Much of the problem posed by sex appeal advertising as a marketing communications strategy is that it serves a sector (male) at the expense of another sector (female). Because it is powerful and effective, marketers would do well to give consideration to the disadvantaged and offended sector. Marketers should never forget the primordial function of advertising, that of grabbing attention. If sex appeal advertising ends with this element alone, then sexually themed ads will not appear prurient as evident in some ads by those who go beyond the attention-grabbing function of advertising.

Sex appeal advertising will become less of an ethical debate and gender issue if a woman’s form is merely put into the ad to ‘grab attention.’ Beyond this stage, and going beyond using the woman’s form, already becomes exploitative of women and discriminatory to their gender.

The members of the female sector, as well as those who oppose sex appeal advertising, would also do well to bear in mind that the mentality they represent may not be universal to the female sector. What defy logic are the phenomena of Calvin Klein and Victoria’s Secret, two brands that use sexually oriented themes, but primarily marketed to women. Contrary to those who oppose sex appeal advertising, women also associate themselves with this kind of advertising.

The advertising regulatory bodies should be the clearing house for ads that exploit women. From and at this point, these regulatory bodies should act with a certain amount of policing function to regulate the traffic and influx of this kind of ads. They will not necessarily act as some sort of moral police. This is not a moral issue. But as regulatory bodies, it is well within their purview to weed out socially offensive material. This is also to say that regulatory bodies should not be largely composed of members of the advertising industry and moral groups. Ordinary citizens, stakeholders in educating publics, and opinion makers should be made members of these regulatory bodies because they can have a more objective point of view and non-partisan tendencies.

Those who oppose sex appeal advertising would also do well to redefine their stance and definition of the issue. Sex appeal advertising only becomes an ethical debate because the element of prurience and gender insensitivity crop up. These concerned groups should also be selective in what they fight against – and what they fight for. A blanket opposition to sex appeal advertising only serves to water down the cause that they are fighting for. In the process, much of the weight of their campaign is lost in the din of their own noise and the huge pile of their complaints.

Finally, the biggest stakeholders in the issue of sex appeal advertising are the audiences and target markets themselves. Since such advertising exists to sell to them, they can, themselves, remind the advertisers and marketers of what goes out of bounds in terms of sensibility, good taste, ethical acceptance, and gender sensitivity. This group may yet be the loudest voice and the most influential factor in regulating the parameters of sex appeal advertising.

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Via Science Daily/Tri Cities