Breasts, butts and the bottom line.

 Okay, you know I had to go here at some point, so why not now? Love it or hate it, sex has a place in advertising. Always has, always will.  Because sex sells. And lest we forget: advertising is only the world’s SECOND oldest profession.

Now you may be surprised (or not if you know me well) that this isn’t going to be a Victorian-inspired rant about objectification. Rather, I’d like to take a step back and look at how (in my humble opinion) sexual attraction from XX’s (and XY's) works – and doesn’t work – around the world.

I remember hearing a creative director speak once about working in Europe after spending the bulk of his career in the U.S. Basically his observation was that the rest of the world accepts and enjoys sex in advertising and popular culture the way the U.S. embraces violence.  That was years ago and I have never forgotten it.

Cut to several years later and I found myself working on a global assignment with a group of excellent creatives from around the world. The core idea had a wide range of interpretation and the team quickly divided: if you were from South America or Europe, the interpretation was sexual. If you were from the U.S., the minds went straight to a street fight.  As the only XX in the group (and with the words of aforementioned creative director still burned in my brain) I may have been the only person in the room who could easily see the merit of either direction.

Over the years, I have developed a bit of a theory of my own about why I love certain campaigns that glorify sex but am incredibly offended by others. Here goes:

There’s a “giggle factor” in the U.S. about nudity and sexual attraction. A part of us that seems to be stuck somewhere between 12 and 14. (Hey isn’t that the same age as the onset of the video game love affair?) There’s a cultural phenomenon that makes a lot of Americans look twice at a girl on the beach with her bikini untied, even though she’s on her stomach. Like we’ve seen something we weren’t supposed to see.  A peep show.

Yes, she's topless. So is he.

Then there are places like Brazil, Spain, Argentina, France and of course, Greece, where the bikini tops are off. All the way off, and no one looks twice. (Unless of course you’re a tourist sneaking a shot on your phone.)  There’s a comfort with the human body in general, and sex is less of a taboo than, uh, a fact of life.

Maybe that’s why work outside of the U.S. tends to win my heart in this arena. Work that should have me wringing my XX hands at the “objectification of women” has me laughing out loud, smiling knowingly or thinking “I wish I did that.” Take for example the much-used example of the Axe effect (or Lynx effect, depending on where you’re from.) It resonates I believe in large part because it’s based on a simple truth, well told: animal attraction. No one is uptight or giggly, they are simply behaving as mammals are expected to behave. Bonus of this campaign:  no more guessing for moms around the world. Now we instantly know when our son develops and interest in girls. Just look for Axe in the shower.  Please note that I believe good taste is everyone’s responsibility. Ads that exploit or shock aren’t using sexual attraction to sell, they are using objectification as power. That’s a different, horrible beast, and perhaps the subject of a future story but not today. So know that I in no way condone or support that crap.

Of course, I am now going to completely switch my theory for a special hats off to W&K in the U.S. for Old Spice: Not only is it brilliantly-written, well-cast and strategically differentiating, it’s the the second epic campaign in a category. A campaign that has, at least in the U.S., overshadowed its predecessor.

Photo: Kevin-Peter Hubb

But Old Spice is the exception.  Peep show, ditzy girls, and Three Stooges with cleavage win the day more often than not in the U.S. That’s the stuff that rubs me the wrong way, not the fact that “I’m not the target.” (Remember, this is the XX who loved the women using a pipe in their shower as a stripper pole.)

Maybe that’s the difference. Whether you’re selling cologne, underwear or French fries, ideas that are comfortable with the fact that they are using sex to sell tend to stand the test of time. And that tells me this work is doing what it was designed to do: sell.