The art of advertising

In advertising, there is one specific theme that is repeatedly used over and over again. Why? Because it works!

Any guesses?

The answer is sex. Sex sells.

When advertising a product, you want to appeal to people the best you possibly can. Therefore, you find what people like and most importantly what people want. When thinking about this theme, one particular product popped into my mind. One that is the poster-child for using the “sex sells” philosophy. This product would be the perfume and cologne industry.

Whether its Gucci, Prade, Dolce & Gabana, Calvin Klein, Axe, Dior, or even a celebrity’s signature perfume, all of these ads portray both men and women as the epitome of perfection and sex.

For women, the goal is to be desirable, sexy, thin, flawless, elegant, and beautiful. Perfume advertisements choose a face to represent their brand. The woman is generally a celebrity or a super model, who have a thin waist, flawless skin, beautiful hair, and is extremely desirable. The emphasis of this is to make women buy that perfume because they want to look and feel like the woman in the ad. We all strive for beauty and perfection, so we go after products that people who have these traits endorse.

perfume advert

In the ad above, Charlize Theron is the face of Dior’s perfume line. She is famous, she is gorgeous, she has perfectly tanned skin, her hair flows perfectly down her body, she is thin, and her skin is clear and flawless. People want to be her. Shoot, I would love to look like that. Perfume companies, like Dior, are so successful because they create a sense of perfection and quality in their product by how they depict women.

Is this an accurate depiction of what women everywhere look like? No.

Is it an accurate depiction of what women look like when they use this perfume? No.

Perfume products for women emphasis the idealized beauty, but it is not the true standard of beauty. By depicting women in a desirable way, women want to buy this product because they want to be the person in the ad. However, as I said before, this is not an accurate image of beauty and using this product will not do the trick.

Moving on to men…

The goal of male cologne ads is similar to the goal of women’s perfume ads, expect men have a different view of beauty.

The common face of a cologne ad is a tall, brooding man with tan skin, chiseled six-pack abs, full and flawless hair, and they’re generally surrounded by women who cannot wait to get their hands on them.

Much like for women, this depiction of men is inaccurate. And as I said before, using this product won’t make women want you, it won’t give you six-pack abs, and it won’t make you the most desirable man in the world. However, that is what they want you to think.men_ad

In the picture above, you can see the perfect chiseled man with a women who can’t keep her hands off of him. Much like women, men love the sexual appeal. Everyone wants to be desired, sexy, and perfect.

The overall goal of both men and women’s perfume ads are to persuade the customer to buy their product over any other perfume product. They achieve this goal by portraying men and women as sex symbols and the epitome of perfection. Men and women have different standards of beauty and what is desired by the opposite sex, but the means of displaying this theme is the same. The means of accomplishing this are inaccurate and create a false sense of beauty, but as I said before…sex sells.

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