The Futility of Opposing Sex Appeal Advertising

Thursday, April 9, 2009, 20:11 By GSerrano
This news item was posted in Critic, Society & Culture category and has 0 Comments and so far.




sex appeal advertising

Sex appeal advertising has been loosely controlled, much to the disappointment of moralists. The issue is not so much the ethical dilemma it poses but rather the careful application, sensitivity, selectivity, and sense of responsibility that marketers should have. If sex appeal advertising is taken as an issue of communication rather than an ethical debate, a certain scientific and cultural level will be attached to it. Science and culture can be more materially measured, as opposed to ethics and morals. When the time comes that sex appeal in advertising is generally viewed within the realm of marketing communications, and taken out of the context of ethics and morals, it will be the chance for this phenomenon to be more ‘moral’ and ‘ethical.’

Sex appeal advertising has been a raging debate for quite some time now. Nothing monumental has been done for the satisfaction of those who oppose it. Sex appeal advertising is here to stay because it has been made into an ethical debate that only makes the fight against it lame. When this kind of advertising ceases to be an ethical issue and starts to be a sociological one, then the elements of prurience and gender insensitivity may be weeded out finally. The ethical debate has only managed to render it with a moralistic stance.

Morality turns off most people because those who police morality are not appreciated in their self-avowed and self-serving mission to be arbiters of what are good and bad. People do not generally like other people who take a more superior opinion of themselves.

If sex appeal advertising is taken as an issue of communication, a certain scientific and cultural level is attached to it. Science and culture can be more physically and materially measured, as opposed to ethics and morals.

This sense of measurement comes with the component of evaluation. Evaluation precedes measurement, and these can only result in concrete and measurable recommendations for change. When the time comes that sex appeal in advertising is generally viewed within the realm of marketing communications, and taken out of the context of ethics and morals, it will be the chance for this phenomenon to be more ‘moral’ and ‘ethical.’

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Via campaign

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