Sex Sells, But Will You Go To Hell?
I learned that there are some *ist words that are quite controversial. Sexist, elitist, masochist, dentist… well, you get the idea. But the thing is, in marketing, controversy sells. Which is probably one of the reasons sex sells.
This then leads us into another controversy, your conscience. Are you my conscience?
When is it ethical to use sex to sell? Is it ever?
There was a study that was discussed in about Sex In Advertising (link has a few naughty images) that seems to imply that using sex in ads might not be as effective as is commonly believed.
So, if using sex might actually back-fire against your campaign, is it worth the risk then to take this route? There must be better ways to create impact and stir interest. Must we really resort to the lowest tier in Maslow’s little pyramid?
Tell me what you think!
Quit Smoking said,
February 22, 2008 at 5:01 am
To get sexy chicks posing by the car or touting cigarettes will get the advertisers more eyeballs. More eyeballs = more sales, so you can bet that sex in advertising will stay. Advertisers and their ad people will resort to anything to sell their products. For LOL, they even get Santa to promote cigarettes as a gift of pleasure! Check this out: Santa Smokes Lucky Strikes
9 Things That You Should Take Note of Around the Writing Blogosphere said,
February 22, 2008 at 6:54 pm
[...] to add his own sense of humor and originality into his topic. Visit him today and they’re talking about sex. [...]
Laura said,
February 23, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Interesting discussion on ethics. How far is too far when it comes to selling the product?
Calvin Warr said,
February 24, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Well, some might say that if you fail to sell, then you have not gone far enough… witness Paris Hilton.. :)
Gayla McCord said,
March 6, 2008 at 1:53 pm
It’s sad that controversy and sex are the top selling points. But it’s so true! Historically if I look at my blogs and their traffic, my top traffic posts are controversial or downright sexy! It’s so bad that if I see near mid-month that the month is dragging in terms of traffic, I will purposely interject controversy as a means of budgeting.
Domestic Divapalooza said,
March 11, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Tell me something.. is this the most highly visited post on the front page of your blog?
I’ll be honest..
I scrolled down the page skipping over the “how to’s” and “diy” type of posts and then I saw this one about “sex” and “hell”.
I think if people would just be themselves and blog about what it is that has caught their attention whether it be politically correct OR not, blogs would be a tad bit more interesting to read.
A blogger that can’t be honest about what it is they think technically should not be journaling at all.
Calvin Warr said,
March 12, 2008 at 2:56 am
strangely, I don’t think so… but I am not even sure about my data, because I don’t really track them! :) I think the Leadership series and the silly Technorati experiment stuff gets the most views… :) But you might be right, on the front page, it’s probably getting a lot of reads.
» Warned You About Sex in Advertising, right? said,
March 25, 2008 at 12:13 pm
[...] You see, I have never met the marketing folks over at Burger King. If only they read the warning… [...]