Sexuality in Advertising

Much of our culture is based on physical attractiveness and its power to persuade, to attract, to influence, and, in a real sense, to succeed. Sex is used in advertising as an expression of physical attractiveness. Our advertising media clearly believe in the power of physical attractiveness to persuade, and spokespersons for products and other people used in television commercials and print ads tend to be physically attractive far beyond the norm in society, apparently based on the belief that we tend to listen more closely to a message delivered by someone who is physically attractive. We are certainly attracted to beauty, though our definition of beauty will differ from person to person and even from context to context. It seems clear then that we would tend to listen to someone who is physically attractive, in essence paying more attention to them than we would to someone who was not physically attractive. It is not as clear that we would be persuaded by beauty instead of by the strength of the messag

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ocative pose for Calvin Klein jeans, and it has escalated into fashion advertising that often looks like soft porn. Roger Livingston, chairman of the Seattle agency Livingston & Co., states: I don't think it matters what a bunch of middleaged ad executives have to say about the campaign. What is relevant is what 15yearold girls have to say about it. And I think most kids probably say, "Right on!" That seems to be the aim of most shock advertising: appeal to narrowly defined target groups of consumers (Horovitz, 1992, D1). The Calvin Klein campaigns that featured Brooke Shields claiming that "nothing comes between me and my Calvins" and rapper Marky Mark clutching himself through his underwear generated both public attention and media attention. In August 1995, Calvin Klein, Inc. responded to public pressure and halted an advertising campaign that critics claimed imitated "kiddie porn," using voiceovers, camera angles, and suggestive language which generated outrage from media analysts and the American Family Association: One television ad showed a young man standing before the camera with a male voiceover, "You got a real nice look. How old are you? Are you strong? You think you could rip that shirt off of you?
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2107
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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