Sexuality in Modern American Advertising

¶ … Sexuality in Modern American Advertising

Sexual Imagery in Modern Advertising:

Sex has been used to promote and market commercial products either directly or indirectly practically since the dawn of the modern age of advertising. Sexuality is used directly by explicit statements suggesting that the use of a specific product will increase the attractiveness of the user to members of the opposite sex. Sexuality is used indirectly by implicit associations that do not explicitly equate the use of a particular product and sexual attractiveness but which present situations and contexts designed to create that assumption in the mind of the consumer.

In contemporary advertising, sexual imagery is used to sell everything from clothes and cologne to automobiles, cellular telephones, and toiletries like deodorant, shampoo, and body wash. Advertisers target both males and females with this type of advertising, but specific visual imagery and explicit suggestions are more often used in connection with marketing products to men, for at least two reasons. First, males are more likely to identify with the concept of having to pursue or earn attention from females; second, males are typically much more visually and sexually oriented than females.

Nevertheless, sexual imagery and themes equating the use of commercial products and sexual appeal to the opposite sex I one of the most prevalent concepts in modern American advertising which is more than evident from even the most casual survey of television and print advertising. In principle, this raises several different ethical issues: first, it is inherently dishonest to suggest (even indirectly) that the use of products such as specific choices of liquor or deodorant is associated with increased sexual appeal to the opposite sex; second, it is denigrating to the value of human relationships to suggest that consumer choices of that nature are capable of changing the user's attractiveness; third, such advertising practices only perpetuate the perception that women are shallow and only capable of forming romantic interests in men because of their choices of cell phone, automobile, deodorant, or body wash.

Exploiting Female Sexuality for Commercial Advertising:

Women experienced discrimination and chauvinism in the United States for many generations before finally achieving basic equality and civil rights comparable to those always enjoyed by males in human societies beginning only in the 20th century. Until 1914, females could not vote in the U.S. And until modern times, they could not even own property or enter into contractual relationships except through their husbands. Sexual discrimination and sexual harassment were both routinely accepted in the workplace and all but ignored in general even where they involved many forms of abusive conduct that are today recognized as causes for civil law suits and even criminal charges.

While sexual imagery in advertising cannot be said to have caused such issues, it is fairly obvious that rampant use of female sexuality for commercial advertising undermines the perception of women as equals, especially within the realm of professional business. To the extent that is true of sexual imagery in advertising in connection with commercial products related to human sexuality and attractiveness, it is even more true of the use of sexual imagery in connection with products that are not even remotely related such concepts. In many cases, the sole purpose of sexual imagery is to capture the attention of (primarily) male attention simply by virtue of the tendency of males to respond automatically in that way to visual images of female sexuality, practically regardless of context or meaning.

This phenomenon objectifies women by suggesting (at least implicitly) that only the opinions and sensibilities of the most attractive females, such as the models featured in advertisements, are worthwhile. The mere absence of females of average and less-than-average relative physical attractiveness from commercial advertising conditions everyone in society to ignore women unless they are particularly sexually attractive. Besides being unfair to women who happen not to look like the models in commercial advertising, this also devalues any legitimate talents and the intelligence and meaningful contributions of women who do happen to be relatively attractive. It creates the natural inference that attractive women who are successful achieved their success by virtue of their physical appearance instead of their other attributes.

In addition to objectifying women as though they are nothing more than their relative level of physical attractiveness, the overwhelming focus on sexuality and female attractiveness in commercial advertising also denigrates men. It suggests that men whose female partners do not look like the models in commercial advertising are less worthy or accomplished than men whose partners do look more like those images of females.

Exploiting Female Sexuality to Market Fraudulent Products:

Perhaps the best examples of the extent to which contemporary advertisers will go to exploit female sexuality for profit are the commercial advertising campaigns for ridiculous products such as the ExtenZe line of supplements promoted to enhance male penis size. That particular product is currently being marketed in hour-long "infomercials" broadcast on television during late-night hours.

From the perspective of ethics in commercial advertising, the ExtenZe commercials are offensive on multiple different levels. First, there is no such thing as any oral supplement capable of increasing the size of the penis. The ExtenZe commercials purposely use very vague references and euphemisms for "penis" such as "special part of male anatomy" in an apparent attempt to comply with the letter if not the spirit of laws that prohibit dishonest statements in advertising. Likewise, they include very obscure printed language at the bottom of the screen advising that the product is designed "for entertainment purposes only."