PREMIUM SEARCH Search by job title, geography and build a list of executive contacts
Hey, want to talk steamy sex with 10 teen girls?
Now that we have your attention, here's a heartfelt request to all marketing professionals: enough already with all the graphic sexuality! Although the maxim "sex sells" may have ruled for years, from a girl's perspective the erotica in marketing is excessive, dirty, uninformative, and most importantly, a huge turnoff.
Girls cringe at overtly sexual ads, yet paradoxically, marketing campaigns targeted at teen girls are sex-obsessed. It's impossible for us to browse, shop, and surf online without being bombarded with groping bodies, akimbo legs, come-hither gazes, and other provocative imagery. Even when we escape to teen magazines, we find sex staring back at us.
Take shopping for a polo at American Apparel's Web site—that should be innocent enough. AA is, after all, a mass retailer for solid color fashion basics. But load the page and…WHAM!
"EWW! Get her out of my face." Or how about some back-to-school jeans, say those skinnys at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF)? WHACK AGAIN, more steamy action in your browser.
"All right Abercrombie, your point please? Is this what we should expect at school this fall?"
CUT THE RAUNCH. If the marketing community thinks this is what girls find hip and edgy, then they grossly underestimate how mature and cultured we are. Girls' aesthetic tastes and relationship requirements are sophisticated. So if you want your messages to be relevant, give us more than animal urges.
Erotic marketing isn't sexy, it's raunchy. Modern girls know the difference. Raunchy is when the message is strictly graphic and physical, when there is no mystery, romance, sincerity or deeper meaning. Raunchy campaigns communicate only one idea—"girl wants some"—using the same visual messaging typical of pornography. Raunchy is a cheap play for attention. It shows lack of imagination and depth in the people and brands that use it.
Looking cheap is not only visually repelling, it's not practical as a lifestyle, nor is it an inspirational look. When a girl acts or dresses raunchy she doesn't get respect, at least no one takes the time to look beyond her body and appreciate her mind. The raunchy look signals to every nearby male "Hi! I'm game for action."
FOR THE BOYS. Dressing cheap may also be seen as an open invitation to men on the street to make lewd, disrespectful advances. No girl wants a guy who only sees her as a means to sex. Modern teens are inspired by a deeper definition of feminine strength, one that equates beauty with character, class, and intelligence.
Wait a minute…erotic marketing is boy sexy, not girl sexy! Modern girls don't have to settle for boy-made fantasies, they have their own dreams and imaginations. When brands adopt obviously overwrought females as sales propaganda they are tapping metaphors and themes that attract only men. The use of a man's fantasy to sell female products doesn't make business sense.
When girls see this imagery they feel as if they've entered a place they don't belong, such as Maxim or GQ. How often do you see young girls buying Playboy? Now why is that? Because it isn't interesting or captivating.
LOVE OR CONFUSION? Girls want a deeper storyline. To us, sexuality is more than physical. It combines visual, intellectual, and emotional elements. Girls will stop at an advertisement that is mentally intriguing. Sensitivity, playfulness, authenticity, and emotional expression between couples is far more fascinating than being a trinket for men to play with.
Hey, what's for sale anyway? Gratuitous sex dilutes the sales value of your expensive advertisements. Often, ads are so sexual, it's not clear what is really being sold. By relying on sex to sell your product you are not only getting lost in the steamy sea of marketing erotica, you're not highlighting what you want us to love in the first place—your product.
We girls have more product options than ever and very limited time to be hooked before we turn our attention to the next product or advertisement. In this competitive environment, advertising must deliver visually, intellectually, and emotionally interesting content that builds the brand and seduces us. Marketers must demonstrate the unique properties of a product so that we instantly appreciate its relevance in our life and fantasies.
One last thing: Don't get us wrong, sex in certain formats can be a powerful and relevant advertising technique. But only if you stop thinking about it from the perspective of a hormone-crazed teenaged boy. Try thinking like a teen girl instead.
The Girl Improved column is written by the girls of 3iYing - a market and design strategy firm that specializes in marketing to girls ages 15 to 25. 3iying, which is an exclusively all-girl talent team, can be reached at 3iying@3iying.com. This column's authors are: Cat Small, Jane Mai, Evelyn Lieu Rachelle Bowers, Heidi Dangelmaier, Dianne Blanchard.
Printer-Friendly Version