and serving the food while making seductive moves. They were only aiming to attract the consumer and engage him. Tom Reichert has shown that the use...

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Bonilla, Liza. "How Does Advertising Affect Women's Self Esteem?" Womenandadvertising. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2014.
Mulvey, Jeanette. "Why Sex Sells...More Than Ever." BusinessNewsDaily.com. Web. 18 May 2014.
Furnham, Adrian. "Does Sex Sell?" Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., n.d. December 13, 2013.Web. 14 May 2014.
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