Sex sells. Most of the time. Sometimes it backfires, as in the case of brands like Axe, Unilever's deodorant marketed to geeky men to help make them irresistible to women. After getting insecure men to buy the stuff by the caseload the brand itself lost its cachet with the general public. And, according to the
Atlantic Monthly, high school teens were dousing themselves to the point where one school had to ban it. So, yes, advertisers successfully tap into our insecurities and deeply rooted sexual fantasies and yes, sex sells.
Daily Finance contributor Sarah Gilbert shares her top picks for ads that use sex to sell, but with a
clever wink and a nod that puts them a cut above the rest.
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=1010219&pid=1010218&uts=1319634988
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
Risque Business
Sex sells. It's the oldest truism of marketing. But is it true? Not always. DailyFinance's Sarah Gilbert has covered naked marketing for years, and she's done her share of recoiling and grinning. Here, she reviews the 10 most eye-popping campaigns: the ads so likable and clever that they make even a reserved feminist (like herself) laugh, or the ads so demeaning they make even the goofiest frat boy cringe. To learn more about these naked ad campaigns, peek through our gallery.
First Up: PETA
Getty Images
AP
Risque Business
Sex sells. It's the oldest truism of marketing. But is it true? Not always. DailyFinance's Sarah Gilbert has covered naked marketing for years, and she's done her share of recoiling and grinning. Here, she reviews the 10 most eye-popping campaigns: the ads so likable and clever that they make even a reserved feminist (like herself) laugh, or the ads so demeaning they make even the goofiest frat boy cringe. To learn more about these naked ad campaigns, peek through our gallery.
First Up: PETA
Risque Business
1. PETA
Alicia Silverstone and Eva Mendes
When Alicia Silverstone stepped naked out of a swimming pool for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, to boast in 2007 that she'd given up meat, Comcast Cable in Houston declined to run the 30-second spot. Eva Mendes also went nude for PETA that year, with a moony campaign of her own: "Fur? I'd rather go naked."
Risque Business
2. Nike
"Bear Butte" Running Camp
A funny spot for Nike's Free 5.0 running shoes, featuring buff runners wearing nothing but Nikes, was a viral smash a few years back. (Butts were visible; naughtier bits were digitally blurred.) One advertising critic did a double-take, saying, "The company isn't as humorless as many of us thought."
Next: Midnight Cowboy
Risque Business
3. Air New Zealand
Body Paint
If an airline asked its baggage handlers and flight attendants to appear on TV with their clothing painted on their bare bodies, would that be exploitative? Not if the CEO gets naked too. Air New Zealand shows off a sense of humor (and "nothing to hide") in a recent campaign.
See the Full Monty
Risque Business
4. Chevrolet
The Naked Cowboy
Why was Chevrolet's Super Bowl spot for its HHR wagon so lame? Was it the pointless nude-male car wash? Or not enough of Times Square's delightful Naked Cowboy? Or maybe the fact that Chevy was hoping to excite viewers about a car that nobody cared about then, and that nobody's heard of since? We'll check D, for "all of the above."
Next: Coffee Splash
Risque Business
5. Starbucks
The Original Mermaid Logo
Back in the Age of Aquarius, Starbucks was a hole-in-the-wall coffeehouse, and its mermaid mascot might as well have been a hippie, flopping around a Woodstock mud puddle. By 2008, Starbucks was a flailing global corporation, and reintroducing its vintage mascot was met with indifference by some and hostility by others.
Next: Show Us Your Soap!
Risque Business
6. Lush
Employees' Aprons-only Attire
Hip British cosmetics chain Lush prides itself on the fact that its soap has no packaging. And neither, apparently, do its employees, who are encouraged periodically to show they have nothing to lose but their aprons. As effective a sales tool as a bare bottom might be, it's an even more effective way to promote your brand.
Next: Driven to Distraction
Risque Business
7. Calvin Klein
Obsession Billboards
Long before unveiling this month's startling threesome -- or is it foursome? -- above a Manhattan intersection (not shown), the bad-boy designer was notorious for stylish, salacious outdoor and magazine campaigns for Obsession cologne. That the images are of women (clearly depicted in the throes of passion for Obsession-scented men) reveals a target largely comprising young single men. But its appeal is objectifying and humorless. It's about sex, and nothing else.
Risque Business
8. JCPenney
Dress Rehearsal
Two sweaty, horny teens in their respective bedrooms, wrestling into their clothes as fast as they could, to practice getting caught in the act? It didn't look like a JCPenney ad -- and, as it turns out, it wasn't. The spot that got the Cannes critics hot and heavy was created by a renegade producer who (in a not-so-shocking turn of events), is no longer working for Penney's ad agency.
Next: A Real Whopper
Risque Business
9. Burger King
Flame Body Spray
As its increasingly creepy ad campaign tried pushing barriers, Burger King blurred the lines between real life and satire by marketing a cheap scent, claiming (falsely) that it smelled like their flagship brand. The presence of the eerie mascot was even more unappealing than usual, no thanks to a lack of either clothes or inhibitions.
Risque Business
RSS Feed
Contact Us
