Considering how many advertisements we see every day, it’s easy to let them fade into the background. Most of the time, it only takes a quick glance to recognize what they’re trying to sell us and whether we want to buy what they’re selling or not, we process that information and move on.
But while there’s definitely merit in investigating what sort of ads we’re often often exposed to and why they appear in the places they do, it’s also worth noting what kind of ads we don’t often see.
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At this point, none of us should be strangers to the old adage that sex sells.
After all, even more than promoting a product or service, it’s arguable that the main purpose of an ad is to get our attention.
And trying to titillate the audience is a tried-and-true way of doing that.
But ironically, this doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy to advertise the very products that aid sexual pleasure.
As marketing manager Stephanie Keating told Adweek, “You can use sex to sell anything, except if it’s women’s pleasure.”
Keating works for WOW Tech Group, which produces vibrators and other gadgets intended bring women sexual stimulation.
Although this firm’s products are sold at retailers throughout 60 countries, finding a way to promote them has proved to be an uphill battle.
Although it’s not out of the ordinary to see advertisements promoting condoms, erectile dysfunction medication, and other products promoting men’s sexual health, companies like WOW Tech Group are often rejected by ad placement companies.
As Keating said , “When you are in the business of promoting women’s sexual pleasure and all the benefits that go with that, you’re used to being rejected.”
And so, it’s not hard to see why she might take pride in this billboard near Toronto.
Not only does the ad copy find a way to state the product’s intended purpose and the company’s values in a tasteful manner, but the fact that it’s visible at all is a victory in and of itself.
The design comes from a Canadian ad agency called The Garden and it’s nestled in next to one of Toronto’s busiest highways.
As Adweek reported , it’s managed to stay there for three weeks, which apparently sets a North American “endurance record” for ads promoting female sexual satisfaction products.
No matter how companies like WOW Tech Group try to advertise, they don’t usually get this far.
As Keating told Adweek, “Regardless of the medium—traditional, digital, social, podcasting—our ads have been censored even when they contain no explicit or suggestive content.”
Although there’s rarely anything explicitly written in either American or Canadian laws or the policies of media companies themselves to suggest this should happen, the results are usually the same.
h/t: Adweek
