Advertising and the Sexual Appeal

Sex is often used as a way to connect with the consumer through an emotional appeal. Men are more likely to remember a message that they find stimulating than women. Women need to have more of an emotional connection, than just pure lust for the object of the ad, whereas men enjoy the visual stimulation. The problem is that although both genders recall the scantily clad girl or the beefcake, they are rarely able to remember the product that the ad was for. This raises the question of why sexual appeals are still being used in advertising if they have a narrow appeal and a low recall rate.


Sex appeals will continue to be used as long as there are consumers, but where is the proverbial line to be drawn? According to Jessica Blair, et al, there are four guidelines that the industry should follow in determining the appropriateness of using sexual appeal. “Targeting consumers as carefully as possible to avoid unnecessary conflict and to minimize the viewing of sexual appeal by people who might be disconcerted by them” is the first guideline. This raises the point of using targeting to make sure that the audience will be receptive to that point. It is less common to see sex appeal in a television spot versus a print ad for this reason. Although television is rapidly expanding and the Big Three is something of the past, television is considered more prominent and more widely viewed, therefore it should be weighed more heavily when considering a sexual appeal. Magazines have the advantage of having a cover that hides the secrets that are within, and are able to get away with more risqué and daring ad campaigns. The other guidelines Blair presents is, raising advertisers awareness of who they may be affecting, testing the effects of their ads on the public, as a whole, not just the target audience, and to consider “the effects of their commercials in prompting individuals, whether in their target or not, to take actions that have negative consequences.” Advertisers must adhere to guidelines like these in order to stave off government interference according to Blair. By self-monitoring the advertising world will continue to get away with its use of sex.


Dove, which is part of Unilever, launched their campaign for real beauty in 2004. The company claims that sales have increased since the launch of the campaign, but the results are not as clear. Earlier this year Dove was faced with a scandal when an article in the New Yorker mentioned that photo retouching may have been used on the ads featuring the real women. Dove has also launched a line for women of advancing age and for women who do not have as many body image issues, but do still suffer from the occasional bad hair day. Dove was able to grab the media’s attention and to create a buzz around the campaign, because it was so avant garde. Barbara Lippert, from Adweek says, I applaud the agency for keeping a level playing field by subverting mainly beauty brand claims,” but, “…this brand, part of Unilever, makes products that offer some lighter, brighter, tighter, firmer claims of their own. Dove is muddying the waters for the consumer. How can a company that hosts numerous workshops to teach girls about self esteem turn around and tell their mothers that they should buy this cream which will make them look younger (which inherently means, better)? The nominal increase in sales that Dove has seen may not be attributable to the campaign. Studies show that although women do not like being objectified by advertisements, by showing them a flawless woman they want to purchase the product because now they have something to strive for. View DOVE Campaign for Real Beauty videos.


The way women view themselves and the culture that surrounds them affects how they feel about using sex in advertising. Amanda Zimmerman and John Dahlberg present data from 1991 and compare it with results from 2008 to compare how women then and now see women in advertising. The authors present “third wave feminists.” “This feminism embraces sexuality. It views sex as power.” However, in advertising, where women can be categorized into “housewife, decorative element, sex object and dependent on men,” according to a study by Ferguson, Kreshel and Tinkham, women are not being empowered, but trivialized.


Although the facts surrounding the use of sex appeal in advertising tend to skew negative, it is a necessary evil that will continue. Advertisers must create an image and an ideal for the product that the consumer wants to strive for. Dove may have the campaign for real beauty, but they also sell wrinkle cream to diminish the signs of aging. This dichotomy shows that even a company that is trying to go against the trend will inevitably succumb to it to maintain profitability. Women may not like to see themselves as a “decorative element,” but when they look at an ad they do not want to see a tired looking soccer mom anymore than the guy who thinks he is going to get all the ladies by wearing a body spray. Advertising creates an illusion, or delusion, that people want to achieve.