Sex in Consumer Culture: the Erotic Content of Media and Marketing

Abstract

Freud might have overstated the case in claiming that everything people do can be linked to sex, but his ideas have had a deep impact on the development of theories and research models about sex and consumption patterns. Sexuality is a fundamental characteristic of people that influences their thoughts and behaviors, their orientation toward others, and life in general. Sex sells, it always has, beyond that cliche's inevitable appearance in media and marketing conversations. Despite the presence of sexual information in mainstream advertising, either in the form of sexual behavior, nudity, scantily-clad models, fetishism, or promises of sexual fulfillment and intimacy, few sources are available to those interested in studying this multifaceted phenomenon. Although sexual appeals are used to sell more products- and to boost popularity of media products such as television programming, films, magazines, music, and web sites-many scholars and consumers are still unable to describe "if" and "how" sex sells. Sex in consumer culture: the erotic content of media and marketing addresses these concerns by bringing together writers, thinkers, and researchers from several areas to examine what sex "is" in marketing, how it works, and how it may affect consumers and society.