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"Advertisers use sex because it can be very effective,"said researcher Tom Reichert, professor and head of the departmentof advertising and public relations in the UGA Grady College ofJournalism and Mass Communication. "Sex sells because itattracts attention. People are hard wired to notice sexuallyrelevant information so ads with sexual content get noticed." People also succumb to the 'buy this, get this' imagery used inads, he said. "Some young men actually think Axe body spray will drive womencrazy," he said. "But, brand impressions are shaped byimages in advertising, too. Arguable, Calvin Klein and Victoria'sSecret are not much different than Hanes or Vassarette, butperception studies show those brands are perceived as 'sexy,' andsome customers want that." Looking at 3,232 full-page ads published in 1983, 1993 and 2003 inpopular magazines Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Esquire, Playboy, Newsweekand Time, researchers found sexual imagery in 20 percent of theads. Using sex to sell everything from alcohol to banking serviceshas increased over the years: 15 percent of ads used sex to sell in1983; that percentage grew to 27 percent in 2003. Ads were categorized based on the models' clothing, or lackthereof, and physical contact between models. "Our findings show that the increase in visual sexual imageryover the three decades of analysis is attributable to productsalready featuring sexual content in ads, not necessarily widespreadadoption by other product categories," Reichert said."Specifically, alcohol, entertainment and beauty ads areresponsible for much of the increase." The study showed sex is primarily used to sell low-risk productspurchased on impulse. "Sex is not as effective when selling high-risk, informationalproducts such as banking services, appliances and utilitytrucks," he said. Much of the growth was seen in alcohol, entertainment and beautyadvertising. Out of 18 product categories, those most often usingsexual imagery in advertising were health and hygiene at 38percent; beauty, 36 percent; drugs and medicine, 29 percent,clothing, 27 percent; travel, 23 percent; and entertainment, 21percent. "In almost every study I've seen, sexual content gives apurchase advantage in such instances," Reichert said. Products not using sex in their ads were charitable organizationsand computer companies. Women are used to sell products most often when pitching sex. Inads sampled from 2003, 92 percent of beauty ads that containedmodels were female. Just under half the ads did not contain models. With the exception of entertainment advertising, femalesoverwhelming occupy the pages of sex-selling advertisements. Of the38 percent of provocative health and hygiene advertisements thatfeature models, 31 percent feature females and 7 percent featuremales. "Perhaps more important, this analysis shows that theproportion for alcohol ads in 2003 increased to about one sexual adfor every three ads (37 percent)," Reichert said. "Usingsex to sell products such as alcohol and tobacco is a moralissue." Reichert said this upward trend in erotic ads is a reflection ofsociety. "It takes more explicitness to grab our attention and arouseus than before," he said. "In the early 1900s, exposedarms and ankles of female models generated the same level ofarousal as partially nude models do today. We can see during ourlifetimes the changes in sexually explicit content on television,movies, books and other forms of media beyond justadvertising.". We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Dimmable LED Downlights Manufacturer , China LED Ceiling Spotlights for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Dimmable LED Downlights.
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