does sex sell?

so in my previous blog post, I wanted to explore the idea of whether or not sex really does sell within advertising, even when it has nothing to do with the product in hand? Even as far back as the late 1800s naked women were used to sell tobacco. does sexualisation of the male and female bodies work? does it make people buy the products? or does it actually put people off?

well, the american psychological association (ASA) conducted a study made up of 53 experiments that included 8,489 participants which examined this question. At the end of the study, it actually showed that sex 'never helps brand memory'.

"when brands use violent or sexual content, our attention goes more towards the sexual and violent content at the expense of our focus being on the actual brand or product itself" Alessandra Litchenfeld

I suppose this means that advertising will gradually start becoming less sexualised; and in 2015 brands such as american apparel and Abercrombie and fitch released statements saying that they will be de-sexualising their adverts to attempt to increase sales!