Controversial content: does sex really sell?
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Column – The recent fuss surrounding FKA Twigs’ Calvin Klein poster campaign may not have escaped your notice. According to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority), the poster portrays the singer as a ‘stereotypical object of desire’, which means that the public display of the image should be prohibited.
A remarkable decision, especially after Jeremy Allan White ‘s viral Calvin Klein campaign , whose “nudity” was at least as high. Are there still double standards when it comes to our tolerance of nudity between men and women?
The older generation among us can probably still remember the PSP poster campaign called ‘Disarming’ from 1971. In this campaign, a completely naked woman can be seen in a meadow. Where Twigs used a coat to leave some things to the imagination, that is not the case here.
Do these controversies point to a growing prudishness in our society? Or do they highlight the power of fuss as a marketing strategy? Sex sells, right ?
We are becoming more and more conservative
Compared to our parents, for whom topless sunbathing was a natural part of the summer, we as the next generation have dived a lot deeper into our shell. For years, the sociological rule of thumb was: ‘ The younger, the more progressive’. Because young people generally had it better than their parents, a hopeful and progressive view of the world was logical.
The climate crisis, the recent pandemic and the ongoing wars that young people witness in real time (an average of 5 hours per day) have made that future very uncertain. Young people are less open to different ways of thinking. Topics such as abortion and gay marriage are seen as less acceptable than by previous generations.
The nude image has largely been removed from the beaches, list of nigerian consumer email wearing a swimsuit is becoming the norm in saunas and KLM asks mothers to cover themselves while breastfeeding.
Social media makes us more prudish
Where opinions become more conservative, fashion becomes more controversial. Where we already started with the pantsless trend last year, the trendiest item this Paris Fashion Week was none other than the why you can really make an impact with purpose-driven marketing nipple . Walking down the street without pants and bra is probably the cheapest, easiest and most environmentally friendly trend we have seen in a long time. Social media, the online ‘reflection’ of our lives, is not happy with this trend. Nudity is punished. Nipples on social media are forbidden. At least, women’s nipples.
A platform like Instagram does not want to show sexual images. New technologies are constantly being invented and deployed , with the aim of detecting women’s nipples. Images that violate the nipple ban risk being removed or lead to a ban of the account.
Ban on the female body
Now that AI is also being implemented in this search, you america email list can imagine that this can sometimes go wrong. Is there a ban on showing a female body, or a body that identifies as female? What about if you are transgender? At what point does a torso change from neutral to offensive?
Also read: Authority & social proof are essential in your marketing strategy for 2024
It is a fact that using sexy/controversial content in your marketing strategy is difficult on social media. However, we are going a few bridges too far when campaigns about menstrual products are banned because they promote ‘sexual material’.