So above you can see the Calvin Klein advertisement that I found the most surprising; it's supposed to be a jeans advertisement despite the fact that it portrays little to no jeans. For the past ten years or so, more and more clothiers have started to adopt the same advertising and marketing techniques as Calvin Klein (for example Abercrombie & Fitch, Express Jeans, Victoria’s Secret and numerous others.) The bottom line is, sex really does sell, no matter what we’d like to think, and sellers will take advantage of that whenever they possibly can.
In this ad, an ad for Calvin Klein Jeans, you can see a headless, sculpted male body, standing under a shower head, wearing nothing and shielding his “junk” so to speak with a pair of jeans that he holds in his hand. To me this is the epitome of using sex appeal; this isn’t even a person, his face is cut out of the picture, it’s only his body. He’s wearing absolutely nothing; instead he’s holding a pair of jeans covering his area up. The funny thing about this to me is that the photo in no way promotes the jeans, but rather the idea of taking them off perhaps? What is it about these jeans that makes them sexy? Are they trying to advertise that the jeans are in some way or another easy-access, easy-off?
An even more odd concept is that of Abercrombie & Fitch’s advertising techniques, most of the models on their huge billboards don’t have any clothes on at all. The first time I went into an Abercrombie & Fitch Store and saw their billboards I was pretty curious as to how exactly you can advertise clothes with models that aren’t wearing any. The thing is, they’re not advertising clothes, they’re advertising sex appeal, they’re trying to tell their customers that if they buy their clothes at Calvin Klein or at Abercrombie & Fitch, that they too will be sexy. It’s not about the product per se, it’s about attracting customers to the risqué and adventurous side that they are always looking for.
4 comments:
Oh my gosh! This advertisement is borderline pornographic. It is hard to believe that it is selling anything besides sex. Although sex is used often to sell products, especially clothing, I have never seen it used to this picture. When I was looking for a picture to use I saw this one and I didn't have the guts to post it. But you did a good job of explaining the rhetoric used in this ad.
You hit the nail right in the head with the title sex sell no matter what you are selling.The image on your page is so sexually explicit that I do not even know how else it could be worse.
It is a fact that the image people have about women as sexual objects is partly becuase of the kind of commercials we are daily attacked with in the media.
Evidently this has to do with men and the perception that if the product being advertised is bought by the consumer they will look as sexy as the model wearing the product.
The psychology of this idea is so baseless but amazing how many people fall for it.
You did a great good explaining this ad! It is funny, most ads (utilizing sex appeal) are trying to sell a person but as you stated this ad for Calvin Klein is trying to sell a body almost dehumanizing him. Saying this figure is no more then a nice body, no face, no relatable attributes just a sexual object. I thought it is also great that you talked about how they are trying to sell the name more then the product like you said SEX SELLS, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS YOU’RE SELLING!
I thought this ad was pretty funny. Making the product a very small part of the ad is an interesting way to sell something. It certainly shows that advertising depends on the message and how people react to it instead of the product it is selling. Focusing on the body and not even including his head in the picture is a way to subliminally show the viewer that the person doesn't actually matter, only sex does.
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