Sex Appeal in Marketing

One of the biggest challenges in marketing communication of any product is differentiating it from the competitors’ product. Developing an innovative advertising strategy which could break out of the advertising clutter and capture the attention of potential consumers is the key of effective marketing communication (Schiffman et al, 2007). Organizations, particularly Western ones, have been using sex-appeal in advertisement as a creative method to build up such effective strategy. However, there is another side to this practice. There are many controversies and negative impression around the use of “sex appeal”. Taking two perspectives of marketers and consumers, this essay will suggest some solutions to neutralise the conflicts between the two parties and ensure the long term benefit of the brand.

To understand the issue of “sex appeal” in advertisement, this essay will begin by explaining what “sex appeal” is. By definition, sex appeal is the physical characteristic and charms that affect people in a sexual way. In marketing context, sex in advertising is the applying of erotic image and movement in the content of the advertisement. The degree of this appeal depends on the level of nudity and sexual suggestiveness in an ad. Sex appeal can appear in the form of visual, audio, or verbal information in the advertisement (Liu, Li & Cheng, 2006). According to Lambiase and Reichert (2003), there are 5 types of sexual information that marketers take turn to use in advertising. These includes nudity, sexual behaviour, physical attractiveness, sexual referent and sexual embed. Nudity is the display of different body parts. It is often used in the ad which is related to bikini, muscular arm, lingerie products. Sexual behaviour refers to sexually suggestive action that is described in the ad, which aims to draw out sexual sensation from the viewers. Physical attractiveness involves the feature of appearance, which can be facial complexity or body beauty. Expressing

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