To sum up men’s underwear advertising in one word would be provocative. It seems to me that many brands are focusing more on selling sex instead of comfort or usefulness of the underwear.
So I started looking at the evolution of advertising men’s underwear and I found what I expected to find...ads used to be about comfort, feeling, style and simplicity.
In the picture below we can see just how much marketing for men's underwear has changed. What do you think? Does sex really sell men's underwear? How effective do you think the "selling sex" technique is?
- Michelle
Great article!
ReplyDeleteI believe that Sex does sell but can the "Sex Appeal" also repel some audience? In my opinion, depending on what which aspect of sex the company is trying to sell, some of them may go to far as to degrade the opposite sex only to boost their images. In that case, the company is inevitably building a "culture" that may not be admired by the rest of us. Also, is the product really being valued? is the image selling the product or the lifestyle that is attached to the product?
I think that sex sells. I think that people like to watch at a fashion picture (advertisement) and think of their partner as being sexy and as appealing as what they see in the ad. Or it might simply be inspiring to people, and let them think that they will have the sex appeal displayed in the ad if they buy and wear the underwear advertised. Sometimes, some of these ads can be too provocative, but I really think that both men and women like to see underwear advertisement that put emphasis on the sex appeal of the opposite sex! After all, human are like any other species, they have sexual interest in the opposite sex...
ReplyDeleteI THINK IT IS VERY EFFECTIVE. I LIKE CHECKING OUT THE HOT GUYS!
ReplyDeleteI think that these days women are more comfortable with the idea that sex sells. Depending on the demographic, I know women are often the buyers of men's underwear so I can understand why advertising agencies are coming up with more racy ads. We see millions of ads everyday with "sexy" women promoting all different sorts of products. I think people have gotten used to the fact that using sex in advertising is effective and not going away anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if these ads are provocative anymore, as society is a lot more permissive when it comes to sexy advertisement, but I believe that they help sell the product. That is because a lot of pressure is put now on both genders to be sexy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that because of all the documentaries about the aspects of sex appeal that are in our society, people might want to boycott those type of ads. I think this movement has started already, but it is still small. Once more people are aware of that, they might want marketers to think differently.
ReplyDeleteSex sells. They use sexy alluring pictures in women's underwear ads, in car ads and especially in beer ads... why not use the same formula for men? I don't even bother with ads, I know which underwear i like, and I buy them. I couldn't even tell you how Lululemon advertises their men's "Post Game" boxer brief.....
ReplyDeleteSex definetly sells, especially for underwear but I feel that since we are overexposed to sexual advertisments it isnt as effective anymore as it used to be.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing i found quite interesting is that a lot of the male advertisements use men as models. I found this ad which was clever: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/jbs_mens_underwear_no_naked_man
At the end of the ad it says "men don't want to look at naked men"
Lisa that ad you posted is too funny! I never thought about it but I haven't seen a lot of underwear ads using female models and not all men like to look at other men!
ReplyDeleteI look for sex appeal in the underwear I buy so why not use that in advertising these types of products!
Sex totally sells..it's unfortunate, but it's true! Women see a picture of a hot guy and they stop and stare because the reality is that our guys don't look like that! It's kind of the same thing as why women love looking at sexy pictures of women. They don't expect US to look like that, but they still enjoy looking at it! YUM!!
ReplyDeleteDo you guys feel that sexual ads create unrealistic expectations of what men are "supposed" to look like?
ReplyDeleteDo you think all of these pictures are photoshoped and enhanced?
Yes these ads create unrealistic expectations of what a man is. It creates insecurity for men, that they are not good enough.
ReplyDeleteWell, considering almost every picture taking for modelling is photoshopped this is one of them so yes.
Your blog has made me question the feelings men have when they see these other half naked men, so strong, and seductive.
I do believe that these sexual ads create unrealistic expectations of what men are supposed to look like. Working in a male-dominated environment, it seems that there is a lot of competition about who has the better body, most muscular and biggest "package". It seems that the sexual ads have had a pretty big impact on guys' self-perceptions. I think its pretty obvious that the pictures are photoshoped and enhanced, what ad isnt?
ReplyDeleteI do believe that sex sells. From a female perspective, if I were to go shopping for male underwears for my boyfriend, the brand names with the sexier ads would be the ones which I would recall. Although I realize that the ads have been photoshoped and enhanced, there is still a slight belief that if my boyfriend were to wear the same underwears as the guy in the ad, he would look just as hot!
ReplyDeleteAdvertisement these days focus on enhanced and images of what we all want to look like - and aren't representative of reality. Sex definitely sells, it's eye-catching and keeps your attention and leads you to believe that if you buy and wear that product, you CAN look just like that model! Although this may not be true, it gives us an illusion that we do belong in that group of people. By wearing CK underwear, I am as hot as that model and it brings me to a whole new level of confidence!
ReplyDeleteThese sexual advertisement definetly give men a "complex" of how they look. I think that it just makes people more self-conscious about theie image. Underwear should be about comfort because it's what's underneath that counts (as you guys have said numerous times in your blog!)
ReplyDeleteIn terms of photoshopping ads...I think most are "touched up". There is the Dove "Evolution" commercial showing that beauty in ads is "fake" and that our perception of beauty is distorted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXf8fr0Kp3Q
I do believe sex is in everything, almost. I like the article.. well said!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, the evolution commercial is really touching. I think it shows that advertsing today creates unrealistic expectations of "normal" people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Jess K. that selling sex is also about giving consumers CONFIDENCE!