Sex Sells.. But At What Cost?

In 2009, Burger King, a popular fast-food chain released an advertiser featuring their new “Super Seven Incher”. The ads featured women with their mouths open and captions such as “It’ll blow your mind away” or “Blow one and swallow.” This was merely the tip of the iceberg.

In 2008, BMW released an advertiser in hopes of coaxing people into buying their used cars and in 2012, U_Fit gym released a similar advertiser both using women to sell their services. 

What a lot of people don’t realize is that when companies market their products by using women to attract attention to them, they are reducing women to sex symbols, hence the tagline ‘Sex Sells’. Although this may seem like an insignificant issue, it has a lot of negative repercussions in the grand scheme of things. 

To begin addressing this, the false advertising contributes to the unhealthy image of women instilled by the patriarchy within them, meaning it further objectifies women and belittles their true purpose and potential in society, all the more enforcing the negative concept of gender roles. It dehumanizes women and ironically builds an inferiority complex in them. 

Not to mention, this harsh portrayal also poses many problems to young children and youth who are easily influenced by social media and aspire to be like the models they see. This is why when young girls see a sexualized woman who perfectly fits the beauty standards receiving an insane amount of attention, they will seek to do the same, even if it involves unhealthy ways. This could lead to issues like eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and other mental disorders. 

People like to use the excuse “It’s not that big of a deal” and claim that there are bigger problems to worry about, but sexism is still well and alive in our world today, and this is one of its many aspects that is necessary to highlight in order to tackle the bigger problem. 

To wrap up, it is important to understand why advertisers like this are harmful. If you are a company looking for ways to market your products, there are other means to do so, and if your product does involve women or is designed for them, move away from images of perfection and try to include diversity in your advertisers. Feature women of all kinds to help create a more accepting and loving atmosphere in our society.