oleg@birtch.UUCP (Oleg Kiselev) (01/06/86)
So, we all agree : sex in advertisement offends some people, and sells to most. The standard formula to appeal to men is to display a YOUNG, SLIM, HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE woman ( usually tall) near NUDE or in a SEXUALLY suggestive pose and blend in the product. The idea is to tell a heterosexual man one of the following : 1) If you use this product even women like THIS will notice you; 2) men who use this product get women like THIS; 3) women like THIS use this product and when you do too you'll be closer to them (transferance); etc. This tactics is used in ads for fine wines, cars, soft drinks, garments, other. Same approach is now making its way into ads for women : jeans, colas, perfume. However, according to my roommate, sex in advertisement does not appeal to women as much as to men. In fact, she finds it offencive . Then why DO the advertisers use the "sex" approach if it does not appeal to the target audience? What ARE the reactions to "sexy" ads from groups other than heterosexual men : women (of all sexual orientations), homosexual men? -- Disclamer: I don't work here anymore - so they are not responsible for me. +-------------------------------+ Don't bother, I'll find the door! | STAY ALERT! TRUST NO ONE! | Oleg Kiselev. | KEEP YOUR LASER HANDY! |...!{trwrb|scgvaxd}!felix!birtch!oleg --------------------------------+...!{ihnp4|randvax}!ucla-cs!uclapic!oac6!oleg
pmd@cbsck.UUCP (Paul M. Dubuc) (01/07/86)
>The standard formula to appeal to men is to display a YOUNG, SLIM, HIGHLY >ATTRACTIVE woman ( usually tall) near NUDE or in a SEXUALLY suggestive pose >and blend in the product. The idea is to tell a heterosexual man one of the >following : 1) If you use this product even women like THIS will notice you; >2) men who use this product get women like THIS; 3) women like THIS use this >product and when you do too you'll be closer to them (transferance); etc. >Oleg Kiselev. I think it's more like this: Heterosexual men are visually stimulated by the ads. The pleasurable experience is invoked while the man is viewing the product being sold and he comes away associating pleasurable feelings with the product. The things mentioned by oleg may be inferred in certain cases, but I think it's just the pleasurable feeling that underlies all of it. Of course, the effectiveness of such ads (and maybe any advertising) relies on the viewer being passive (sad to say most viewers probably are). When I see the ads I realize that I'm being manipulated and they have the opposite effect (only because I don't like to be manipulated that way, maybe others like it even though they realize that's what's happening). -- Paul Dubuc cbsck!pmd
bing@galbp.UUCP (Bing Bang) (01/08/86)
In article <> oleg@birtch.UUCP (Oleg Kiselev) writes: > >The standard formula to appeal to men is to display a YOUNG, SLIM, HIGHLY >ATTRACTIVE woman ( usually tall) near NUDE or in a SEXUALLY suggestive pose >and blend in the product. The idea is to tell a heterosexual man one of the >following : 1) If you use this product even women like THIS will notice you; >2) men who use this product get women like THIS; 3) women like THIS use this >product and when you do too you'll be closer to them (transferance); etc. > when i see ads like this, i wonder how they got THAT kind of a woman to do THOSE kinds of ads. i suppose money has a lot to do with it. bing -- "Break, but never bend." from an oak tree i know ...that can move in two directions at the same time ...akgua!galbp!bing
laura@hoptoad.uucp (Laura Creighton) (01/08/86)
In article <237@birtch.UUCP> oleg@birtch.UUCP (Oleg Kiselev) writes: > >Then why DO the advertisers use the "sex" approach if it does not appeal to the >target audience? > >What ARE the reactions to "sexy" ads from groups other than heterosexual men : >women (of all sexual orientations), homosexual men? The sex approach *does* appeal to the target audience. Show one scantilly clad female. The average heterosexual male wants to get that female, and the average female wants to *be* that female. Of course there are minorities who object to it, and for whom the pitch doesn't work -- but the idea is to get the majority. The thing that I always find astonishing is that the whole thing can work in the first place. The sex approach seems perfectly reasonable if you are selling lingerie, but do people actually buy cars like this? The answer appears to be a resounding ``yes'' -- which depresses me. -- Laura Creighton sun!hoptoad!laura (note new address! l5 will still ihnp4!hoptoad!laura work for a while....) hoptoad!laura@lll-crg.arpa
jeffw@midas.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (01/09/86)
In article <1825@cbsck.UUCP> pmd@cbsck.UUCP (Paul M. Dubuc) writes: > [Oleg Kiselev:] > >>The standard formula to appeal to men is to display a YOUNG, SLIM, HIGHLY >>ATTRACTIVE woman ( usually tall) near NUDE or in a SEXUALLY suggestive pose >>and blend in the product. The idea is to tell a heterosexual man one of the >>following : 1) If you use this product even women like THIS will notice you; >>2) men who use this product get women like THIS; 3) women like THIS use this >>product and when you do too you'll be closer to them (transferance); etc. > >I think it's more like this: Heterosexual men are visually stimulated >by the ads. The pleasurable experience is invoked while the man is viewing >the product being sold and he comes away associating pleasurable feelings >with the product. It might interest the advertisers to know that I can remember a number of ads that used this formula where I can't for the life of me remember what they were advertising. It's possible that appealing to such powerful feelings blanks out the memory of something as trivial as the name of a product. It's also possible that I'm atypically insensitive to advertising (anybody else transfer the local weekly saturation-mail schlock directly from mailbox to garbage can? Pull out the Sunday funnies without so much as a glance at the advertising they're supposed to be irremovably entwined with? ). Jeff Winslow
cycy@isl1.ri.cmu.edu (Christopher Young) (01/10/86)
When the target of an advertisment is the gay male population, it seems to me that 99.999% of the time there is a strong sexual current running through the ad. I think the role for men in general in society has always been more sexual than the role for women. I don't always find it offensive (there have been exceptions), but I usually think it's stupid. In addition to role playing and society, I also think that since advertising picked up on that (at least since the last 1.5 centuries), sex has become even more of a "value" (for want of a better word) to people, and it has accentuated the roles which were already in place. Namely, women as objects of sexual desire and men as completely sexual animals. In gay advertising, the man becomes both. And we tend to accept it without questioning. Of course, we all are to one degree or another sexual animals, men and women. But while men were cast in an overly sexually aggressive light, women were cast as mere object existant for the gratification of the male's sexual urges. How humiliating. It's no surprise women don't respond to the ads as positively. I'd rather have the man's role myself (and I do!). Anyway, that's a quick summary of my unverified theory. Chris.
torek@umich.UUCP (Paul V. Torek ) (01/12/86)
In article <78@midas.UUCP> jeffw@midas.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) writes: >It might interest the advertisers to know that I can remember a number >of ads that used this formula where I can't for the life of me remember >what they were advertising. Indeed, I saw something on 20/20 about advertising and some guy who evaluates advertising for its effectiveness. He uses a machine that tracks a person's eye movements while they watch an ad; on a separate screen a dot appears where the viewer is focusing. The (male) 20/20 reporter tried out the machine, and was shown a Pepsi ad (I *think* it was Pepsi -- I can't remember the product but I remember the model!) with an incredibly sexy woman holding the Pepsi. It was amusing to see the screen with the dot on it -- you can imagine where the dot spent most of its time. Anyhow, the ad evaluator said that it was a bad ad (from a sales perspective) because the viewer *never looked at the product*! Until that time, I had thought that the ad (which I had seen before, many times) was effective -- after all, it certainly got my attention. But what that advertising evaluator said does make sense. Of course, it may be that the ad was directed at women (I think the ad was for *diet* Pepsi, and we all know which sex does most of the dieting in this culture). --Paul V. Torek torek@umich
on@hpda.UUCP (Owen Rowley) (01/12/86)
>It might interest the advertisers to know that I can remember a number >of ads that used this formula where I can't for the life of me remember >what they were advertising. It's possible that appealing to such >powerful feelings blanks out the memory of something as trivial as >the name of a product. It's also possible that I'm atypically insensitive >to advertising (anybody else transfer the local weekly saturation-mail >schlock directly from mailbox to garbage can? Pull out the Sunday funnies >without so much as a glance at the advertising they're supposed to be >irremovably entwined with? ). > > Jeff Winslow In many cases the advertising that uses the SEX and DEATH symbology to sell products is not designed to be effective on your consciousmind.. In fact it is your subconscious mind that is being worked on. You can bet that the advertiser is aiming to have that subconscious process lurk below the threshold of your memory , it gets triggered when you are in the act of shopping.. your eye sees the product name your subconscious mind dredges up the emotional reaction brought on by the sensual image (or the frightened one in the case of the "Death aspect) You have no consciousness of why but at that point unless you have a stronger reason to go for another brand you will wind up bying the one that used the sensually based advertising. Switching sex roles and veiled homosexuality are also very strong triggers, and are more common in clothing advertisments than you would think .. LUX .. on Owen Rowley hplabs!hpda!on Sex and Death Advertising agency our motto We don't fuck around, we know what sells!