Topic > Discussion on whether or not to use sexual appeals in advertising

The article discusses whether it is ethical to use sexual appeals in advertising. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The study also examines: (1) whether sex sells, how it is used in advertising, (2) the use of men and women in sexual ads, (3) the role ethics play in use of sexual appeals in advertising to show how wrong it is. This study is important because it not only focuses on the use of sexual appeals in advertising, but also examines how ethical it is to do so. Advertisers try to appeal to people's emotions and force them to buy things they don't need. While sexual attraction does not cause any direct or personal harm, it should not be a tool used in the advertising industry. A good example to demonstrate this point would be to look at AX ads. One ad shows a man with his arm around a woman with the arrow pointing down the front of her low-cut shirt. Next to the arrows is the phrase: "To get what you want" (Ordonez, p.48). In this case, strong overt sexual appeal is used to imprint brand memory on AXE. As a result, it is safe to say that the brand has also been labeled as a company involved in strong overt sexual advertising. Although the use of highly sexual print ads is viewed more negatively, women's attitudes are significantly more negative than women's. that of their male counterparts. As the morals and ethics of society change over the years, what is considered appropriate and acceptable by society must also change. It is therefore essential to re-evaluate the assumptions on which strategic decisions are based when talking about print advertising. Advertisers must consider the potential social issues and consequences at play when considering an advertisement that contains sexual appeal. This point of view fits into consequentialism, opposing the categorical imperative. While they may be effective depending on the audience and bring happiness to actual or potential customers, sexual images in advertising have many consequences that should not be ignored. Women have often been the target of sexual advertising because it seems to work in many cases. . Sex is a powerful and simple way to attract male attention and make a product desirable. In advertising, it is easy to get a man's attention by using women's bodies and associating them with attracting women if he buys the product. Although it works, it objectifies them and for this reason the principle of utility cannot be universal. Happiness is not the best outcome when viewers are exposed to sex in advertising. Some people are offended (women, children, parents and people who have certain customs). It also labels some companies as “sexual,” and that is not the label they intended to receive in the beginning. All in all, the result does not outweigh all other considerations, which is why using sex as an advertising tool is morally wrong. For better or worse, sexual appeals only work in some ads. Many other studies have been conducted on this topic. Jones, Stanaland, and Gelb conducted an experiment in 1998 to see how men and women responded to advertisements for beefcake and cheesecake. A spectacular advert featuring a sexy male model in the center of the advert. In the cheesecake advertisement there is a sexy female model in the center of the advertisement. The study concluded that women had scores ofhigher recognition for the ad featuring a non-sexy male model than the beefcake ad, and men had higher recall scores for the ad featuring a non-sexy female than the cheesecake ad. The study also found that men had higher recognition scores than women for the beefcake commercial, and men who watched the cheesecake commercial had lower recognition scores than women who watched the beefcake commercial. Additionally, men had lower recall than women for the cheesecake advertisement. They concluded their study by stating that "unsexy ads appeared to do the most good with the least harm" (p.36). This may be related to the utility principle: the idea that the moral value of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility in maximizing the summed happiness or pleasure across all people. Depending on the target market (or audience), happiness can be maximized for both groups (those who are attracted by sexy advertisements and those who are not are). Responding to this case study, Tom Reichert, author of the book: Sex in Advertising: Perspective on Erotic Appeal, explains that "sex doesn't always sell, but sensuality does" (p. 55). Using sex appeals in advertising is a good way to target certain market segments, but it doesn't work for everyone. It's been a long time since the use of sexual appeals in advertising has become widespread. Sex is everywhere classified into different distinctions. Reichert conducted a study in 2000 that revealed four characteristics of sexy advertisements: physical characteristics of models, behavior/movement, intimacy between models, and contextual characteristics such as camera effects. He tried to find what people consider sexy in advertising. Those that emerged most frequently were physical characteristics (66%), the model's movements and verbal and non-verbal communication (39%), contextual characteristics (26%) and proxemics (15%) (p.267 -269). He noticed that what people called sexy differed from gender to gender. The study showed that women had a greater response than men (35% compared to 20% of men). Additionally, it was found that 28% of women responded to references to physical distance or model interaction compared to 6% of men (p.269). It is crucial to evaluate the audience who will see the ads before invoking sexual appeal in the ad. A recent study found that there is no industry-wide plan for advertisers to use men as voiceovers in ads. Rather, individual advertisers and agencies make decisions about specific products and ad execution. For example, the gender of a spokesperson and announcer can influence advertising ratings for a gender-specific product but not for products with non-gendered images (Whipple & McManamon p.87). The use of overt sexual appeals in print advertising has increased considerably in contemporary advertising practice. Today, it is common for a reader of any age to pick up a general interest consumer magazine and find an advertisement featuring models in provocative poses and clothing for many consumer products (Henthrone & LaTour p.82). Since the beginning of the 21st century, the use of sexual appeals in print advertising has become commonplace. Calvin Klein is one of the most memorable companies, which bases its advertising on sexual appeals. Their advertisements often feature nude scenes of couples in a rather provocative position. Furthermore, many.