Sex Sells

Sex Sells. It's a phrase that we constantly hear and consistently see in the media. The Super Bowl is known for the "new" commercials in which brands make their commercial debut for the year. Many of the commercials are of women being sexualized to sell a product that doesn't really have anything to do with the context of the commercial. Hardee's and Carl's Jr are known for some of the most sexually explicit "soft porn" commercials in attempts to sell their burgers. 

Here are a few examples of their Super Bowl commercials the past three years:

The commercials present scantily-clad women licking sauce off of each other, with emphasis on their chests, legs, and stomach's. Although many women opposed these commercials, saying that they have no decency for families watching the game, there was a consistent rise in sales at Hardee's and Carl Jr's after the airing of these ads, and a huge increase in online fans. "Hardees.com has seen a 104% increase in traffic, and there has been an 83% increase for Carlsjr.com, and both  have added upwards of 120,000 Facebook fans" (Bhasin, 2012). In addition, there were 5,000+ Twitter mentions about the commercials in the first hour after it aired (Bhasin, 2012). 

Despite the increase in sales and online mentioning for the company, one must wonder how these sexually explicit ads, as well as the multitude of other sexually explicit media we see on television, affect adolescents and their views on sex. It was found that 64% of television shows today contain some sort of sexual content (Eyal & Kunkel, 2008). Chia and Gunther talk about the Cultivation Theory, and how "heavy viewers [of television] start to believe that they live in the narrative world portrayed on TV," which includes the multitude of sexualization of women in the media in shows, movies, and commercials" (Chia & Gunther, 2006). As a result, they are more likely to think certain sexual acts occur more frequently than they do, resulting in a higher amount of sexual intimacy between high school and college students (Chia & Gunther, 2006). 

Another article I stumbled across a few days ago listed a plethora of interesting facts about the sexualization in media today, and why we should care. A few of the directly quoted facts are as follows:

• 72% of teens think watching TV with a lot of sexual content influences their peers' behavior somewhat or a lot.
• Programs with sexual content average 4.4 scenes per hour.
• On average, music videos contain 93 sexual situations per hour, including 11 hard-core scenes depicting behavior like intercourse and oral sex. 
• Watching a lot of sexual content on TV and listening to sexually explicit music lyrics increase the chances that a teen will have sex at an earlier age. (Sexual Behavior, 2014)

These facts were some of the more interesting and pertinent in regards to the prevalence of sexual media that is consumed by adolescents. When thinking about adolescents who are intrigued by sexualized media, they are likely to have a fascination with romance, sex, and relationships, more than disinterested or resistant adolescent girls (Brown & White, 1987). These intrigued girls are typically concerned with becoming popular and trying to look good to impress the boys at school (Brown & White, 1987).

From the evidence presented above, we can see how the prevalence of sexualized media can lead to women believing certain things and acting in particular ways, even in early adolescent stages. It is important to remember that not everything you see in the media is realistic. Although TV shows and commercials are made more exciting and interesting with sexual media content, it is not always the norm in every day life, and those portrayals have large impacts on views and attitudes toward sexual norms.

References:

Bhasin, K. (2012, April 4). That Sexed-Up Kate Upton Ad For Carl's Jr. Is Working Incredibly Well. Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.com/that-sexed-up-kate-upton-ad-for-carls-jr-is-working-incredibly-well-2012-4

Brown, J., White, A., Nikopoulou, L. (1987). Disinterest, Intrigue, Resistance: Early Adolescent Girls' use of Sexual Media Content. Center for Population Options.

Chia, S., & Gunther, A. (2006). How Media Contribute To Misperceptions Of Social Norms About Sex. Mass Communication Society, 301-320. Retrieved April 17, 2015.

Eyal, K., & Kunkel, D. (2008). The Effects of Sex in Television Drama Shows on Emerging Adults' Sexual Attitudes and Moral Judgments. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,161-181.

Sexual behavior: What teens learn from media. (2014). Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://www.greatschools.org/students/media-kids/510-sexual-behavior-teens-learn-from-media.gs