Sex Appeal In Advertising: An Annotated Bibliography
Dr. Ji-Hyae Park
ENG 102
15 April 2013
Ethical Implications of Sex Appeal in Advertising: An Annotated Bibliography
Section I. It 's been said that as human beings, we have a reptilian brain which responds to certain primal urges—food being one, and sex and reproduction being a definite other. This primary, pre-programmed disposition to respond to sexual imagery is so strong that it has been used for over 100 years in advertising and shows no signs of decreasing. Studies show that sex is used to promote sales across the board in a multitude of businesses, though high risk investments (i.e. computers/software, or retirement plans) tend to use sex appeal the least in their advertising methods. Sex appeal and arousal cues can be found in …show more content…
He notes that in as far as society defines sex as gender through culture (not through biology or nature), that we are not fundamentally separate from any past or present society. He clarifies that each culture has their own way of defining gender for their own reasons, and that each culture also has its own conventionalized form to accomplish socialization. Another imperative point made by Jhally is his view of American gender in society. She states that in our society, gender is just one small aspect of importance (i.e politics, education, work, social class), but advertising makes the balance between these things very different—indeed, everything else becomes defined through gender. He believes that in modem advertising, gender is indefinitely the most used form of social …show more content…
Korn performed a content analysis by which he was mainly concerned in finding what percentage of ads included sexual imagery, what the demographic groups the ads targeted, and to explore the ethical boundaries/implications of previously stated. He concluded from his findings that women appear in more than half the ads while men account for less than a quarter; from this conclusion he notes that the high percentage of women appearing in ads directly correlates with the high amount of ethical complaints of women. In regards to ethical complaints, Korn adds that the use of attractive female models may cause some amount of ethical implications among teenagers. His reasoning formulates in the result of serious self-esteem issues formed through ideals that advertisers display in both male and female subjects. In female subjects, he states that eating disorders and distorted body image could become side effects; in male subjects, he finds that over excessive weight lifting could become a common side effect. Korn notes that although serious self-esteem issues may have been found as results in some subjects, the chances of advertisements alone turning someone to an eating disorder is much
ENG 102
15 April 2013
Ethical Implications of Sex Appeal in Advertising: An Annotated Bibliography
Section I. It 's been said that as human beings, we have a reptilian brain which responds to certain primal urges—food being one, and sex and reproduction being a definite other. This primary, pre-programmed disposition to respond to sexual imagery is so strong that it has been used for over 100 years in advertising and shows no signs of decreasing. Studies show that sex is used to promote sales across the board in a multitude of businesses, though high risk investments (i.e. computers/software, or retirement plans) tend to use sex appeal the least in their advertising methods. Sex appeal and arousal cues can be found in …show more content…
He notes that in as far as society defines sex as gender through culture (not through biology or nature), that we are not fundamentally separate from any past or present society. He clarifies that each culture has their own way of defining gender for their own reasons, and that each culture also has its own conventionalized form to accomplish socialization. Another imperative point made by Jhally is his view of American gender in society. She states that in our society, gender is just one small aspect of importance (i.e politics, education, work, social class), but advertising makes the balance between these things very different—indeed, everything else becomes defined through gender. He believes that in modem advertising, gender is indefinitely the most used form of social …show more content…
Korn performed a content analysis by which he was mainly concerned in finding what percentage of ads included sexual imagery, what the demographic groups the ads targeted, and to explore the ethical boundaries/implications of previously stated. He concluded from his findings that women appear in more than half the ads while men account for less than a quarter; from this conclusion he notes that the high percentage of women appearing in ads directly correlates with the high amount of ethical complaints of women. In regards to ethical complaints, Korn adds that the use of attractive female models may cause some amount of ethical implications among teenagers. His reasoning formulates in the result of serious self-esteem issues formed through ideals that advertisers display in both male and female subjects. In female subjects, he states that eating disorders and distorted body image could become side effects; in male subjects, he finds that over excessive weight lifting could become a common side effect. Korn notes that although serious self-esteem issues may have been found as results in some subjects, the chances of advertisements alone turning someone to an eating disorder is much