Sex in Advertising
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By: Jenna Warren
An advertisement depicting women in a sexualizing
manner
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1. The product being sold are Aston Martin’s automobiles
2. The target audience is mainly teenage boys and older men, along with
certain car enthusiasts.
3. The message of the ad is “You know you’re not the first, but do you
really care?” which is supposedly meaning driving an Aston Martin but
the underlying message is suggesting having sexual intercourse with the
women wearing barely any clothing and even though she isn’t a virgin
she’s attractive and half naked so who cares? It’s pretty obvious to see
the underlying message because the women stands out than the product
name.
4. I agree that the underlying message is obvious but I don’t agree with
the message itself and how it’s portrayed.
5. This advertisement is appealing to the physical sexuality of the
audience.
6. In my opinion it’s a negative portrayal of sexuality because it’s
suggesting that the women has had sex multiple times and is willing to
expose herself and have sex with more people.
Codes and Conventions
An advertisement depicting a man in a sexualized
manner
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1.The product being sold is the board game Scrabble.
2. The target audience for this ad is mainly women even though
Scrabble is a family board game.
3. The message of this ad is that Scrabble is “the bare necessity”
of summer, although with the naked man in the ad with the game
covering himself suggests that the man is part of the game which
makes this ad very sexual. The underlying message is obvious
because the naked man is the biggest part of the ad.
4. I agree that the underlying message is obvious and that the
naked man changes the true message of the ad.
5. This advertisement is appealing to the physical sexuality of the
audience.
6. It’s a negative portrayal of sexuality because it’s showing the
man as a part of the game that women can play with sexually.
Codes and Conventions
An advertisement depicting a couple in a sexualized
manner
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1. The woman is taking the man’s pants off and kissing his buttocks.
2. The man is enjoying what the woman is doing.
3. Both man and woman are in the foreground.
4. No one is in the background.
5. The juxtaposition is used to convey the message of ‘if you wear Calvin Klein jeans a
beautiful women will be all over you’.
6. The women is placed on top of the man holding onto his jeans and putting her lips on
his buttocks sending out the same message as the answer above.
7. Both of them are active.
8. Everyone is doing something.
9. The women is more eroticized than the man.
10. The message I got from their relationship is that she is giving him sexual pleasures
because he is wearing Calvin Klein jeans. I also think that she is some random girl who
saw him wearing those jeans and jumped him because of it.
11. They both seem to have power in this relationship.
12. This is a negative portrayal of sexuality and relationships because what I got from this
was that the women didn’t know the man at first but is giving him sexual pleasures
because he is wearing Calvin Klein jeans.
Codes and conventions
An advertisement depicting a couple in a more positive,
egalitarian manner
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1. The woman is holding the man’s hand while walking along a beach.
2. The man is holding the woman’s hand while walking along a beach.
3. The man and woman are in the foreground.
4. The ocean and sky is in the background.
5. The juxtaposition conveys that they are happy walking along a beach.
6. They are placed together holding hands to convey that they are a couple.
7. They are both being active.
8. No one is not being active.
9. Neither of them is more erotized than the other.
10. The message I receive about the relationship is that they are a happy older couple
on vacation or just taking a stroll on a beach.
11. The advertisement doesn’t show that either of them has more power in the
relationship than the other.
12. It is a positive portrayal of a relationship and sexuality because they aren’t having
sexual relations in public, they are happily walking down a beach fully clothed.
Codes and Conventions