Explicit Adverts
Companies and businesses produce their products in a bid to make profits. Brands must be able to attract many customers and increase the product’s demand. Over the years, brands have become creative and found ways to attract customers. One of the most popular strategies in captivating customers is manipulating people’s need and want for sex. Human beings are created to enjoy intimacy, and advertisers have taken advantage of this and use sexual content to evoke the feelings and sell their products in the process. A large number of advertisements these days have sexual messages. There are also sexual advertisements that are used to educate people about sex. It is not the case with all the products with which sexual content is used, some of them have entirely nothing to do with sex, yet the messages are sexual. This behavior raises the question of how far advertisers should go to advertise their products. Is it essential for advertisers to use sexual content in selling non-sexual products? I think advertisers have embraced the explicit messages more than they should, and this is negatively affecting the younger generations, families, and society at large. This threat has been undermined and has not been given the necessary attention by the authorities. This paper will highlight the problem of explicit advertisements in both mainstream and social media, provide a solution to the question, explain how the solution helps mitigate the problem, and explain how possible the answer is.
There are adverse effects of using explicit advertisements in both mainstream and social media. Research has shown that men are more vulnerable to sight than women, and this explains why there are more women in advertisements than men. 30% of the women featured in ads are usually dressed in suggestive clothes and hence manipulating men to watch the adverts. 13% of the women appear on screen dressed halfway dressed in a bid to capture the attention of men and probably that of other women (King 212). 6% of advertising women appear on the screen nude(King 212). Though the number of nude adverts in our screens is worrying, the number is still low and hence gives the room for change. Some products are more affected by explicit content than others; alcohol, entertainment, and beauty products use explicit messages more than other adverts. It does not, however, mean that they are the only adverts with such content; other products are not related to sexuality at all but are advertised with very sexual messages.
One responsibility of advertisers is ensuring that their company is benefiting and not making more losses. A company may end up losing customers rather than creating more. For example, if a company is advertising some ethical issues, and it includes a lot of sexual content, it may end up losing more customers. Customers of a pure commodity will be offended by sexual content. Advertisers should also use excessive sexual content to manipulate the viewers (Mack, n.d). There have been cases of companies offering services not related to sex but include a lot of sexual content in their ads. Lack of such services led to frustrations to the customers who came expecting sexy services from the company. Some sexual advertisements can, therefore, be misleading and thus causing losses.
Several adverts can be considered to have gone too far with their explicit content in the advertisements. The first was Samsung after launching its curved Samsung Sf notebook; they created an advert with that said that curved is always beautiful(Jones-Navarro). However, this was not an issue; the issue was the very suggestive and nude video of a woman. In the 37 seconds advert, almost thirty seconds are of the woman moving her body parts while the rest is left for the product (Jones-Navarro). There is no connection between a laptop and a naked woman, but Samsung went ahead to create the advert. Thy used the curved nature of the laptop to bring in the curves of a woman and even went ahead to bring her naked. Samsung laptops are used by most of the people in society, and that advert is inappropriate for most of them.
Paris Hilton appears in an advert promoting humbuggers, yet she is half-naked(Jones-Navarro). This is inappropriateness of the highest order, as most humbuggers have nothing to do with nudity. The advertiser goes ahead to say, “she will tell you that size doesn’t matter. She is lying.”(Jones-Navarro). This statement is double entendre and would be translated by older people as vulgar. The upper meaning is supposed to mean that larger humbuggers are better than smaller ones, but there is no connection about a woman somewhere denying the significance of the size. It also does not go unnoticed that the hamburger Paris is holding has not been bitten, and neither is she interested in eating it, her head is facing another direction. There is, therefore, no connection between the hamburger and Hilton, making Hilton the advert.
There has been an increase in the usage of social media; there are mostly young people who are easily targeted through social media than through mainstream media. Sugarhoneybear is a hair product that was advertised by Kim Kardashian on her Instagram page; she is exposing much of her chest, probably in a bid to attract the attention of men(Jones-Navarro). However, most people will only concentrate on her body rather than the product she is supposed to advertising.
Brands hold auditions to determine the models they are going to use in their adverts, and only the best are selected. Men and women with the best skin, looks, and the physics are used in the adverts. The public is then told that the use of the product will help them become like the model. However, this is not the case as not everybody is created like the best, they have different personalities and physical outlooks, but they are made to believe that the model’s way is the best. These lies have led to depression and low self-esteem among women and men who use the products but do not look like the men and women in the screen(Read 79). Ideas are created in the minds of the public, and they are made to believe that they should be more than they are. Some people have hurt themselves in the processes of been more than they are after resulting in inhumane ways such as injections and drugs to enhance their bodies. Some adverts show great pleasure brought by the said commodities, but the actual feeling is not as good as the advertised one, leading to frustration among the consumers.
Specific adverts have led to increased sexual immorality in society and particularly the young people. Young people in the United States of America are on a form of media for at least 7 hours a day (Read 54). Of all the adverts, 75% of them contain sexual content, which means that most of the adverts and programs on the media provide young people with sexual content increasing their urge to engage in sexual activities. Every hour, 8-10 adverts are containing explicit material (Read 54). The adverts trigger sexual thoughts, and the youngster acts on their idea and engage in illicit sexual behaviors (Read 83). Some young people may not have a chance to participate in the activities, and in a bid to feel the pleasure, they end up committing sexual crimes such as trafficking and rape (Read 89). Those who cannot engage in such crimes fall into depression and feel like they are lesser people.
Research showed that adverts with sexual content were remembered over the past thirty years more than other adverts without sexual content. However, most people only remember the advert and the sexual content and not the brand. It is an indication that when brand advertisers claim that sex sells, people only by the sexual messages and not the brand or product. Explicit content is, therefore, not as effective as advertisers think. The adverts are causing more harm to society than the good they are doing to the advertisers. It is also clear that explicit messages in adverts have lost meaning. There were graphic adverts back in the 1950s, but these messages were used for advertising how good women were as wives and mothers, but they are now used for advertising mattresses and cups.
All is not lost, and the advertiser may change the trend and sell their products and brands without the use of explicit materials. The most effective solution that can help improve the pattern is the use of alternative advertising methods and strategies. Advertisers should become more creative and create non-sexual yet attractive ways. People are different and believe amused by different things. Advertisers should identify things that amuse their targets and use them. One of the most common forms of attracting people’s attention is through the use of humor. Humour is applicable in situations where the product is dull and cannot attract the attention of their customers (Advertising Appeals). Humour can take any form, whether it is written or video advertisements. There will always be a source of humor, and hence advertisers can never run short of amusement.
Second, advertisers can use the youth appeal, people want to enjoy their youth years for a long time, but this cannot happen, at some time, people will grow old(Advertising Appeals). When people grow old, they may forget the feeling of being young, and the advertiser may take this advantage to make the older targets feel young. This may attract their attention and engage their mind in trying to contact young; this will result in the old people wanting to feel young and therefore, but the commodities physically. Third, some people enjoy adventure; advertisers should look for adverts with an adventurous feeling and thus attract the audience who enjoy nature(Advertising Appeals).
It is not very possible to control social media platforms; however, it is possible to control the mainstream media. A body to promote ethics in the advertising and the media should be established and given the mandate to ensure that all adverts are ethical and do not corrupt the society. The body should also ensure that advertisers are well educated, and they know the effects of explicit content on the community, these methods are not very useful and there are better and more effective ways of attracting the audience. Stricter laws and regulations should be put in place to ensure that the advertisers who break them are dealt with accordingly.
Creating an oversight body to reduce or eliminate the explicit content in the media will create a much more moral society. Viewers of mainstream media do not have authority on what they watch; they just watch whatever is presented to them by the media. The establishment of the body will control the content that they get since only the media determines what the viewers can watch; there will be less explicit content on the screen. Since viewers do not have the power to decide what they want to watch, they will watch what comes their way. In my solution, the advertisers should adopt new, better, and many creative ways. This means that the viewers will continue enjoying adverts while the advertisers will continue to market their brands and products effectively.
Lastly, if implemented, my solution will work effectively, reducing the amount of explicit content on our screens and hence increase morality in society. What is needed to enforce my solution is creating a body and include the media in formulating laws and regulations to ensure equity. The media, advertisers, and the body should meet, have an extensive discussion on the adverse effects of the content to the society, and the need to reduce and eliminate the content on our media.
Works Cited
“23 Types of Advertising Appeals Most Commonly Used by Brands.” Visual Learning Center by Visme, https://visme.co/blog/types-of-advertising-appeals/.
Jones-Navarro, Alejandra. “Sex Sells: It’s Everywhere, but Does It Make It Right?” Medium, Writing in the Media, 4 May 2018, https://medium.com/writing-in-the-media/sex-sells-its-everywhere-but-does-it-make-it-right-176d8215be4a.
“Read ‘Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States’ at NAP.edu.” National Academies Press: OpenBook, https://www.nap.edu/read/18358/chapter/6#80.
King, James, Alastair McClelland, and Adrian Furnham. “Sex does sell The recall of sexual and non-sexual television advertisements in sexual and non-sexual programs.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 29.2 (2015): 210-216.