Sex shouldn't sell

Self-Esteem as a Social Cause

2006-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

In my Graphic Design class we are doing a project of creating a poster for a social cause. As we were brainstorming and researching issues, it dawned on me to somehow tie it in with my issue of sex selling. While feeding the hungry and being aware of Global warming are the first issues that come to mind, what about the issue of how we perceive ourselves?

I'm currently working on ideas with Barbie for this project. Maybe a poster of a "single working mother Barbie" or a naked Barbie with phrases of how to become like her. (ex. "breast implants" or "purge food after every meal") I'm trying to go for a strong visual that will catch the eye and draw them in to read on. Any thoughts?

Guerilla Girls on the loose

2006-11-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

Guerila Girls: re-inventing the f-word... feminism

check out this website: http://www.guerillagirls.com/

Basically, they are a group of women on a rampage to improve sexism issues today. They are fighting for more women directors and their place in the Oscars, women in the White house, and women around the world.

Not only are they provacative, but they are real.

Impacting products

2006-11-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

As I was searching the About-face website for some ideas for a social poster for self-esteem, I stumbled onto some of their products in the "support us" section. These products use sarcasm and imagery to impact they way women view themselves.

About-Face.org

2006-11-20T22:23:00.000-08:00

"About-face.org promotes positive self-esteem in girls and women of all ages, sizes, races and backgrounds through a spirited approach to media education, outreach and activism."

http://www.about-face.org/

Check out these features:
- Gallery of Offenders
- Gallery of Winners

Crazy Target Ad

2006-11-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

What one brand comes to mind when you hear "red and white rings/circles"? If you guessed right, I'm gonna go with Target. In the past couple years, Target has been breaking the boundries of ads and creating a whole new way of looking at things.

Here's a series of three ads:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5319927831183203119&q=target+commercial&hl=en

Now this is crazy. At first, I had no idea what was going on, but look at the window past the guy.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6001829000236365981&q=target+commercial&hl=en

Doves campaign for REAL BEAUTY

2006-11-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

So, since most of my posts show the negative depictions in advertising, I'd thought I'd give some props to those who are doing it right.

Here's an article discussing these ads. Some people think that it is helping to change the stereotype of thinness and others think that the girls are a little too chubby to be up on a billboard wearing not much. What do you think?

"Dove marketing director Kathy O'Brien says that the company wants the ads to "change the way society views beauty," and "provoke discussion and debate."

"Meanwhile, Slate.com's Seth Stevenson says that the campaign, noble or not, is bad business because eventually it will doom Dove as the "brand for fat girls."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8813128/site/newsweek/

Maxim covers

2006-11-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

1 step under porn (but yet one of the number 1 selling magazines)

Sex survey

2006-11-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

* I was so suprised that this was even on the website. I feel like I know these women a bit too much now. But, I guess it helps men really understand women and how they think.

SEX

How many times a week do you masturbate?
Never: 25%
1-7: 75%

Have you ever used a sex toy?
Yes: 81%
No: 19%

With a man?
Yes: 74%
No: 26%

If yes, what was it? (Choose all that apply.)
Vibrator: 70%
Beads: 4%
Whip: 12%
Restraints: 28%
Other: 9%

What’s your favorite sexual position?
Missionary: 13%
Woman on top: 42%
Doggy Style: 45%

Have you ever French-kissed a girl?
Yes: 60%
No: 31%
Yes, quite often: 9%

At what age did you lose your virginity?
Under 16: 29%
16-30: 71%

Spit or swallow?
Spit: 38%
Swallow: 53%
I abstain from BJs: 9%

What’s the most number of people you have fooled around with at one time?
1: 44%
2: 35%
3: 17%
4+: 4%

Have you ever participated in a threesome?
Yes: 26%
No: 55%
No, but I’d like to: 19%

If yes, who was involved?
Two gals, one guy: 70%
Two guys, on gal: 15%
I’ve had ’em all: 15%

Have you ever been caught faking an orgasm?
Yes: 16%
No: 84%

Are you a member of the mile-high club?
Yes: 17%
No: 83%

Have you ever had sex with more than one guy in the same family?
Yes: 9%
No: 91%

Hometown hotties

2006-11-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

Maxim: a magazine for men

http://www.maximonline.com/hotties/gateway.aspx?cYear=2006

feel free to surf around on this section of the site...

Don't forget to watch the hotties videos, play the hotties games, and take the hotties sex survey.

who's your favorite?

2006-10-30T22:54:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering what kind of electronic is being compared to this woman... it's a phone. Apparently they will "both look great sitting next to you on the couch." Really? Now, I KNOW that this ad was not created by a woman. Any woman who respects herself would be offened by this advertisement. Not only is she compared to something that can be bought, but she's displayed in a scandelous/ hooker-like outfit. But, if she'll look good on the couch... we'll take her!

GQ Covers

2006-10-30T22:51:00.000-08:00

If these don't attract the male sex, I'm scared of what they will put on the cover next...

GQ Magazine

2006-10-30T22:39:00.000-08:00

Basically this magazine has been created for men. What does it cover? Fashion, Grooming, and Girls... the essentials in every man's life. While I was searching for the offical website, I stumbled across this website:

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/Girls/#

There's a total of 176 different sections of pictures to look through. They've got the Playboy bunnies, Christina Aguilera, and every linerie company you can think of. but I'm sure that all the guys who look at these pictures have COMPLETE respect for these women.

Black Flys

2006-10-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

So, how good do these sunglasses look on her?

Hooter girl requirements

2006-10-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

Not only do they ave to wear those ridiculous socks, tight ass tanks, and painted on orange shorts, but there's a criteria for hair, eyes and lips, make-up, skin care, and exercise.

http://www.hooters.com/hootersgirl/

My favorite quotes:

HAIR: "Not everyone should be blonde!" and "You never know when you will be photographed or asked to go on a photo shoot or promotion. Be sure to always look camera ready!"

EYES: "Don't use heavy pencils or dark shadows to define your eyebrows. This can leave you looking stern rather than STUNNING!"

CHEEKS: "Don't forget to wear blush! Doing so will leave you looking lifeless!"

SKIN: "Good skin is not just about what you put on your skin, but how you conduct your life."

MAKE-UP: "THE LOOK" Hooters Girls are expected to uphold a consistent image by maintaining a routine that provides each with a NATURAL, WHOLESOME, VIBRANT LOOK."

Hooters... the owls, of course!

2006-10-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

One random Sunday, a friend and myself decided to have lunch. Since the place we had in mind was closed, we decided to head on over to Hooters. As soon as we walked in the joint, we were looked up and down by at least five guys and surrounded by girls in tiny ass orange shorts and their "girls" up to their chins. Awkward... I'd say yes. Right when we sat down, we were approached by one of the bus boys and immediatly he was flirting with us. Next, our waitress came over and threw the routine line at us, "Can I get ya somethin to drink?" As our dining experience went on, we got to not only see these girls do a little dance and try and make a little love tips, my friend and I decided to actually talk to our waitress. Turns out she's a student a UC Fullerton, studying to be a teacher and is about to graduate. Who would have thought? That's when I felt bad. I wonder how many times her customers actually talk to her and not hit on her. How could she do that to herself? Obviously the money is good, but so is working the corner Saturday nights. So, what really keeps her working there? According to our waitress, Chelsea, every girl who was hired that didn't have a boob job, left with a new set of "girls", with the encouragement of the management. WHAT ARE THESE GIRLS THINKING!? Do they really think that their customers respect them?
My final words: If a girl puts making money over self-respect, she might as well throw in to towel and go big, cuz she's not going home!

Dramatic reflections

2006-10-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love looking at yourself in the mirror? Oh, come on, everyone does it. But, when was the last time you lied on the floor, spread your legs, and then looked at yourself? (maybe for a MySpace photo or something) I don't know what CesarePaciotti's advertising team is going for in these ads. Why are all of the model's hair wet? Did they just hop out of the shower, throw on some black lingerie and stelletos?

Victoria's Sex Secret

2006-10-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Check out this Christmas commercial:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7376953083573301090&q=victoria+secrets&hl=en

To the gentlemen reading this: What does this commercial tell you? Basically, if you buy a woman something from Victoria Secrets, you will get laid.

Let's take a look at what these words really mean, according to Merriam-Webster:
- "Dazzle me":
1: to lose clear vision especially from looking at bright light
2: (a) to shine brilliantly, (b) to arouse admiration by an impressive display
3: to overpower with light
4: to impress deeply, overpower, or confound with brilliance
- "Excite me":
1: a : to call to activity
b : to rouse to an emotional response
c : to arouse (as a strong emotional response) by appropriate stimuli
- "Delight me":
1: a high degree of gratification, extreme satisfaction
2: something that gives great pleasure
3 archaic : the power of affording pleasure
- "Bring me to my knees": We all know what this implies... and we know that she's not about to get on her knees to clean the bathroom floor in her Victoria Secrets gear.

So, what is Victoria's true secret? The number one way to Dazzle, Excite, Delight, and bring a woman to her knees is to buy her something at Victoria's Secret.

"Detox with evian"

2006-10-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever made a snow angel before? Oh, the good ole days, when you were five and estatic about being able to play in the snow. Lying in there in the white powder, extending your arms and legs outward, you end up creating a beautiful snow angel. But... have you ever tried it naked?...

As Evian is using descriptive words such as "purity", "youthfulness", and "living", they have automatically assumed the only way to acheive this state is by being naked. I'm not quite sure that if I were in her shoes I would have that look on my face. According to Wikipedia, the average temperature of snow is 4 degrees Celsius. Now imagine that touching every part of your body... would you have the same look on your face? But I guess if there's at least some snow covering your nipples, you're in the clear...

"Sex and violence just don't sell"

2006-10-09T23:46:00.000-07:00

Study: Sexy, violent shows reduce recall of ad brands

By Diane Swanbrow
News Service
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0203/Aug11_03/02.shtml

Advertising on television shows with violent or sexual content is bad business, a U-M study confirms.
The study, an invited presentation Aug. at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, shows that viewers are less likely to remember the brand of advertised products when the ads are shown in sexually explicit and violent programs.
"If the TV program bleeds, memory for the brand recedes," says Brad Bushman, a psychologist at the Institute for Social Research. "We found that people are 19 percent less likely to remember the same ad if it is embedded in a violent or sexually explicit show."
Bushman, who conducted the study of 324 viewers with Iowa State University graduate student Angelica Bonacci, has conducted numerous studies showing that violent and sexually explicit programming interferes with people's memory for ads both immediately after watching a TV show and a day later. The new findings confirm the earlier empirical work and extend it by showing that brand recall is not improved by matching the ad type to the program type.
For the study, Bushman—who also is affiliated with the Communication Studies and Psychology departments—and Bonacci asked men and women to watch a violent, sexually explicit or neutral television program taped from cable television channels. Some of the 18 shows used included "World Wrestling Federation Monday Night Nitro," "Strip Poker" and "Miracle Pets." The ads originally embedded in the program were edited out and replaced with violent, sexual and neutral versions of ads for actual products. After viewing the 40-45 minute TV program, participants were asked to recall the brand names of the advertised products (e.g., jeans, soft drinks and snacks) in any order they wanted.
The researchers found that brand recall was 17 percent higher for participants who saw a neutral program than for those who saw a violent program, and 21 percent higher for participants who saw a neutral program than for those who saw a sexual program.
They also found that violent ads were 20 percent less memorable than sexual ads and 18 percent less memorable than neutral ads, regardless of the type of ad in the program. "These memory differences can't be attributed to brand familiarity because brand was held constant across type of ad," Bushman says.
The research also showed that type of program did not interact with type of ad to influence memory for ads. "Showing violent or sexual ads in violent or sexual programs doesn't make the ads more memorable," Bushman says. "The bottom line is that matching ad type to program type doesn't change the basic fact that people are less likely to remember brands advertised in violent and sexually explicit programs. Sex and violence just don't sell, in other words."

* Basically, this article addresses the numbers and impact of sexual and violent viewings. If this article and it's statistics are true, why are their still sexual advertisements out in the world today? Don't you think that the advertisers and companies would take these numbers into account and change their tactics to something that would generate more rememberance?

Diesel's naked angels

2006-10-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'll be the first to say that Diesel has created some pretty unique and clever advertisments, but there is one that sticks out in my mind. This black and white photo of an topless angel is actually an advertisment for running shoes. This may come across as ironic, due to the fact that she is sitting and looks as if she has no intention of going anywhere fast. Let's fully break down this advertisment... First, what does an angel have to do with the Diesel brand anyways? Are they a heavenly product or just trying to rebrand themselves. I believe that the main goal of these series of advertisements is to give Diesel a "fallen angel", rebel type of tone. Look at the expression on the girl's face. Not only is she looking like a bad ass, she also has a tint of seduction in her eyes. I give the make-up artist mad props for this one. The smokey eyes, the blush shading under the cheek bone, and the dark lipstick... basically contradict the rest of her body (except for the bare chest). I guess the positive outlook of this ad is at least they covered her chest with her hair... good thing she didn't have a short hair do. And what's with the diaper she's wearing? Are we still falling for the cupid/angel stereotype outfit? In my opinion, angels would have a bit more moderation and cover up, but hey... buy these shoes. And my last and most favorite part of all... the tagline "for successful living." Apparently, being an angel who has turned to the dark side is successful. Or maybe the idea of wearing shoes that hold no purpose to the owner is successful... what exactly is their definition of successful anyways?

Superchick's got the right idea

2006-10-08T22:50:00.000-07:00

I told another lie today
And I got through this day
No one saw through my games
I know the right words to say
Like "I don't feel well""I ate before I came"

Then someone tells me how good I lookand for a moment
For a moment I am happy
But when I'm alone
No one hears me cry

I need you to know
I'm not through the night
Some days I'm still fighting to walk towards the light
I need you to know
That we'll be okay
Together we can make it through another day

I don't know the first time I felt unbeautiful
The day I chose not to eat
What I do know is how I changed my life forever
I know I should know better
There are days when I'm okay
And for a moment
For a moment I find hope

But there are days when I'm not okay
And I need your help
So I'm letting goI need you to know
I'm not through the night
Some days I'm still fighting to walk towards the light

I need you to know
That we'll be okay
Together we can make it through another day

You should know you're not on your own
These secrets are walls that keep us alone
I don't know when but what I know now

Together we'll make it through somehow
Together we'll make it through somehow

I need you to knowI'm not through the night
Some days I'm still fighting to walk towards the light
I need you to know
That we'll be okay
Together we can make it through another day

I was listening to my new Superchick CD when this song came on. It basically is narrated by a girl who is dealing with anorexia problems. Although this is sort of a tangent to my main point of Sex selling, it still plays a role in the problem. Girls are constantly dealing with these eating issues due to the messages thrown at them. According to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents. Also, 95% of those who have an eating disorder are between the ages of 12 and 25. Obviously, there is something very wrong with this situation. As these young women are continually confronted with images of how they are "supposed" to look, their opinion and the way they see themselves is altered. Statistics say that 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight and 80% of 13 year-olds have attempted to lose weight. and where do we think these girls are getting this message from?

Student's Gone Wild

2006-10-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

There was an article in last week's Chapman Panther titled "Students Gone Wild." Basically, the article dealt with the controversy issue of sexual magazines and television shows throughout college campuses. The main focus, the magazine H BOMB was created in 2004 by two Harvard students who wanted to have an outlet for "omni-sexual literacy arts publications" and issues dealing with sex. This magazine contains nudity content and X-rated subjects. Another target is the Koala TV created in 2005 at UCSD. On one of the shows, the host Steve York performed oral sex on a willing woman during the show. After a public outrage and cancelation, the show was re-aired when the show's validity was recognized by students and parents. York stated, "I'm trying to offer something fun in the freedom of speech battle," after the incident. While some think that these mediums are simply expressing art and facts of life, others feel that it is crossing the line. Now that I have given you the facts in a "reporter" manner, I'll give you my opinion. My main question to this article/issue is why? Why do we NEED this information. Is it impacting anyone's lives in a possitive manner? I personally feel that this can be plugged into the overall issue of sex selling. By protraying these images as "art", they are sending out a message which will eventually impact the way that people think and see each other. Then this leads into the whole idea of people's opinions of themselves. As the media arounds us shows people's figures and bodies in a certian way, it influences people into comparing the image to themselves. Overall, these images are hurtful to the public in terms of self-confidence.

Ban's possitive advertisments

2006-10-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Now here's an example of a "good" advertisment. While it is selling an brand of deoderant, it is also empowering the woman who wears/ uses it. Phrases such as "Ban Broken Hearts", "Ban stereotypes", and "Ban self-doubt" all relate to the every day woman. A woman who has to deal with insecurities and relationships... Personally, I feel as if I wore this deoderant, I would be more confident in who I was. Actually, now that I think about it, just reading this advertisment gives me more confidence in myself and my uniqueness.

Calvin Klein Ads

2006-10-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Take a look at these ads:
Besides the fact that they are labeled with the Calvin Klein Jeans typography, what would you think this really was? To me, these ads have the characteristics of soft porn. But how does that reflect on the product? Will I get a fuckin hott man if I wear these jeans?... Seriously? Does anyone truely think that? I think that while good ole Calvin is trying to brand the company and product, they are placing themselves into a whole new area selling sex. If this isn't sex in photo form, I don't know what is. But does this sell the jeans? My hopes want to say that it doesn't but I'm sure there are some people out there who are influenced by this advertisment and feel "sexier" in Calvin Klein jeans. What is the world coming to?