Sex Sells.

Actually, it doesn’t.   Does – not – sell.

Here’s why.

This ad, for example (from Copyranter’s blog):

If I asked you about this ad in 5 minutes you (or “guys” – I’ll get to that later) would remember the naked women, but not the brand name!

That’s what the empirical research shows on sex in advertising: people look at the naked people and it distracts them from looking at the ad’s message.

Yes, sex in advertising decreases its effectiveness! For an ad to be effective: the target needs to perceive the message, remember the message and act upon the message.  You can’t act on the message (buy the product) when you don’t remember what it is.

Sex in advertising does do one positive thing:  it causes people to look at the advertisement (people look at the sex part but nothing else).  Did you read the ad’s text, or just look to see if the model’s nipples were visible?

But in a truly ironic fashion: Sex causes the wrong people to look at the add.  Sexy advertising targeted at (straight) men usually feature sexy women.  Research shows that because of the sexy woman in the ad, men will be less likely to read the ad’s copy and women (who are not the target of the ad) will be more likely than men to read the copy.  The opposite is true of women: they will look at the sexy man in the ad and not read the copy but men will be more likely to read the ad’s copy!

So why sex in ads?  Above I offered empirical results.  Below I can only offer my guesses.

1. The client is always right.  They client thinks sex sells and the ad agency goes along for the check.

2. For the benefits of the controversy.  Advertisers must pay for ad placement in magazines and on TV.  That’s the major cost of advertising.  If a sexy ad is controversial …

… such as this one for a coffee company, it will receive placement in newspapers and on TV for free!

3. The sex isn’t for the consumer.  The advertising company is thinking about winning advertising industry awards for creative advertisements.  Winning (or just being nominated for) an award will give the agency greater status, more interested potential clients and the ability to charge more for their services.  Sexy ads, like the coffee ad above, can make the campaign seem clever or ground-breaking and thus more award-worthy.

4. Of course, in some cases, the entire brand wishes to be connected to sex and controversy.  We hear so often of American Apparel and their controversial ads that many consumers associate the brand with sex.  There’s no empirical evidence on whether this has any effect on the brand’s sales.