provocative situation, you get
people's attention."
Green feels that in some
situations a provocative
campaign is effective, although
he feels that some advertisers
have gone too far.
The bottom line is, with the
rising cost of advertising in every
medium, you have to get people's
attention," he states. - If sex is
one of the things that people
respond to, that's why it's used in
advertising."
Indeed, sexy women have
often been used to sell products,
ranging from good old widgets to
trucks to heavy construction
equipment. But with the onset of
the feminist movement in the
1960s and '70s, much of the overt
sexual selling gave way to subtler
forms of advertising.
By the 1970s, women, rather
than being sexual objects, were
morelikely to be portrayed as
super-moms who could work full
time, raise well adjusted children,
keep a clean house, cook
gourmet meals and have a happy
marriage . . . if only they would
buy a certain brand of stockings,
shampoo, toilet paper, etc.
Peter Barnes, senior art
director at W. B. Doner Inc., an
advertising agency, believes that
the "new" nudity in ads is there
for its shock value.
Barnes, a native of England,
says, "From an art director's
standpoint, (the ads) are fairly
innovative. Perfume is, after all,
somewhat indulgent. Nudity is to
be relevant or else it becomes a
waste of time. They're trying to
pull out that it's a sexual product.
In most print ads, if a reader looks
at it for more than ten seconds,
you're lucky. Looking at it on a
much more basic level, perfume
is about attracting the opposite
sex. So you're looking for that
overall, intimate, sexy look and
feeling."
Nonetheless, Barnes says he
is "shocked" by an ad like the one
for Obsession — not because of
the nudity but because "I'm
-
Continued on Page 54
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