Sexy U-boot watch ad

“Dive. Dive.”

It appears as if the standard order in submarine movies is being obeyed in this 1993 ad for U-boot watches. Shot by Helmut Newton, the ad appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. According to UNLV marketing professor Michael LaTour and Old Dominion's John Ford, the ad created quite a stir when it ran. It’s easy to see why. A faceless man—insert your identity here—is touching the breast of his female companion.

Although this example of sex in advertising offended many readers, it’s likely that U-Boot anticipated its target audience was not the type of be turned off by this ad. The last lines of copy read: “When you see this model in the flesh, you’ll express your desire for it on sight. After all we never told you to look but not touch.” To confirm this hypothesis, professors LaTour and Ford are planning to determine if people's attitudes toward women and sexism influence responses to ads like this one. I suspect they will find a relationship.

Tan = “Magna Cum Hottie!”

Who cares about grades? Make “A’s” and get on the Honor Roll by hitting the tanning beds.

Despite efforts by the American Cancer Society and other change agents to alter norms regarding tanning, the accompanying ad strongly suggests that tanned skin is still valued. The ad, featuring an attractive model in a sequenced top, plays to young women’s desires to be “confident,” “sexy,” and “noticed.”

In work by Jacque Lambiase and myself, we identified three dominant messages advertisers use with sex. The image and headline unmistakably argue that if you use our services, others will find you more sexually attractive: “Use our tanning beds, and you’ll get noticed.”

For a look at some research conducted on sex in advertising and media, visit Sex in Media Rearch.

Tell Timmy and Susie to come inside...Falcon Beach is on!

Falcon Beach recently joined ABC Family's "Sizzlin' Summer" line up. The prime-time seriel is about a collision of worlds (rich vacationers meet townies) as teens wrestle with love, lust, and the "loss of innocence."

The images in the Falcon Beach promo piece certainly suggest that 'sizzlin'' has as much to do with sex as it does temperature. A buff shirtless male and three females (two are bikini-clad) are sure to draw attention. Firm bodies are positioned and photographed so that they are emphasized. Notice, too, that the young woman in white appears to be making eye contact with the viewer (a form of interpersonal flirting behavior) while others are looking off the page.

What do the promoters of this program want to communicate? Any normal person would be safe to assume that Falcon Beach viewing offers plenty of beachwear to behold and plot lines revolving around sexual tension as young romances (d)evolve.