there’s just not enough sex in advertising

by admin on July 27, 2008

Sex sells, but only if you do it right. Image via Unblogged.

I was having a lovely drink with the lovely (in a guy way) Steve Hall the other day, and we pretty much wept openly into our cocktails about how sex doesn’t really sell as much as everyone thinks it does, and how sad we are that there’s just not enough sex in advertising. Come on, advertisers! Adrants’ pal Chuck thinks sex sells stuff if it’s done right. Remember the Puma (shoe) porn ad hoax, and how much online publicity those images generated? Those were the good old, days, we mused over our Sloe Gin Fizzes (note: never trust a gin drinker).

Give the poeple — me and Steve, that is — what we want! It can even be cute and situational, like this guerrilla marketing campaign, the Wonderbra subway safety ‘stand behind’ line for trains. That said, here are a couple recent sexy ads to get people thinking in the right direction. Like, this video of dozens of hot Australian women in Bonds undies playing synchronized patty-cake (via Adrants, of course, and also seen at Fleshbot). And the illicit Mac Unblogged girl (pictured). Update: ~~From Illegal Advertising (thanks, Courtney!also seen @ BUG-EYED BLOG), a very dirty mock Guinness ad:~~

The ad’s been pulled, not surprisingly.

And check out that Neatorama has the super fun, cute Mentos Kiss Fight Game.

admin

I'm Violet Blue: author, sex educator, blogger, podcaster, GETV reporter, The San Francisco Chronicle's sex columnist, robotic artist, and a Forbes Web Celeb. Writing: Forbes, O: Oprah Magazine, RH Reality Check, and bestselling, award-winning author/editor of over 2 dozen books, 5 translations. Lectures: Cyberlaw class at UC Berkeley (Boalt), ETech, SXSWi, crisis counselors at community teaching institutions and Google Tech Talks. Podcast: Open Source Sex: Wired, Newsweek (MSNBC), The Wall Street Journal. Tech blog: techyum. DRM-free audio + ebooks: Digita Publications. I also blog at art machines and vbsf (Violet Blue's San Francisco). I am: violet at tinynibbles dot com. Represented: ICM.

Forbes.com: "Violet Blue is (...) omnipresent on the Web." Webnation: "Violet Blue is the leading sex educator for the Internet generation." The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies: "America’s leading (very) public intellectual sexologist, Violet Blue."

Named: Wired's Faces of Innovation 2008. Watch: demo video. It's all true. More here.

{ 10 comments }

1 violet July 30, 2008 at 7:15 pm: the ad has indeed been pulled. Alyssa, I’m sorry if it bothered you but I’m really glad you said so — I want all voices here, especially yours. that said, the notion of women (and people of all genders) as sexualized furniture has quite its own large subculture in the highly fetishized and overly-specific world of forniphilia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_furniture

it’s a pretty specific fetish, and I doubt whomever made the ad was into sex-positive BDSM fetishes, but I’ll wager those who are might have liked the ad.
2 Alyssa July 30, 2008 at 4:20 pm: A woman used as a piece of furniture? Yeah, I’m not down with it.
3 MichaelK July 29, 2008 at 8:36 pm: Feministing has a problem with that ad? I’m shocked.

Of course, it’s pulled from YouTube now.
4 Jacob July 29, 2008 at 1:55 pm: This guinness ad is creepy, read more at feminsting:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/009994.html

Couldn’t agree more.
5 Cyn July 28, 2008 at 6:55 pm: Guinness is my drink of choice, so I’ve never really been a fan of their commercials. They put too much junk in the way. All they really need to do is show lovely drink foaming up in a glass and I’m ready to head to my nearest liquor store and pick up a six pack… or 2… or a case. *ahem* But you have restored my faith in Guinness commercials, and I shall never look at them the same again.

Here’s a commercial I found a long time ago that while I have no need for the phone, I’m still thoroughly entertained by their advert-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SojpUvotr3s
6 violet July 28, 2008 at 11:34 am: @ B.E. Earl – oops, sorry! I’ll update with an also seen @, sorry I missed you on that one!
7 Cherry Torn July 28, 2008 at 11:22 am: I spent the first 42 seconds thinking to myself “damn I’m desensitized”, but I definitely laughed at the end. Advertising would certainly be much more interesting if it were sexier. I sure wouldn’t mind seeing a naked man body every now and then though.
8 Steve Hall July 28, 2008 at 10:18 am: I’m glad I’m lovely in a guy way:-) And you’re quite lovely yourself, Violet (in a girl way). But, yes!!! Where has all the sex in advertising gone??

Maybe this recent find qualifies:

http://www.adrants.com/2008/07/girl-gets-hot-and-dirty-to-illustrate.php

for those who are into certain fetishes, perhaps? :-)
9 B.E. Earl July 28, 2008 at 5:18 am: I love that Guinness “ad”. I blogged about it just yesterday.
10 JJ July 28, 2008 at 3:13 am: Bonds has had some great undies ads…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tGnyOC_hzz4