Advertising: The Role Of Sex In Advertising

In today’s society it seems like everywhere you look, whether it is a billboard or a commercial, sex is the prime tactic that advertisers use. Any maker, researcher or advertiser will tell you that sex sells, but why? If you look at advertising this tactic has been used for decades, so this is nothing new. Advertisers have been using sex as the main focal point since the late 1800’s with the earliest advertisement for sex being published in 1871 by Pearl Tobacco (Kay, 2014). The ad displays a naked woman. It is interesting that in this ad the product they are trying to sell is not even in the picture. While on the other hand, when the topic of sex arises, it tends to make people unconformable. Thought sex seems to be everywhere you look it is still a taboo issue. After all, like the saying goes sex does sell. It is a …show more content…
This should not be but sadly this is a reality because no one wants to have the talk with their kids, they have to use TV, movies and ads as a guideline. Due to this resistance we have these ads, maybe if there wasn’t such a guilt associated with sexual expression, it would not have to the focal point of our everyday lives. But maybe if that guilty feeling did not exist, would sex and sexuality have to be subliminally hidden in our ads? So do we need sex in our ads to help us with our repression? It seems that this issue that I am addressing would be very different if I were living in a country like Spain or other countries where they embrace sex and are more willing to address the topic. I am not saying that in those countries they do not have sex in their advertising, but it is how they approach the topic that diverges from us. I am sure if they had an ad that featured a naked man it would not phase them, but if that same ad was placed here there would be a much different feeling about