andi setiawan's blog

My girl is joining English Debate Contest, and one of the motion is “ban advertisement that uses sex to sell product”. I help her to find arguments that may fit on it, a little, but the motion kept in my mind.. So, what’s my opinion about the motion? here it is…

Condom advertisement: Click to show/hide images

How could you possibly ban sex from advertising? Forbid advertisers from using a pretty woman or handsome man in any advertising? Forbid swimsuits unless you are a swimsuit manufacturer?

The use of sex to sell can range from the subtle and thoughtful (which I think is pretty awesome, by the way) to the explicit and raunchy (which is usually just disgusting). But where do you draw the legal line?

I believe full frontal nudity is over the line, as is exposure of sexual organs, but outside of that, I’m not sure there is a line that most would agree on.

If we could find that line, and enforce it, I think it would be a better world. Morality is a helpful virtue.

Hopefully with a greater degree of honesty that simply focused upon the merits of the product or service being advertised. And with more respect for the target audience.

I can’t say that this would make our world a better place, but it would certainly reduce the "stupidity quotient" of what we all deal with on a daily basis.

I don’t think Microsoft is selling their products using sex. Their products are selling very well. There are many examples of decent and good advertisements free of sex.

Advertisement can be funny, creative and so on. There are many good movies (as a product) like ‘Lord of the Ring’ they sell themselves because of a good story, technical and creative presentation, animation and so on but still unnecessarily, sex is quite often chipped-in in many of them. It is a botheration.

Yes, world would definitely be a better place. Products are sold at the right combination of elements of marketing mix. There are theories such as 4P’s or 4C’s or 7C’s and so on. Creativity will thrive if sex is banned from advertisements