When sex doesn't sell: Slew of bad ads backfire in the blogosphere -- DailyFinance

Everyone agrees that sex sells! When they work - meaning that advertisements  influence people to buy the product being advertised - they work well. People remember the product. This particular article is great. It points out that people remember advertised products either because they were awestruck or horrified. If you are horrified, you will remember the product but you might not buy it! The article points out 4 advertisements that are recent and shocking that use sexuality to sell their products. The article is right, you may find something humorous that offends another. I find the same thing in these examples. By and large many people were offended.

Example 1:  Halls commercial - mother and roommate eat a halls and it is so good that the middle-aged woman and the roommate make humming sounds of  satisfaction while looking into each others' eyes. I found this funny not offensive because neither person was doing anything wrong...it just looked awkward.



Example 2: Beer ad from Australia....no words. I'm offended because this goes under "things you can't unsee". Snow White has happy, innocent memories for me...sullied for ever.

Example 3: Mrs Clause cheating on Santa. Scary. Somethings just shouldn't be done.



Example 4: Cashing in on Sarah Palin's family problems. Remember Levi? He is the father of Palin's grandson. This ad is not just offensive...it's bad taste. How is this kid going to feel about this when he grows up?




When sex doesn't sell: Slew of bad ads backfire in the blogosphere -- DailyFinance