Sex for Sale

Do you want to have sex? Advertising executives across the nation are betting that you do. The use of sexual innuendo to sell all manner of items from cars to telephones, and computers to colognes has become commonplace. Agencies have spent millions of dollars researching specific age groups and demographics in an effort to make their client’s product appear sexy. Is sex appeal an effective tool for marketing a product? In an effort to answer this question, I chose two separate magazine ads for colognes, Candies and Allure, and compared their sexual overtones.

While it may seem that all advertisements for Candies are blatantly sexual in their implications, I did find one that stood out as especially provocative. The ad features a young man and woman, in their late teens to early twenties, seated at a desk with a computer on it. The young woman was clearly chosen for her beauty and the make-up department went all out in an effort to emphasize her beauty. She is suggestively dressed in an extremely short pair of black leather shorts with matching calf high boots with a platform sole. She is wearing a tight pink cardigan style sweater with a fuzzy red collar that closely resembles a feather boa in miniature. Her sweater is buttoned with a single button to expose her midriff and she is seated astride the computer monitor with her legs splayed apart in a decidedly arousing pose. She is the perfect vision of reckless sexuality.

Seated in front of her is a chiseled young man with All-American good looks and a bad boy demeanor. He is dressed simply in a pair of black leather pants and a black tank top that reveals a modest assortment of tattoos. He is turned slightly askew to allow a full view of the young woman and the computer monitor between her legs. He is looking at the camera with a mischievous grin and depressing a button on the computer’s keyboard. The image on the monitor is that of a space shuttle launching upwards to a place that decorum will not allow me to discuss. The product logo, “Candies, fragrances for men and women”, is displayed in the background but more than cologne is being sold in this ad.

The advertisement for Allure cologne is far more subtle in its overtones but the implication of sexuality exists nonetheless. The ad uses a black and white portrait shot of a strikingly handsome golfer. He is set in deep shadows that allow only his face and hair to be seen clearly. His hair is well groomed in a manner that suggests that he takes great pride in his appearance but does not dwell on it. An assortment of crow’s feet and laugh lines create a sense of ruggedness blended with maturity. He is grinning with a confidence and self-assuredness that adds to the strong features of his mildly chiseled face. A large golden bottle of Allure is blended into the foreground with the phrase, “Real men. Real allure.” printed at the top of the page.