Sex+In+Advertising+(Abroad)

= Sex in Advertising (Abroad) = ** D  ****  efinition  ** Sex appeals are “ persuasive messages integrated with sexual information into an overall message about a brand” (Reichert,  2003). Using sex in advertising is becoming a more popular form of advertising throughout the world. This is all due to the idea that “sex sells.” Large companies that span various countries must create advertisements that positively influence potential buyers from each country. The level of sexual appeals differs from country to country based on the beliefs and values of the cultures within the country. These beliefs and values directly influence individuals in buying a certain product or idea. ** History of Sex in Advertising  **

  Sexual advertising has been around for many years. As the years have passed, though, the advertisements have become more “sexualized.” In the early years of advertising, certain ads that had women and men close together were considered sexual. Now, society has grown accustomed to seeing barely clad men and women consuming the pages of ads and the screens of televisions. In the first half of the twentieth century, many advertisements were considered “sexist” but not “sexy.” Ads about cleaning products had a woman cleaning her kitchen and ads that were about cars had a picture of a car. The ads showed more of the product and its uses rather than what the product could make you.  Then, in the 1960’s, a huge change occurred in the form of sexual advertising. Those things that seemed taboo became appropriate and even expected in advertising. However, in the 1970’s and the 1980’s, there was a lot of protest from women’s groups that saw women’s bodies being used as objects to sell products. In the 1990’s the amount of protests decreased, which increased the amount and the provocative nature of sexual imagery in advertising (Lynn, 2004). As the years went by, companies had to keep intensifying the sexual nature of their images in order to receive the shock value and garner the attention of potential buyers. Eventually, all sexual imagery lost the shock value and had many people questioning and resenting the constant use of these sexual images. As advertising expanded throughout the world, the International Code of Advertising was written, and it outlined the rules and regulations for advertising. These rules were first written in 1937 and have been revised in 1949, 1955, 1966, 1973 and 1987. Two pertinent articles of the code state that “a ll advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful” and “should not contain statements or visual presentations which offend prevailing standards of decency” (International Chamber of Commerce, 1997  ). All of the countries in the ICC are required to follow these articles as outlined in the code. These two specific articles expect all advertisements to be decent, which would mean that advertisements that are too sexualized would be considered inappropriate. However, since “decent” is a very relative term, it is difficult to hold companies accountable to this part of the code. ** Differences throughout the World ** Throughout the world, companies use advertisements to sell their products and messages. They make advertisements that they hope will appeal to customers by catching their attention and then hopefully be retained by customers. Some multinational agencies will use the same advertisement across countries, which may be met positively or negatively depending on the country. These differences are very dependent on the specific culture’s values, norms, and traditions.

                 Many western countries have products that they sell in Asian countries. However, many of the advertisements are accepted negatively as they are considered to be  “less acceptable morally than those using nonsex appeal.” (Cui & Yang, 2009, p. 242). Therefore, the sexual content does not have the desired effect in Asian countries as much as it does in the Western part of the world. Also, many Asian commercials for Western products include blonde, blue-eyed female models, but it has been shown that commercials that have Asian models are much more effective (Cui and Yang). Studies have shown that countries who have a “less authoritarian political culture contribute to greater sexuality in magazine advertising” (Cui & Yang, 2009, p. 230). For many Asian countries this is not the case, so the sexual appeals are not favored highly there.  There are also variations among European countries and Muslim countries. In Europe, “sex appeal is widely used and accepted” (Veloutsou & Ahmed, 2005, 97). Sexual advertisements for the most part are viewed positively by European viewers. However, Muslim countries do not approve of the barely-clothed models, because their culture expects men and women to wear “modest dress” (Veloutsou & Ahmed, 2005, 97). Therefore, the ads that contain a man just wearing a pair of jeans or a woman wearing just lingerie do not sit positively with Muslim people. A representative of Enterprise Nexus in India believes that “ suggestive ads only indicate that there is lack of creativity and since the brands are not able to spend big money, they try to get attention” (Danesi, 2005 ). The representative sees ads that allude to sexual appeal as the cheaper, easier form to advertise.  ** Recent Upheavals of Sexual Appeal ** As sex is becoming more popular in today’s media, there have been various groups and agencies throughout the world that are trying to limit or prohibit certain types of sexual appeals in advertising. For one, in France, activists have joined together to ban certain images of women that make them look like they are objects (Danesi, 2005). Many of these activists feel that the advertisements portray women as “objects for sale.” This protest relates directly to many of the comments that Jean Kilbourne (2000) made in her documentary “Killing Us Softly 3” about the objectification of women in advertising. These sentiments are felt by women around the world as they feel that women are being compared to objects rather than a person. Many women in countries like Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal “oppose ads that belittle women, insult their intelligence, depict them in an offending manner, imply sex inequalities, or display violence against them” (Bodewyn & Kunz, 1991). Others throughout the world believe that the images are just too much. A company in the United Kingdom, HeadlightVision LTD, did a study on people’s beliefs about advertising. The study found that “ young urban consumers were tired of sexual explicitness in advertising” (  Lynn, 2004). Sexual images are so prevalent in advertising that many young individuals do not see the appeal. This study was done in 14 large cities throughout the world, and all individuals seemed to have the same stance on the issue.

 Similar to the above views, many viewers are finding that the sexual imagery has become too provocative as it gets closer to pornography. In Australia, a study was done to show the similarities between outdoor advertisement and pin-ups, which are illegal to be seen in public areas. Similar to pin-ups, advertisements show a full-length view of a woman’s body, not her face, which objectifies her as a body rather than a person with a personality. In addition, both also share women wearing lingerie or swimwear, which again focuses more on the women’s body rather than other attributes (Rosewarne, 2007). By making the distinction between pin-ups and advertisements more difficult, advertisements have in essence become commonplace pornography, which alludes to Atwood’s idea of “pornographication” in which “sex is becoming more and more visible, and more explicit” (Attwood, 2006, p. 82). Complaints like these are bound to continue as the amount of sexual appeal increases in advertisements. There are more groups speaking out against the provocative nature of advertisements throughout the world, which may cause some changes in the future. People are not as influenced by sexual images as they used to be, so advertising companies may have to find new ways to catch people’s attention and reel them in to buying their product or message. ** References ** Reichert, T. (2003). Sex in advertising: what is it?. Retrieved from [] Lynn , M. (2004, November 8). Europe's shoppers get weary of sex in advertising.//Bloomberg// Retrieved from [] International Chamber of Commerce, Commission on Marketing, Advertising, and Distribution. (1997).//Icc international code of advertising practice//(240/381). World Business Organization. Retrieved from [] Cui, G, & Yang, X. (2009). Responses of chinese consumers to sex appeals in international advertising: a test of congruency theory. // Journal of Global Marketing //, // 22 // (3), Retrieved from [] Veloutsou, C., & Ahmed, S.R. (2005). Perception of sex appeal in print advertising by young female anglo-saxon and second generation asian-islamic british. // Journal of Promotion Management //, // 11 // (2), Retrieved from [] Danesi, Initials. (2005). // Advertising in articles: sex in advertising //. Retrieved from [] Kilbourne, J (2000). // Killing Us Softly 3. // Retrieved from [] Boddewyn, J., & Kunz, H. (1991, September-October). Sex and decency issues in advertising: general and international dimensions. // CBS Interactive Business Network //, Retrieved from [] Attwood, F. (2006). Sexed up: theorizing the sexualization of culture. // Sexualities //, // 9 //. Retrieved from [] Rosewarne, L. (2007). Pin-ups in public space: sexist outdoor advertising as sexual harrassment.//Women's Studies International Forum//, // 30 // (4), Retrieved from [] Images = Rispo, V. Socialism in the EU: ban sexy ads, ban everything! // Ad Savvy //   = Retrieved from [] // Meaton, D. (2008). The Grand Narrative //. Retrieved from []

