An important controversial issue that America faces today is the debate of sex in advertising. Sex ads are defined as any type of advertising that shows pictures of partial nudity with wording that relates to the body in a sexual way, usually portraying women. Men are also used in the advertisement industry. The choice of sex used in the advertisement is based on the gender that is trying to be attracted. Sex in advertising has been around for a long time but has the industry become too sexually explicit? Now I am not one to say that sex is evil or bad by any means. However, I believe that there are certain limits to how far advertisers should go and my examination of recent commercials shows they have far surpassed them. Sex ads are used to promote and sell a variety of products.
Sex is everywhere, in almost every advertisement we see. While some people do not even realize it is there, others have strong rejections against it. The truth is that sex sells by capturing the consumer's attention. .
My first example of this is a recent Zellers advertisement that was aired for the back to school season. The Zellers company, who has always claimed to keep the values of Canadian families in mind, somehow forgot what they are suppose to stand for. The commercial features a middle age couple in a kitchen on the first day of school after there children have left running out the door. The husband begins complimenting his wife on what a great mother she is while giving her a back rub. At this point, his wife turns to him and says, "It's not going to happen." (This of course referring to sex). Now again, I am by no means against sex, but I don't see how Zellers and sex are related at all. Not to mention the fact that children are watching these commercials and thinking that sex is some big joke. This is of course far from the truth because sex is a very serious topic and should be treated as one.
