The front page of today's Boston Herald is about a routine coffee company that's advertising itself with photos of attractive "Hooter" type women. I never heard of the coffee before, but as of this morning both I and more than a million others who simply glance at the paper have heard of the coffee. Are men more likely to pull over for a car wash if it's surrounded by women in bikinis? Are these manipulations wrong, right or neutral?
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I used to say no way! when I was a young and hot feminist. Now I'm still a feminist and my youthful wishes that hot guys would sell laundry soap is coming true! It started with the Brawny man and now, gosh, have you seen daytime TV ads lately? I don't know why I happened upon it, but there are stay-at-home Dads being represented in diaper commercials. Not that that's sexy, mind you, but I'm not as offended by so much sexual pigeon-holing. Wow, what a wonderful change since I was in college.
About the car wash, I think if you're a horny guy it will sell, but otherwise, meh, it's just embarrassing to most.
Sondra, Re car wash example, I agree that the embarrassment factor will cause most grown men to keep going. But putting the girls in ads is very different.
Because it's a stimulus-response-driven buy impulse, it depends on the point of sale and the speed of purchase relative to the trigger. I love the Brawny man, but alas, they are more expensive and I don't use enough paper towels to warrant their added strength. If it's a matter of equal measure, one might choose the sexy ad over the not so. But I mean really, there are gobs of brands that don't use sex and are uber-successful. McD's Hallmark Nike Coke, you name it, none have used such tactics.
So if sex sells, after so many years of the proclamation, should there not be plenty of evidence to the fact? Shouldn't it be taught by every ad director as the way to go with their clients?
I use Godaddy, but have since they were a young company, they have good customer service. I was going to jump ship after their sexy ads came out, but before they did, they had their customers rate them based on taste...and really, their competitors are not as good.
Regarding books specifically, nonfiction sex books, like how-to books, sell like mad. Erotica is a little tougher because it's a very crowded market. While I'm sure a book with more sex scenes will help spread buzz, I sometimes wonder if it's worth it to lose the youth market. If it's too steamy your book will never be on a summer reading list and never make it into a school library.
Karma, you can't please everybody all of the time.
Sex does indeed sell. I once wrote a sex scene in a previous novel but had to rely on a woman to help me see the female point of view. I wasn't comfortable writing it and I doubt I'll ever do it again.
Sex Surregates for writing sex scenes. Why not?
There is no doubt sex [AKA exploiting women's (for the most part) nearly naked bodies] definitely sells. The real question is how does selling women/sex uphold an exploitative cultural structure that underpins sex trafficking of girls and women, makes regular girls and women feel inadequate and fosters the multi-billion dollar international "beauty" industry, just to name a few examples?
I never liked coffee...and now, gag me with a [tea]spoon!
From a bootilicious member!
Virginia, All valid concerns. But maybe it's not so simple. If it causes men to be manipulated, then are they not also victims? Are women who freely collaborate with the process not also accountable?
Well, I don't think in victimology rhetoric...that's the narrative of porn or exploitative sex. Lots of people find porn sex a turn on, but I don't. Don't like men or women as victims . Due my compassion not my passion!! How do you like that for a good turn of phrase? LOL Lots more complicated than I can write here...books and books worth that have already been written on the subject.
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