Sex+in+Advertising+(In+The+United+States)

** Introduction ** ** Sex in advertising ** is the use of sex appeal to promote a product or service in an advertisement. Sex appeals try to influence the attitudes and/or behaviors of an audience by using sexual language or images (Bond, 2011).
 * Sex in Advertising in the United States **

The four functions of sex appeals in advertising include to: attract attention, increase recall, trigger associative networks, and influence. Attracting attention involves using sex appeal to attract the initial attention to advertisements and ads with sex appeal tend to hold attention longer than other types of ads. The second function, to increase recall, involves helping the audience remember an ad better whether it is the recall and recognition of: the specific ad, a brand, or the main message. Research has suggested that ads with sexual content are typically easier to relate to and are often more memorable. The third function, triggering associative networks, involves linking personal feeling about sex with a product or service featured in an advertisement. The final function of sex appeals, influence, involves a combination of the previous three functions. By attracting attention, increasing recall and triggering associations, it is likely to influence people to either purchase a product or be more likely to purchase it in the future (Bond, 2011).

** History ** Sexual imagery has been included in advertisements since the beginning of its existence. In the “prefeminist era,” (pre-1950 to the early 1960s), women were typically depicted in their homes. At this time, men were typically placed in the public sphere working or making important authoritative positions. Based on studies conducted in the 1970s, most television images were relatively stereotypical and the private domain was still the domain women were shown in. Following the feminist period, there were some convergences in the roles of men and women that were depicted in advertising, but there were still differences. When a study from 1983 was conducted evaluating the depiction of each sex in advertising, women were overall shown to be less dependent on their male counterparts, less likely to be featured as a sex appeal, and men were depicted less with dominance over women. There is an increasing number of advertising being produced today that feature exploitation of women, included a study done in 1993 of fitness and fashion magazines. Since then, the overall use of sexual appeals has continued to increase in advertising (Mager & Helgeson, 2010).

** A Cultural Comparison ** Overall, the usage of sexual appeals has proven to improve the effectiveness of most advertising, but this is not necessarily the case in every country. The use of sexualized advertising might succeed in one country or culture but completely fail in another (Sawang, 2010). In general, advertising is believed to solidify and reinforce the values of a country and the roles that are most proper, best, and natural for each sex in a culture. The inaccurate depicting of women, for example, can be detrimental to a particular society because it creates misconceptions and stereotypes among its people (Gilly, 1988). The United States practices an individualistic culture, which means that priority is given to personal goals as opposed to the group or society as a whole. This means not only being self-sufficient, but striving to become successful and have control over your life without the help of others around you. This is much different from the cultural paradigm of many other countries that practice collectivism (do what is best for the group). Studies have found that Americans prefer sexual advertising more than Asians. Because of these cultural differences it is extremely challenging to advertise across cultural boundaries, and global advertisers need to keep this in mind this cultural sensitivity when creating advertisements for global campaigns (Sawang, 2010).

** The Gender-Role Stereotype ** One of the most prominent complaints about sexual appeals in advertising is that a majority of ads reinforce gender-role stereotypes that may or may not be accurate or accepted in the present day. In a study of ads conducted in the 1970s, women features were often depicted as younger and more likely to be married than males. They were also depicted as being unemployed or if they were employed, it was in a very traditional role. They were most often found in the home, rather than occupations like men. Women were also used less often as spokespersons, but more often as product users, and hardly ever as authority figures. Women also only accounted for 6% of voiceovers, which is said to be because advertisers at this time believed the male voice was more authoritative and convincing (Gilly, 1988). In a study of advertising conducted in 1975, there was a strong reinforcement of gender roles present in the ads. Less than half of the women featured had their own independent identity; instead 51% had been defined in relational terms (i.e. spouse, parent, girlfriend) when only 36% of males were portrayed in that way (McArthur & Resko, 1975).

In a study conducted in 2010, when shown a number of advertisements, many of the ads with sexual imagery appeals to males but not females, although some ads that included sexual content were liked by females. Those that were disliked by females were most likely because of gender-role stereotyping because these stereotypes often shape the views of the world and the country at large. These female stereotypes communicate incorrect depictions of women which lead to increasingly aggressive attitudes toward women, and a heightened concern about gender-role values and body image. Exposure to these types of ads may assist in creating negative attitudes about gender-roles (Sawang, 2011).

** Sexual Exploitation in Advertising ** In a study conducted in 2010, in comparison to Asians, North Americans preferred the use of sexual imagery and content in advertisements more. The models that most males picked in this study featured models that had: a wide bust, makeup, and a low waist-to-hip ratio. They also found that the face and breasts are the primary focus of American males when looking at ads. In a 1994 study, women that were considered more attractive in ads had childlike faces, large eyes, small noses, big lips, and full breasts. This is said to be why in 1958 Mattel produced the Barbie doll looking as it did (Sawang, 2010). In 1993, Rudman and Verdi looked at a sample of fashion and fitness magazines and found a large number of ads that featured subjective and objective exploitation of women. Models were placed in sexually exploited, submissive and victim position. This trend is also begun to increase with the depiction of male in advertising. More of the male body is increasingly being shown in advertising, but women are still much more likely to be depicted in a sexually explicit way than men (Mager & Helgeson, 2010). In a study conducted in 2003, it was found that the number of male models have decreased since 1984, but the amount of clothing men are wearing in ads have also decreased. The amount of suggestively dressed and posed men in ads are much higher in magazines printed in 2003, over those in 1964, 1984, and 1993 (Zank, Youts & Stutts, 2005).

** Effectiveness of Sex Appeals ** The overall effectiveness of sex in advertising has been thoroughly investigated by researchers. It has been found that sexy ads will attract and attention and increase overall interest in comparison to other ads, but may not improve attitude toward the brand or recall of the message. In general, research has found that the more sexual content in an ad, the lower the recall of the brand name. Based on a study conducted in 1998, women’s attitudes toward a brand were often negatively influence by the sight of sexy women in an ad. Some interesting findings from this study include: females had higher recognition for ads with sexy females in them then for sexy male ads, and males had a high recall of ads that featured non-sexy female ads than of the sexy female ads. In general, it has been found that sexy ads do have a potential to negatively influence the overall recall of an ad, brand, and its message by both males and females (Zank, Youts & Stutts, 2005).

** References ** // American Apparal Ad //. Digital image. //Madame Pickwick//. 26 Sept. 2010. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. . Gilly, M. C. (1988). Sex Roles in Advertising: A Comparison of Television Advertisements in Australia, Mexico, and the United States. // Journal of Marketing //, 52(2), 75-85. Mager, J., & Helgeson, J. (2011). Fifty Years of Advertising Images: Some Changing Perspectives on Role Portrayals Along with Enduring Consistencies. // Sex Roles //, 64(3/4), 238-252. McArthur, L., & Resko, B. (1975). The Portrayal of Men And Women in American Television Commercials. // Journal of Social Psychology //, 97(2), 209. Sawang, S. (2010). Sex Appeal in Advertising: What Consumers Think. // Journal of Promotion Management //, 16(1/2), 167-187. // The Ideal Woman (Bebe Advertisement) //. Digital image. //Women and Media Fall 2010//. 16 Oct. 2010. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. . Zank, G. M., Youts, Y., & Stutts, M. (2005). The Changing Role of Males Portrayed as Sexual Images in Magazine Advertisements. // American Academy of Advertising Conference Proceedings //, 133-141.