Over Exposure to Sex in Commercials

¶ … Exposure to Sex in Commercials

The adage, "sex sells," is nothing new, in fact, more than a century ago advertisers were using women in advertising campaigns for tobacco and soaps (Erotic pp). During the 1940's, George Petty became famous with his Petty girls, who were so popular in advertising for bathing attire and cigarettes that students at Princeton University selected Petty as their favorite artist in 1947, while Rembrandt came in second (Erotic pp). The sexual revolution of the 1960's became a catalyst for the use of sexual and erotic ads for just about anything and everything (Erotic pp). In 1966, Swedish model and former Miss Sweden, Gunilla Knutson, appearing in a television commercial for shaving cream encouraged men to "take it all off" to the tune of David Rose's popular hit "The Stripper" (Erotic pp). This ad created enormous attention and heralded in a new era for sex in advertising (Erotic pp). Calvin Klein was one of the first to push the envelope when it came to sex in advertising with his 1980 jeans campaign using 15-year-old Brooke Shields who said, "Nothing come between me and my Calvins" (Erotic pp). Today, there are thousands of ads that have a sexual and erotic flavor, however, many believe that eroticism is overused in the media (Erotic pp).

Richard Taflinger who teaches at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, says that sex is the second strongest of the psychological appeals, right behind self-preservation, and its strength is biological and instinctive (Taflinger pp). Since the purpose of advertising is to convince the public that they need these products, and to do it in a short time span or limited space (Taflinger pp). Sometimes, ads will use innuendo and double entendre in the copy, says Taflinger, who recalls a recent ad with the headline, "You can't win if you don't stick it in," which clearly was a connotation of sexual activity (Taflinger pp). However, the ad was actually promoting voting and carried an illustration of a hand putting a ballot in a box (Taflinger pp). According to Taflinger, using sex as a selling tool is not necessarily wrong if it is used biologically, however, if used culturally, it is wrong (Taflinger pp). For a male, the only criteria a female must meet is to be sexually arousing, nothing else is important, yet, for a female, arousal is not as important as receptiveness (Taflinger pp). In the human cultural world, this dichotomy between male and female views of sex often causes friction, as men regard women as "sex objects," and women find men as "insensitive louts" (Taflinger pp). Thus, the use of sex in advertising is a double-edged sword, because humans live in a social world, and consideration must be given to feelings, therefore, advertising that uses sex appeal must be carefully aimed and tastefully done to ensure that appealing to one sex is not offending the other (Taflinger pp).

The advertising and marketing research firm, Gallup & Robinson, reports that in more than fifty years of testing advertising effectiveness, it has found the use of the erotic to be a significantly above-average technique in communicating with the marketplace (Sex pp). Post-advertising sales response studies reveal that sex in advertising is very effective for attracting immediate interest, holding that interest, and introducing a product that somehow correlates with that interest (Sex pp).

Perhaps the most recent television ad to spark controversy concerning its sexual content is the new burger ad featuring Paris Hilton (Taylor pp). The racy ad features Paris Hilton clad in a swimsuit eating a burger and washing a Bentley (Taylor pp). The ad, which sparked a controversy when it aired on the West Coast, is now scheduled to hit the Midwest and Southeast markets (Taylor pp). Despite protests from the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council, who has referred to the ad as "basically soft-core porn," CKE Restaurants Inc. states it has no plans to tone down the ad (Taylor pp). The ad, which originally touted the Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger for CKE's Carl's Jr. chain, will begin airing June 27th in the Midwest and Southeast, to promote the Spicy BBQ Thickburger from CKE's Hardee's chain (Taylor pp).

Marketing vice president for both restaurant chains, Brad Haley, said that CKE had planned all along to use the commercial to sell burgers for both chains, and although, "We consider it a racy ad. It was designed to be a racy ad, but we don't consider it pornographic" (Taylor pp). In the ad, Hilton lathers up and cavorts with a running hose, with the tag line, "That's hot" (Taylor pp). Says Haley, "I think we knew that when we ran Paris, she would create attention. That was part of the appeal of using her" (Taylor pp). Haley said that although it is too soon to say how the ad has influenced Carl's Jr. burger sales, it has clearly had an impact on viewers, because Carl's Jr. Web site, and a special Spicy Paris site, have received millions of hits (Taylor pp). Rob Shuter, Hilton's publicist, said the socialite turned celebrity and businesswoman di the ads because she thought they were funny and hot (Taylor pp).

Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council watchdog group, said that council members have sent thousands of letters complaining about the ad (Taylor pp). Since the ad has been shifted to a later time slot, Bozell feels that this is an acknowledgment by CKE that the commercial has offended many people (Taylor pp). Says Bozell, "Our group's position is that this company ought to be ashamed of itself" (Taylor pp). Bozell believes that the Parents Television Council may have added "oxygen" to the firestorm over the ad in the short tern, but feels in the long-term those who are offended will stay away from Carl's Jr. And Hardee's (Taylor pp).