Is Sexualization in Fashion Advertising Effective?
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2026-04-13T03:34:11+00:00
If leading brands have adopted sexualization in advertising, then it must be effective. Unfortunately, the sexualization is not effective as “nudity level did not improve attitudes toward the ad and showed limited impact on brand evaluations or purchase intentions” (Sigurðardótti et al. 13). This further proves that female sexualization serves to reinforce gender imbalances, rather than with the intent of driving sales. In another applicable study “findings suggest that, at the marketing level, the use of female sexualization in advertising is counterproductive for women and useless for men as consumers and that the use of male sexualization is counter-productive both for women and men. Put differently, our findings show that “sex does not sell,” a result that questions sexualization as a useful marketing strategy.” (Gramazio et al. 16). If sex does not sell then the purpose of this marketing strategy must be investigated. When analyzing this phenomena through a lens of objectification theory, it is evident that this emphasis on the appearance of the sexual body as decoration is another manifestation of patriarchy. The over-representation of women as sexual objects in comparison to men can be estimated at “81.27% of women in advertising are depicted as models, sexually available or pre-orgasmic, used as decoration (or “Greek fret”), or fragmented into body parts, whereas the sum of the corresponding categories for men is under 20%” (Gramazio 2). This suggests a deeper intent of sexualization used to reinforce existing power structures.
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