Why Does Sex Sell?

We all know that sex sells, this is the reason why we see everywhere around us attractive and sexy people on billboards, TV, or in magazines.

The marketing companies know that sex attracts attention, so they use this to their advantage, even if is still a bit taboo.

When you look at the sentence sex sells, do not imagine that they put explicit sexual content in a bank commercial, rather maybe just a woman with great sex appeal, but they do use our cognitive biased against us.

Studies show that sex is used primarily to sell impulse purchases. Categories like health, beauty, and clothing are the industries that often use sex to sell.

It isn’t as effective in selling informational products like banking, finance, insurance, and technical appliances. That makes sense, although it hasn’t stopped some brands from trying.

If you try to use sex appeal where it does not fit, thinking you want just to make a stance, it can easily be offensive, in bad taste, and out of place.

Now let’s look back in history to understand this situation better.

Sex was first used to sell products back in 1871. According to World Heritage Encyclopedia, the earliest form of using sex in advertising was by Pearl Tobacco.

Their cigarette package displayed an image of a naked woman. This was exceptionally provocative at the time, and sales immediately rose. Others of course followed, especially the fashion industry. They all saw that sex sells if it is used appropriately.

But why does sex sells?

Because sex appeals to basic primal instincts. Besides food and other survival needs, sex appeal has self-preservation interests in humans.

We are hardwired to recognize sexually relevant information, which makes sexually appealing ads easy to spot.

Have things changed nowadays? If we look at today’s audience, we will see that especially the young generations are more intelligent and more educated than ever, and inauthentic behaviors are soon exposed as being false and attention-grabbing. They are about female empowerment, body positivity, and being expressive however you choose to express yourself. Sexiness itself now is self-acceptance and competence, and owning yourself. It’s all about whatever you want to be, and that’s what’s going to sell.

Read More Blogs on Diamonds Production