With today's generation there seems to be two main characteristics of advertisements that guarantee to get people's attention. These two are sex, and money. Many other attributes that are used in advertisements to sell products are used, but most of the times sex or money is involved because they know that those will catch the viewers attention and they will more likely purchase the product.
Recently I ran across a commercial that I found so ridiculous and filthy that they did what they did in it.
In this commercial by Buy.com a man makes a sexual hint at a women and then, they go even farther later on by making you think for a second that they are actually having sex.
I found this commercial very ridiculous because there was no reason to bring in the sexual attribute for the commercial, especially since it was for a company that is similar to EBay in that it's a company that allows you to buy or sell over the Internet. Now I realize why they did what they did because sex sells and it gets people's attention. A great way to think about it is, if they hadn't done the commercial the way they did, then I wouldn't be here talking about it. Using sex or money in advertisements is genius because you remember those things and they stick with you. Every once in a while that commercial pops into my head and makes me laugh and every time I think about it, it makes me think of Buy.com.
Advertisers have their own code of ethics, but the thing is that, the code is bound to be broken sooner or later.
With today's society progressing more and more as each year passes, consumers are going to be looking for something new and different to catch their attention. What we as the consumers and the advertisers need to realize is that were going to have to accept this change and learn how to handle it. I feel that advertisers should have the right to explore different ways of advertising their products to see if it works. The advertisers should be able to try new techniques, but at the same time, it needs to be monitored. I feel that it would be unnecessary for there to be a commercial that shows torture or something inhumane to sell a product. I also feel that sex is okay to be used in advertising, but it needs to be used in a gentle way. What I mean by this is they shouldn't show sex in a dirty, pornographic way, but if they showed it in a soft, loving, relationship way then I feel it would be okay. Now obviously I'm not saying they should be allowed to show a full on sex scene, but if they hint about it or kind of show it in a quick way, then I feel that it's just good advertising. You may agree or disagree with me on this, but something to think about is, think back and try to think of as many commercials you can that don't have sex or money in them, and then compare that number to the ones that you remember that do.If you wish to explore this further, here some articles that discusses sex in commercials and whether it should be allowed or not.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1TOS/is_1-2_9/ai_n25009596
http://inventorspot.com/articles/seven_sexy_ads_sells_sex_7487
An also I found an article that is very interesting and quite funny.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=9456
By: Christopher Lloyd
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