(By Daniel Walsh)
S
ex has been used in marketing for more than a century, as far back as the naked woman on the label of Pearl Tobacco in 1871 and as recently as Kim Kardashian's infamous salad-in-bed ad for Carl's Jr. But, that doesn't mean that simply tossing a sexy woman into an ad will sell a product.
Maybe it will draw attention, but closing the sale is another matter altogether. To pull off a sexy campaign in a way that predisposes people to buy your product, rather than turning them off from it, you have to do it right. "Sex in marketing will work in some cases and not in others," says Darren Dahl, a professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia who has studied the role of sex in advertising. "It depends on the product. It depends on the level of sex in the ad. It depends on the segment."
It also depends on how closely the product ties naturally to sex. Perfume and fashion? Maybe a bit more closely, since both have significant sensory aspects. Paper clips or bottled water? That's a further stretch. Maybe you'll draw attention, but you may not keep it in such a way that prompts the viewer to seal the deal and buy your product. Sexuality is instinctive. Given too much time to think, anyone will start rationally questioning the need to use sex in a campaign. But, make the exposure brief, and it might work. "To me, with the use of sex in marketing, if you don't close the loop rapidly, I don't think you're using it effectively," says Jeff Coburn, director of creative strategy for Momentum Worldwide, a St. Louis-based marketing firm. "And, it can even have a negative impact."
Still, a successful sexy campaign can have a huge impact on the bottom line. Calvin Klein's sales increased by 275% after the clothing company ran ads in 1980 featuring a young Brooke Shields saying, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." Subsequent ads built on that theme and established the company as edgy and sexy in the eyes of many. "A lot of people just think that sex is used to get attention for your product," says Tom Reichert, a communications professor at the University of Georgia who also runs www.sexinadvertising.com. "But a lot of companies aren't just using sex to get attention. They're using it to get a brand for their product, which can be lucrative if you get it right." Years later, of course, Calvin Klein danced too close to the flame and got burnt, offending would-be customers with an ad deemed pornographic by some.
Here we spotlight five recent marketing campaigns that used sex in innovative or interesting ways, with measurable results.
The Art of the Salad Sell
Kim Kardashian eats salads. She eats them in bed, clad in a skimpy robe, underwear and nothing else. She eats them in the bathtub because she has to get clean after a messy salad. "It's fun to get dirty," she purrs.
This is a Carl's Jr. Cranberry Apple Walnut Chicken Salad. The restaurant thinks you might want her – errr, it.
When the ad debuted in December 2009, the response was immediate. "The buzz of that led to insane sales," says Beth Mansfield, a spokeswoman for the Western chain of restaurants. "It was the most salads we ever sold in a day." The ad prompted 300 million "impressions" in various media. TV, radio, magazines, online – you name it, and they were talking about Kim Kardashian and Carl's Jr. "We got a ton of publicity from it," she says. "Bill O'Reilly had it on, saying constantly what a terrible ad it was. But, it played over and over and over on national TV for free – for a regional chain. So obviously it worked."
