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As ads fight for attention in a changing society, how wise is it to play the sex card, John Tylee asks
Sex, like nostalgia, isn't what it used to be. Not least in advertising. Those Manikin cigar commercials of three decades ago f eaturingT-shirted girls cavorting in the surf seem positively prim by comparison with the underwear-clad temptress in a new King of Shaves online film who becomes every bloke's wet dream.
Even before the days of the Manikin beauties, sex always sold, albeit much more subliminally. The subtext of most washing powder ads was that freshly laundered clothes increased your pulling power.
In these far less inhibited times, sex in advertising has become significantly more overt. Or, as one leading creative director puts it: "The gloves are off."
Besides the King of Shaves spot, there's Grey London's "Impatience is a virtue" film for Samsung featuring semi-clad girls frolicking in a swimming pool, as well as Anomaly's "be stupid" poster ads for Diesel, two of which have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.
And heaven knows what's to be made of the Orangina film by Fred & Farid Paris in which a black panther with a woman's body forces a semi-naked overweight businessman to dance as she whips him.
The more cavalier approach to sex in advertising has been brought about by the convergence of two phenomena. One is a more relaxed social attitude. "Sex no longer has to be dressed up as romance," Nils Leonard, Grey London's executive creative director, explains. "Today,it's OK to talk aboutit."
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