Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    please see also:
    
    Womannotes-V1
    446 - commercial ads good and bad
    868 - magazine article on sex in advertising
    
    -Jody
    

    You should try reading Vance Packard's book _The_Hidden_
    _Persuaders_.  It's a bit dated and a bit off the wall in of
    places, but the basic premise explains that yes, indeed,
    associating sex with the product (in particular the increased
    likelihood of the buyer getting more or better sex as a result of
    buying the product) does indeed sell more.  
    
    I don't remember if this was in the book, or was mentioned in the
    class I took, but the way it works on the psychological/physical
    level is that seeing the attractive person or the sexual innuendo
    stimulates the sexual centers of the brain in a pleasurable way. 
    Some of that pleasure is associated with the triggering stimulus
    of that product's name or the sight of the product itself.  So
    when you go to buy, you recognize the product and it triggers a
    little pleasurable tickle somewhere in the depths of your psyche.  
    
    I used to notice that with, of all things, Marlboro cigarettes. 
    I found one version of the Marlboro man *extremely* attractive,
    and for a couple of weeks I found myself -- this is no joke --
    being interested in men who were smoking Marlboros.  I figured out
    quickly enough that none of them were my type -- not mention that
    they looked nothing at all like the man in the ads -- but how many
    times does something like that go on at a level where I don't
    notice it?
    
    Incidentally, the two words that sell the most are "NEW" and
    "IMPROVED."  I was reminded of this on Sunday when I picked up a
    carton of orange juice at the store and found the carton covered
    with NEW AND IMPROVED!  How does one improve 100% natural orange
    juice? I wondered. And then I decided I didn't want to know.  But
    I'll bet if you could write an ad that associated DEC's computers
    with new and improved sex, we'd sell a billion of 'em overnight.
    
    --bonnie

    okay, who wants to forward the last paragraph of
    491.2 to the marketing people?
    
    

    Yes, and the potency of "NEW!" is so great that under FTC regulations,
    a manufacturer cannot use that more often than every 6 months, and
    there actually has to be a measurable change in the product.
    
    						=maggie

    
    I don't know whether it's shown in the USA, but in the UK we have the
    "Gold Blend" coffee advert!  It's more like a soap!  The first advert
    was the original "man borrows cup of coffee from gorgeous woman next
    door" scenario, and a new advert is released every six months following
    the progress of the relationship.  These are also loaded with innuendo. 
    The last one had the man knocking on the woman's door, to find it
    opened by another man saying that she was in the bedroom and would be
    out in a minute.  Original man jumped to wrong conclusion and went
    home, while other man turned out to be the woman's brother.
    
    I'm surprised they find time for the coffee in these adverts!  They
    even put full-page adverts in the daily newspapers just before the
    release of the last one - "Remember - Gold Blend part 6 - first showing
    tonight at 8pm" (or words to that effect!!!).
    
    The bottom line, though, is that the adverts have increased sales of
    Gold Blend by something like 300%.  Sex definitely sells!
    
    Sam
    

    This is such a sex/youth oriented culture, I don't think we'll ever get
    away from soft-porn advertising.  Like the previous note said, "sex
    sells", and it always will.  Because at the root of it all, we are ALL
    still animals ....   8^)
    
    Jerry

    Re .7, .8: Yeah, but it doesn't explain why the really awful, obnoxious
    commercials also appear to work (that is, people keep making them, so
    *somebody* thinks they work). All I've heard about them is that by
    attaching a strong stimulus to the product name, positive or negative,
    it's more likely that the consumer will remember the name at shopping
    time. But if the name is associated with feelings of badness,
    annoyance, or outright anger, I would *think* it would be much less
    effective...
    
    -b

    re: .7
    
    Right.  Good point.
    
    --bonnie

    re: 9
    
    I took an Advertising class - Actually it was called Subliminal
    Seduction...all the things that made sex in advertising work...SEX
    printed on RITX crackers (al he little vent holes spelled SEX), the
    Dewars ads where there were two folks consumating their relationship in
    the ice, etc...
    
    The thing that was most prevalent was the "REPEAT-IST" theory....that
    small commercial for Alka-Seltzer - Oh, I can't believe I ate the whole
    thing" was one of the most obnoxious ones, but because it was on
    sooooooo many times, and in sooooooo many different situations,
    everybody was using that comment....my step-father, who after a large
    meal, will still look over at my mom and comment..."I can't believe I
    ate the whole thing!"
    
    Jill
    

    ... Using sex to sell VAXes... hmmmmmmm  
    
    But seriously.  I work in Marketing and have been in
    Marketing/Advertising in other companies for a number of years.  Anyway
    the reason the obnoxious ads help sell product is the same reason you
    forget some things.  For example, you may remember seeing films about
    people getting killed in car wrecks but you probably don't remember the
    actual blood scenes in detail.  You will recognize the name of the
    product but forget why.
    
    Sex sells products because it's a stimulant.
    
    What most people don't realize about advertising is that there are a
    lot of 'Baby Boomers/Old Hippies/Left Wing/Counter-Cultured people in
    Advertising.  These people have worked their way up the corporate
    ladders and are now influencing what gets aired on T.V. etc.  The
    pin-up girls of the 50s and 60s are gone and have been replaced with
    some genuinely good and fair ads.  The Energizer Bunny really is
    poking fun at other types of commercials and I would estimate that today
    there is more product sold by using children than sex.  Oscar Mayer
    figured that out a long time ago.  
    
    Yes there is sex in advertising.  It offends some people but they
    remember and buy the product . . .  The bottom line.  
    
    But there is a lot more fairness i.e. women portrayed as intelligent
    people with money.  Suburu had a series of ads here in Colorado about a
    woman wanting to buy a car and her husband basically telling her she
    wasn't qualified.  It ended with her saying "Tell you what Fred, let's
    play horse; I'll be the head and you just be yourself."  This type of
    ad would never have aired twenty or even ten years ago.  I really think
    the sex ads are geared toward twelve year olds.
    
    pb

    Minor tangent.
    
    
    >>Sex sells products because it's a stimulant.
                                        ^^^^^^^^^
    
    I wish someone had told my ex-husband that!   (*8
    
    E Grace

    Just a small nit...
    
    I saw this over the TV Network tonight...
    
    Toyota ad.....
    
    "A working mother needs this car......."
    "A hard working man...."
    
    Gee, I have a child.. don't I count?
    
       REK

    
    I hate those Volvo commercials that end
    
    		"I'm glad my *wife* drives a Volvo!"
 
    gak!!  %^b
    Kathy

    This is definitely not just in the USA, in France they like to show
    topless women in TV commercials to sell anything, even during the
    children's cartoons. French people don't see anything wrong with
    this, at least the men I asked said "breasts are pretty". 

Instead of showing sex in commercials, American advertisers often use
images that awaken a variety of fears.  I'm thinking of commercials
like "ring around the collar" and the deoderant/mouthwash/toothpaste
commercials that show the non-user emptying out an elevator.

Martin.