Why do so many ads like to use sexual appeals? What are the pros and cons of using sexual appeals?

Introduction

David Ogilvy, an advertising guru known for his "brand image theory," put forward the three principles of advertising (beauty, beast, baby) and explained that these principles are commonly known as the "3Bs". --animal, baby - baby, commonly known as "3B"), and explained that this means of expression of advertising in line with the nature of human concern for their own lives, the most likely to win the attention of consumers and like, to It also explains that this means of expression is in line with human nature to care about their own lives, and is the easiest way to win consumers' attention and favor.

The primary utility of advertising is to attract attention, and sex, as a weakness of human nature, is often the entry point for advertising.

Western sex appeal ads are naked; while Chinese "sex" appeal ads are as subtle and introverted as Chinese people's behavioral traits, in a way that resembles a traditional woman in a boudoir - "the shy rose is quiet and quiet. A shy rose blooms quietly", "wanting to speak but still shy".

An overview of the current situation of domestic sex appeal advertisements

Types of domestic sex appeal advertisements

1.Classification of "sex" expressions in advertisements

(1) "Sex" means sexy, and some behaviors or words that evoke sexual fantasies. behavior or language. Western advertisements of this type are full of humor and flirtation, while Chinese advertisements of this type are generally vulgar. For example: Huiren Kidney Bao "He is good, I am also good"; Shanghai subway there was a lingerie billboard, advertising slogan: "play beautiful people"; carving advertising slogan: "you bubble? Bubble. Have you drifted? Drift." Such advertisements are prone to unhealthy associations. But there are also more successful cases, such as "Sunflower" mouse ads, the combination of bathtubs and fingers (fingers like legs on the bathtub), the advertising slogan: enjoyment, is the "hand" to be.

(2) The seductive power of the same sex. Like diet tea, underwear, razor, suit ads, often looking for attractive celebrities to advertise, so that the same sex to produce a sense of envy, thus creating a desire to buy.

(3) The attraction of the opposite sex. People often say "beautiful women and cars", so the car show often find beautiful women standing next to the car, so that the audience has a deeper impression. In general television advertising, if the handsome girls and boys (especially celebrities) as spokespersons, the product sales will increase dramatically. For example, some girls specify that they want to drink Coke with Pan Wei Bai's head on the bottle wall, or give up a brand they used to use because of the endorsement of Han Geng's "Shine" eye drops. While ads featuring sexy women with fine wine are also popular in the West, in China wine often symbolizes friendship or is a must-have for communal sex, and is more serious than ever, never using a woman as a seductress.

(4) The desire for the opposite sex - for love. Three ways to increase the persuasive power of an advertisement: increase the credibility of the source; provide two-sided information; and give consumers a positive emotional experience. To convey information in the form of poignant or sweet love stories, roses, etc. is one kind of positive emotional experience. For example, FM365's "True Love Interaction": the hero and heroine of a bustling city have an online romance, so they hold an umbrella as a signal to meet each other. However, the sky does not follow their wishes, and the downpour of rain makes all the pedestrians raise their umbrellas, and the two protagonists also pass by each other. When the pair of young people appear at the same time in the Internet cafe again, and the neighboring tables look at each other, its dialogue: "Knowing you is in FM365, the whole 365 days, your smile is always hidden in the other end of the Internet cable. Although it is said that distance is your umbrella, but I still want to see your smile. Tomorrow afternoon, I will wait for you. I will hold up an umbrella"; "Actually I have been imagining you under the umbrella all night"; "Meeting is difficult, missing is easy"; "I will always hold up an umbrella with you on FM365 ".

How can such advertisements not move people who yearn for love and romance?

2. Classification of advertising effects

(1) Functionality appeal ads

This part of the ads is directly related to sexual commodities, sexual image and sexual psychology. Due to the restriction of the advertising regulations that sexual products are not allowed to be advertised, most of the appeals are made in a roundabout way, and most of the media are chosen from the non-mass media, so in general, the functionality appeal ads which are the most related to sex have failed to make it into the domestic advertising market. In general, the most relevant functional sex appeal advertisements have failed to dominate the domestic sex appeal advertisements.

(2) Imaginative Sexual Appeal Advertisement

This kind of advertisement mostly adopts online media, and the Internet is favored by imaginative sexual appeal advertisements due to its free, open and interactive features. Advertisers use rhetoric to evoke the audience's sexual fantasies with harmonic, ambiguous words or images, so as to attract the audience's attention to the purpose of the information being publicized. The first is the "I'm a good student, I'm a good student," and the second is the "I'm a good student, I'm a good student," and the third is the "I'm a good student.

(3) Symbolic appeal ads

Because symbolic appeal ads try to avoid direct publicity on "sex", and use sex-related objects or episodes to convey commodity information or a certain concept, there is no "sex", but also implies "sex". Instead, they use sex-related objects or episodes to convey product information or certain concepts, so they do not have "sex", but also imply "sex", which is in line with the domestic sex culture and is more suitable for the tastes of the domestic audience. This kind of advertisement is mostly presented in print, and the media chosen are mostly newspapers and magazines, etc. It can not only use symbolic objects to allude to sex, but also accurately convey the message. However, it is difficult to create this kind of advertisement with both boldness and subtlety, and there is a lack of masterpieces in this area in China at present. However, Benetton's advertisement for MATE condom fully expresses the symbolic appeal. It shows the sexual behavior with entangled clothes, folded ladies' sandals and men's shoes, which expresses the importance of MATE in a subtle but vivid way.

(4) Sex advertisements that have nothing to do with the product

These advertisements stick products that have nothing to do with sex with "sex". Domestic sex advertisements often involve the product with sex, and are mostly released through radio and television media. For example, the TV advertisement for "Jinlang" brand chewing gum "...makes you feel like one wave after another!" It contains a beautiful woman, a handsome man, a bed and a wave, and all these elements make up a kitschy advertisement. The creative person's hints, ambiguous images and voice-over clipping reproduce a vicious market induction, leading to brand inhibition and more seriously harming the product image. Inferior communication tends to be impressive, but it creates a feeling of filth and disgust for the public, not to mention the market share they are chasing. After all, "sex" is not the fundamental appeal of advertising, nor is it the only or best strategy for a good advertiser.

The above four types are the main types of domestic sex appeal advertisements, from the advertising effect, the use of "sex" in advertising will certainly play a role in the effect, as for whether it is good or bad, depending on the advertising company's ability to operate, today's domestic sex appeal ads are mostly spent on attracting the audience's attention, from the perspective of the advertisers, no doubt is successful, but the advertisers are not the only ones who have a good understanding of the advertisements. The advertisers have been very successful in their efforts to attract the attention of the audience, but the advertisers have been very controversial.

Reasons for the increase of domestic sex appeal advertisements

(1)Driven by interests

For the advertising media and businesses, economic interests are always in the first place, driven by interests, so that they are always in the planning of some of the advertisements that have enough impact and shock to attract the attention of the audience, and sex appeal advertisements is undoubtedly an excellent choice, whether it is a favorable review, or a thousand words of criticism, the advertisements have a good reputation. Whether it's a favorable review or a thousand accusations, its sensational effect has achieved the purpose of publicity. This year's "Hengyuanxiang" advertisement caused a sensation.

(2) The liberation of ideas and the development of network culture

With the continuous development of society, people have a more objective and rational understanding of sex. Seeing the sexy scenes on the advertisement is no longer as embarrassing as in the past, half-covered to see. And the development of network culture has made people more accustomed to the "sex" advertisements.

(3) Consumer attitudes

Deng Mingying said, "Sex is naturally linked to human production and life."

American Ferjamson believes that "advertising is precisely the introduction of those deep-seated desires into consumption through images."

In the interface with the consumer, sexual appeal advertising is to follow this to induce the deepest buried subconscious. When there are several advertisements on a page of a magazine, most readers will look at the advertisement containing sexual appeals first, which can be so effective in attracting consumers' attention that sexual appeal advertisements are naturally favored by advertisers and businessmen.

p.s. Some people say that the increase in the number of sexually explicit advertisements in China is due to the fact that domestic advertisers are running out of ideas, which is not a scientific statement. Because the "sex" appeal is not a forced strategy, but to better meet people's advertising needs and aesthetic existence.

Domestic sex appeal ads should follow the creative principles

Visual stimulation -- such as a company in Guangzhou, a shoe city to do promotional posters, the above is a pair of men and women were removed from the head wearing a pair of sneakers, the right hand are holding a green apple, the man is wearing only a pair of black underpants, and women are naked, "the key", "the key", "the key", "the key", "the key", "the key", "the key", "the key", "the key". A naked, "key parts" only with a leaf cover, the poster is written on the "dare to do it" and other words.

Live performance - such as a bubble bath manufacturers in Shenyang made a beauty bath live performance. In the center of the stage placed a large bathtub, dressed in three-pointed beauty slowly into the bathtub, surrounded by curtains, with a corset thrown from the curtains, the audience rang a cheer.

Following human emotions, social morality, emotions, sense of reason and beauty.

1. Advertising content

(1) to have "degree"

Sex appeal advertising can produce a huge impact in the moment, stimulate the audience's sexual instincts, to strengthen the audience's emotional activities, to attract the attention of consumers, so as to stimulate their purchasing behavior. However, if the sexual element is not managed well, it will go to pornographic and cause non-compliance if you are not careful. Affect the image of the enterprise and brand, is the product also become vulgar. Therefore, the "degree" of grasp is crucial, sex appeal ads should adhere to the principle of health, not only to achieve the purpose of attracting attention, but also to control the audience's psychological acceptance of the scope, should not be too blunt, or to pornography, will only make a mistake.

A good domestic example is the "three sources of beauty breast cream" ads, "do women quite beautiful" print ads, advertising language simple and accurate, containing but not exposed, not hair, catchy, widely circulated, so that people understand, and will not be embarrassed, especially on the woman touch is very good. It is very obvious that it touches women in particular. Especially the application of the word "quite" is ingenious. The print advertisement can be said to be a pioneer in the country, and adds infinite vitality to the expression of domestic sex appeal advertisements.

(2) to match the product

Sexual appeal is an autonomous consciousness, not easy to integrate into the advertising campaign, the use of sexual elements in advertising should be closely matched with the characteristics of the product and the theme of the advertisement, the integration of sexual elements in the theme of the advertisement. American advertising scholars David Reisman and Dimothy Hartman pointed out that sex appeal ads only match the product, the audience's attention, memory rate can be proportional to the strength of the advertising information, and vice versa, the sexual element is only as a kind of attraction to attract attention to the material, will only lead to the audience's attention to the diversion of the information, have no time to pay attention to the product.

Western countries have done a good job of treating sex as a medium, integrating it with other elements in advertisements, and using it with great care and skill to mobilize the audience's hormones and make the product leave a deep impression in the audience's mind. For example, Agfa's underwater camera advertisement: several swimsuit beauties molested a shy man in the water, even took off their panties to tease him, and when the girls heard the sound of "click", they realized that the man had already taken a picture of them underwater, and when the man got the picture, he was surprised and blindfolded himself. The ads are funny and humorous, and the images are closely related to the theme, showing that the brand's cameras are both waterproof and have good image quality underwater. The ad uses sexual elements, but appears to be natural and not contrived, with no traces of deliberate refinement, emphasizing the characteristics of the product, making it a masterpiece of sexual appeal advertising.

(3) Be compatible with the traditional culture and moral habits of the region

Differences in the cultural background, customs and national traditions of each region lead to different preferences, understandings and tolerances of sex, or rather, it is the social morals and popular concepts that create sex appeal advertisements, and thus different responses to the same advertising messages. Therefore, sex appeal advertisements should be adapted to different regions in terms of creativity and presentation methods to be accepted by the audience.

2. Media Selection

Advertisements can only reach audiences through the media, especially sex appeal advertisements should be more careful in the selection of media, and should choose the media that matches the image of the target audience and can better deliver the advertising message. Like a perfume print ads, should choose the majority of women love to see the fashion magazine as a media, such as if published in children's magazines, is bound to cause controversy, such as if published in the serious academic magazines, and the temptation of the perfume is too far away from the noble image, such as published in the newspaper, monotonous colors, will make the production of beautiful print ads in the dissemination of the effect of the not insignificant discounts.

3. Advertising audience

Everyone's understanding of advertising will be different due to life experience, education, gender and other personal factors, and different understanding of the sexual information conveyed by advertising. For example, college students are more open-minded and influenced by Western thought, so they can accept the more "over-the-top" advertisements in the West, which cannot be publicized by the Chinese media, while middle-aged and elderly people still feel that the advertisements are against the morality of the sex appeal.

The audience of "sex" advertisements

The audience of sex advertisements is usually young and middle-aged people. Young people are 18-30 years old and middle-aged people are 30-60 years old. Young people's ability to consume and consumer awareness of independence, its advertising psychology is: seeking new, seeking fame, seeking beauty, the pursuit of individuality and fashion, longing for beautiful love. Suitable for young people's sexual appeal advertisements: clear mouth tablets - "Want to know the flavor of clear mouth?" Kissing Jelly--"I want to kiss too!" Crystal Love - "Will you still love me tomorrow?" Goldie's Chocolate - "Only for the ones you love the most." The middle-aged sex appeal ads, on the other hand, seem to emphasize product functionality more. It is usually the sexy and mature beauties or strong middle-aged men that appeal to them more.

New Creative Ideas for Domestic Sex Appeal Ads

Domestic sex appeal ads should not only follow the basic creative principles, but also trigger new thinking to find new creative ideas that are more suitable for the domestic environment and more acceptable to the public.

1. Sex+Humor+Anxiety=Successful Sex Ads

Kates of BBDO Advertising said, "It's fair to say that combining humor, sex, and even anxiety in unexpected ways can make for successful ads, especially since such ads bring more than just a promotional message to people. " He says, "I've found that the best sexual advertising messages are those with techniques that undermine people's expectations, luring you in with sex alone, but the actual content of the ad is not what you expect, and that this mischievous surprise translates into a good feeling about the product itself."

For this combination of humor, sex, and apprehension, a graphic piece from Bluefly shows it at its best. A woman sits in her bedroom with a laptop computer, oblivious to the tall man in the hallway wrapped in a towel, with only the Bluefly logo on the computer screen, a giant single-stemmed cactus on a shelf to his right, and a bulbous lamp with a hole in it on the nightstand next to him, all of which are small and evocative, making Bluefly an amazing company. All of these little things are a source of great wonder, and it's amazing how Bluefly's infinite charm can cause so much trouble.

Sex ads develop eroticism on a large scale, using tangible sexual elements and intangible sexual innuendo to attract attention, and humor

and anxiety as activators of sex ads make the ads unexpected and reasonable, so that the sex ads stand out from similar ads, and get rid of the embarrassing position of hovering on the edge of pornography. We can say that sex + humor + worry = successful sex appeal ads.

2. Using anthropomorphism to weaken the sexual component

Due to the special nature of sexual advertisements, it is easy to cause a lot of embarrassment, and the use of anthropomorphism can bring great fun and entertainment, weakening the neutral component of the advertisement, which is accepted by the audience. One famous case is the series of print ads George Lewis did for Wolff Schmidt's Vodka.

The first week's ads featured an upright bottle of vodka saying to a sweet red tomato, "Hey, you're a hot red tomato, and if you and I put our two together we can make a Bloody Mary. I'm not like the other guys!" The tomato said, "I like you, Wulfschmidt, you do have taste."

The next week it was a flat vodka bottle saying to a ripe orange, "I'm a man of taste, and I'm going to discover your 'inner beauty' and make you famous. Don't get your ass over here and give me a kiss yet." Orange replied, "And that slut I saw you with last week, who is she?"

3. Analyze the personality masks of the target audience and provide the corresponding psychological value

Jung put forward the theory of personality masks, which refers to the fact that people always cover up their shortcomings that don't conform to the public in the public ****ing place and tend to show a perfect self-image. This is a great use in sexual appeal advertising, the audience's needs have long risen from the quantitative and qualitative satisfaction to the perceptual satisfaction, the audience needs more is to buy the psychological value of the product can have, in order to realize their own value to perfect their own personality mask.

Camel cigarettes is to do in this point, Camel cigarettes is a strong flavor of men's cigarettes, cigarette boxes, the bottom of the color is yellowish, a metaphor for the vast desert. The pyramids and palm trees on the background pattern represent the ancient East, giving a mysterious and primitive feeling. People who smoke Camel cigarettes are eager to shape a deep image of men, and in the carton camel pattern hides the image of a nude man with erect genitals, which is catering to the audience's thirst for the psychological requirements of the manhood, the people who smoke Camel cigarettes are full of mystery of a real man, buy Camel cigarettes not only buy cigarettes, but also to get the psychological satisfaction and compensation for the power, mystery and depth! The man who buys Camel cigarettes not only buys cigarettes, but also gets psychological satisfaction and compensation for power, mystery and depth.

4. Tapping into the repressed progressive ideas

Every country has its own cultural system, from Fromm's theory, that is, one is *** the same language, the society utilizes a set of syntax and grammatical rules to express the members' life experiences, human attitudes; the second is the rules of logic, which makes those things that are in line with the society's culture natural and reasonable; the third is the taboo, that is, to put the non-conformity with the social Third, there are taboos, that is, some ideas and feelings that do not conform to social rules are suppressed so that they do not show up in the consciousness of the members of the society. On the basis of these cultural mechanisms, we should try to understand the target audience's psychology, explore their inner needs that are not revealed or suppressed, and discover the progressive ideas in the audience's mind, and combine them with the sexual elements to express them in the advertisements.

5. Integration of traditional Chinese culture

Sex advertisements want to be successful in China, must be integrated into the traditional Chinese culture, national is international. Although Chinese people's thinking has been opened, but the overall still seek the beauty of subtlety, introverted beauty, with the cheongsam's gentle image will always be more than wearing a bikini sexy beauty of the domestic people's appetite, which is why so much focus on the woman's breasts and thighs of the outdoor sex ads have been banned for a reason.

Development of sex ads in China

Television advertising in China began in 1979. At that time, there were almost no sexually explicit advertisements. The print ads were also almost practical, introducing the function of the product, with long copy, monotonous images and dull colors. 1980's ads were shorter and more colorful, and in 1981 the Beijing Advertising Photography Society, a member of the Association of Foreign Advertising Agencies, held China's first "Foreign Advertising Photography Viewing Exhibition," whose ads featured a woman in a bathing suit with a sampan, a departure from the peasantry that had once been the main focus of ads. In the 1986 Tianli Shampoo advertisement, the female model wore a sexy pink backless dress, which was extremely seductive, and in 1996, it was a "sex" advertisement that envisioned love and sex, "I don't care if it lasts forever, I only care that I had it" - Titan Time, the first advertisement in China. "In 1988, it was an advertisement for San Yuan Breast Cream. Meanwhile, Jieshbang made a big fuss with its unprecedented body advertisement "Jieshbang Condom - Giving you carefree love", as birth control advertisements were not allowed at that time. However, the controversial "Condom" PSA was aired in 1999, and in 2000, the instant noodle advertisement featuring a beautiful woman soaking in a bathtub, "It's you who are soaking" was blocked. Today, although we still can't accept some Western advertisements that are nakedly "sexual", at least condom advertisements don't make people blush anymore, and condom vending machines all over the street don't make people feel new or nervous anymore. Although some of the current "sex" ads lack creativity or use some advertising elements too rigidly, it is undeniable that advertisers are working hard to improve their creativity.

Conclusion

The use of "sex" in advertising has always been controversial. On the one hand, the use of "sex" can attract the audience's attention and emphasize the brand style and product function, but on the other hand, it also has the negative effect of polluting the social and cultural environment and damaging the image of the enterprise. But these risks can be avoided by some means. The use of "sex" in advertising needs to pay attention to the principle of health, to grasp the degree of acceptance of the audience, but also pay attention to the relevance of "sex" and the product, in addition to considering the region of the advertisement and the media of communication, etc. More importantly, "sex" is not the only thing that can be avoided in advertising. More importantly, "sex" is not the only demand of the audience, nor is it the only form of expression of advertising creativity. When utilizing sexual elements, advertisers must abide by ethics and morals as well as emotions. "Sexually explicit advertising has a bright future in China, but it still faces challenges and ethical constraints. Only the best and most qualified advertisers will be able to make sexually explicit advertising work well and sustainably in the Chinese market!