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The use of sex appeal is not a new phenomenon in marketing. The blatantly sexual images depicted on walls in ancient Pompeii suggest that sex was used in public places to advertise various products ranging from food to baths to prostitution. (This is reminiscent of the explicit catalogs of "services available" that are distributed by hand and found in display cases along the streets of Las Vegas every night.) In ancient times, these public advertisements were not limited to "sin cities" like Pompeii, nor to just "sin services."

As early as Victorian 1850, marketers were using the opposite sex as eye-catching images to promote their products and services. According to Goodrum and Dalrymple (1990), "Full female nudity was introduced with a photograph . . . to illustrate a Woodbury Soap ad in 1936." Prior to that time, advertisers used sexual innuendo in copy by barely hinting at sexual images. Take, for instance, an advertisement for Iron Clad Hosiery from 1927. An attractive woman dressed in what today would be considered not very revealing undergarments seems to be caressing her "Iron Clad" ankle with an air of sensuality that is barely perceptible. The image is accompanied by the slogan, "The kind of beauty that thrills." In addition, the print in the ad notes the "mysterious quality which glorifies the wearer's own shapeliness and grace" that the hosiery offers. The image is less sexually suggestive than the copy of the advertisement (Goodrum and Dalrymple 1990).

Sexual appeal has been defined as "the degree of nudity or sexual explicitness found in visual, audio, and/or verbal elements of advertisements" (Gould 1994; Reichert and Carpenter 2004). It has long been accepted that sex appeals have stopping power, encouraging readers and viewers to stop, look, and listen. The "wow" factor of sexual appeals attracts attention to promotional messages, encouraging readers to notice specific messages out of the media clutter or barrage of stimuli to which they are exposed.

Nowhere has the stopping power of sex been used with more success than in the retailing industry. Consider Abercrombie and Fitch and its former quarterly publication called by many a "magalog." Although the company contended the publication was a catalog to showcase and sell its merchandise, most of the models in the magazine were nude or nearly nude. It should have made even the casual viewer wonder, "How can a retailer expect to sell clothes from a catalog when none of the models are wearing any?" The company and its magazine sparked public outcry with its depiction of teenage boys and girls scantily clothed (if at all) in very suggestive poses. According to critics, "Not only did the magazine target teens, it did so in a sexual way . . . evident in the way the individual images in the magazine were staged" (Spurgin 2006).

Sexual imagery can also create problems and be counterproductive for marketers. It is widely accepted that sex appeal attracts attention, but studies show that it rarely encourages actual purchase behavior. Specifically, sexual images attract consumers to the ad but do not enhance the profitability of the brand or product. In some cases, sexual appeal has been shown to distract the audience from the main message of the marketer and interfere with comprehension, especially when there is complex information to be processed.

If marketers are going to use sexual images in ads, it is imperative that they know their audience, because several variables have been shown to play a role in the effectiveness of sexual appeals. For example, sex appeal seems to work differently for men and women and affect message comprehension and recall. Studies show that men often become so aroused by nudity used in ads that they have a hard time remembering components of the actual message or what the ad was about (Schiff man and Kanuk 2007). Women tend to be attracted to ads that use elements of fantasy, love, and romance, whereas men are more attracted to appeals that use nudity (Anne 1971). In addition, age seems to be related to whether a viewer responds favorably or unfavorably to sexual appeals (Maciejwski 2004). Younger audiences are usually less offended by sexual images, although this too may differ by gender. In a study of college-age consumers, researchers found that men and women differ significantly in their assessments of sexual appeals. Advertisers must take care when using sexual imagery (especially featuring women) in ads targeted to female college-age consumers (Maciejwski 2004). What one person finds erotic, another person may find offensive.

The bottom line for marketers is synergy. Sex ads do not work for all products. Sexually oriented appeals may be a poor promotional choice if the product, the ad, the target audience, and the sexual images themselves don't all fit and complement each other (i.e., when the sexual images are unrelated to product claims, such as scantily clad women selling products for a hardware store).

References:

Anne, C., "Sexual Promotion Can Motivate, Distract, Alienate, or Liberate." Advertising and Sales Promotion 19, no. 10 (1971): 52.

Associated Press, "Coffee Shops Show a Little Skin to Compete." KOMO-TV- Seattle, Washington-News ( January 9, 2007). http://www.komotv.com/news/5402241.html

Brady, James, "Fueling, Feeling the Heat." Advertising Age (September 4, 1995): 1, 34.

Danziger, Pamela N., Why People Buy Things They Don't Need. New York: Paramount Market Publishing, 2002.

Duncan, Tom, IMC: Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands. New York: Irwin/McGrawHill, 2001.

Elliot, Stuart, "Emphasizing Taste, and Not Just in Beer, at Super Bowl." New York Times (January 26, 2005).

Goodrum, Charles, and Helen Dalrymple, Advertising in America: The First 200 Years. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990.

Gould, Stephen, "Sexuality and Ethics in Advertising: A Research Agenda and Policy Guideline Perspective." Journal of Advertising 23, no. 3 (1994): 73-81.

Kilbourne, Jean, "What Else Does Sex Sell?" International Journal of Advertising 24, no. 1 (2005): 119-122.

Lippe, Dan, "Readers Rate Klein 'Porn' Campaign." Advertising Age (September 4, 1995): 34.

Maciejwski, Jeffrey J., "Is the Use of Sexual and Fear Appeals Ethical? A Moral Evaluation by Generation Y College Students." Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising 26, no. 2 (2004): 97-105.

Reichert, Tom, The Erotic History of Advertising. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003.

Reichert, T., and C. Carpenter, "An Update on Sex in Magazine Advertising: 1983 to 2003." Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 81, no. 4 (2004): 823-837.

Rutherford, Paul, A World Made Sexy: Freud to Madonna. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007.

Schiff man, Leon G., and Leslie Lazar Kanuk, Consumer Behavior, 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2007.

Spurgin, Earl W., "What Was Wrong with Abercrombie and Fitch's 'Magalog'?" Business and Society Review 111, no. 4 (2006): 387-408.

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