SEXY Sales: The Psychology of Sexual Advertisements  

Freud’s theory says: “In the theory of psycho-analysis we have no hesitation in assuming that the course taken by mental events is automatically regulated by the pleasure principle.” This basically means that we do everything based on sex. This is a tool that advertisers use to help others remember their products or companies. Look at GoDaddy.com or American Apparel. They use provocative images to shock others and sell.

A study in London made people split into different groups to watch different commercials. The results showed that more people remembered the highly-sexual advertisement as opposed to the non-sexual one. Popular magazines like Maxim, and popular brands like Calvin Klein, have sold their products with it and continue to today. So yes, sex sells.

How is the memory processed? It’s three steps:

1. Grabbing attention
2. Processing
3. Understanding

We’ll analyze with a Victoria’s Secret ad. The first and most important step is to have people notice the ad. Going through the mall and then suddenly seeing an almost naked woman captures attention. Looking at the ad it will be analyzed that the message is that the product will make the buyer attractive and irresistible. The viewer will take the message and apply it to schemas and the brand. Also, this will make them purchase or not.

Of course, there are limits to what is sexy and what is too much. Some countries have strict restrictions for censorship, so some companies need to keep that in mind. There is also violence, humor, or drama for their advertisements.

References

Furnham, A. (2013, December 13). Does sex sell? [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sideways-view/201312/does-sex-sell

King, J., McClelland, A. and Furnham, A. (2015), Sex Really Does Sell: The Recall of Sexual and Non-sexual Television Advertisements in Sexual and Non-sexual Programmes. Appl. Cognit. Psychol., 29: 210–216. doi: 10.1002/acp.3095.