To What Extend Are Nudity and Sexual Appeals in Advertising Ethical?

Sexual appeals have been part of advertising campaigns since the beginning of modern advertising and they become more and more pervasive in American and world marketing with time. Perhaps the reason for nudity and sex related content to be so common in advertising is that it works; as the popular statement says: “Sex sells”. It is true and probably it will continue to be.

Many popular brands use sex to promote their products. Some of them include:

D&G, Yves Saint Laurent, companies that sell alcohol (Absolut, Vodka Flirt, Skyy Vodka etc.), Tom Ford for Men, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Axe, Benetton etc. This selling strategy brings a lot of controversies and ethical issues with itself, as might be inferred. There is a popular set of questions called the TARES test that is used to estimate the ethical measures of an advertisement. The abbreviation stands for: truthfulness, authenticity, respect, equity, and social responsibility. Although every separate case is different, I will try to make general conclusions on the topic discussed in this research, using examples, citations, ethical theories, and the TARES test.

Most of the products advertised by the sexual technique are somehow related to sexuality and attracting the opposite sex (like clothes, perfumes, even alcohol), but there are others that are not related at all. For example, there was a famous Burger King ad, that promoted a sandwich menu, and the picture of it implied oral sexual act. The caption said: IT’LL BLOW YOUR MIND AWAY. Moreover, Pepsi sometimes uses nude bodies (mostly female) in its advertisements. Such examples bring the question: Is using sexual appeals in advertising some products (especially not related to sex) misleading, because it focuses the attention on the sexuality or the nude images, instead of the quality of the product itself? Stephen J. Gould writes in his research:”One key finding is that sexual appeals are most effective