Images of Sex and Beauty While Abroad

Images of Sex and Beauty

Images using sex and beauty as selling tool have been around for a very long time. As the cliché phrase points out, ‘Sex sells’, and this is true no matter where you are in the world. The only things that dictate how much you can show are local norms and attitudes in those specific cultures.

Traditionally, the United States is much more conservative in how much skin you can show in advertisements. It doesn’t take much for an ad to be considered too racy for the general public. In Europe however, sexuality is more embraced, allowing marketers to get away with showing more (or less) and insinuating scenarios that in America would be considered taboo. It is commonplace to see a half nude couple promoting a brand of beer, a semi nude model selling health and beauty products and a seductive looking woman advertising cigarettes. Had they tried to use these images in a campaign in the U.S., family groups and politicians would have been up in arms about the issue and demanded a boycott until the ad was removed and an apology issued by the offending company.

An example I found particularly appropriate for this topic is an advertisement I saw while on a weekend trip to Prague. The ad shows a woman, completely naked, and her long blonde hair covering her breasts. The poster is advertising a vibrator and this is shown off to the corner of the ad. It is interesting to note how comfortable and open Europeans are with sex and beauty in their advertisements. The same campaign features a half naked man and woman advertising an adult store.

Culture plays a huge role in what is considered the norm and what is considered excessive and lewd. For Americans, having vibrator advertisements plastered around the city may be somewhat much considering that sex in the United States is still a very taboo subject that people like to keep in the bedroom. On the other hand, Europeans are comfortable seeing other people’s bodies and nudity and sex seem to be everywhere, therefore in the European culture this does not have such a negative connotation as it does in other parts of the world.