Sex for Product: Difference between revisions

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[[File:sex-for-~~product_4912~~.jpg|frame|Please. As if a guy would buy a minivan just to get laid... [[Auto Erotica|only once]].]]

[[File:sex-for-product 4912.jpg|frame|Please. As if a guy would buy a minivan just to get laid... [[Auto Erotica|only once]].]]

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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T8kKkfLwgc Bud Lite] mocks the trope by saying, "Putting a pretty woman in a cowboy hat" is one way beer manufacturers try to sell their product. But you never see women with other types of hats. The commercial then runs through a few alternatives, such as a pretty woman in a balloon hat and saying it's "not hot". It finishes with a woman in a bowler hat. The narrator pauses, and says, "...surprisingly hot". The commercial then goes on to ''decry the use of pretty women in cowboy (or any other) sort of hats in order to sell beer''.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4CZE1RnrVc Miller] also played the trope pretty straight with a more recent ad for Genuine Draft, where "Miller Genuine Draft is in a clear bottle because it has nothing to hide." The guy in the commercial, "Steve", puts his softcore porn out with the rest of his DVDs: "All of it alphabetical." His very voluptuous date admits, "Makes sense." The commercial then cuts to a [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|a bottle slowly shedding its label as a]] [[Bow Chicka Wow Wow|porn riff plays]].

* As has been noted by counter-culture comics for about twenty years now, it gets particularly grating when it's a beer commercial that shows sexy ~~women--because~~ there's a decent chance that immediately before or after you'll see a commercial where it claims pot smoking will ''turn your life into an apocalyptic ruin''.

* As has been noted by counter-culture comics for about twenty years now, it gets particularly grating when it's a beer commercial that shows sexy women—because there's a decent chance that immediately before or after you'll see a commercial where it claims pot smoking will ''turn your life into an apocalyptic ruin''.

* Averted in Australia. The advertising rules for alcohol expressively forbid showing sexual success due to the consumption of alcohol.

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=== Food ===

* Parodied fiercely in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeXQbBxP5UI 2008 Superbowl ad] that showed a woman who was really quite genuinely ~~ugly -- not~~ just [[Hollywood Homely]] ~~-- having~~ men falling all over her all day. It was revealed that this was because she rubbed a particular brand of cashews (the product being sold) on her wrists and neck as perfume. The degree to which most people found the reversal here to be intrinsically disturbing shows the one-sided nature of this trope.

* Parodied fiercely in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeXQbBxP5UI 2008 Superbowl ad] that showed a woman who was really quite genuinely ugly—not just [[Hollywood Homely]]—having men falling all over her all day. It was revealed that this was because she rubbed a particular brand of cashews (the product being sold) on her wrists and neck as perfume. The degree to which most people found the reversal here to be intrinsically disturbing shows the one-sided nature of this trope.

* York Peppermint Patties often have women eating them and having orgasmic moans.

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** Of course, there are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x89xAXHd2l8 parodies].

** In Australia, the Lynx ads border on [[Rule of Funny]]: Yes, women are still attracted to you in hordes, but only because you're [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCZ-6y2UEfM ''made of chocolate'']. This, of course, still doesn't forgive the creepy uncanny valley.

** Axe is a fascinating example of [[Sex for Product]] working ''too'' well. Teenagers flocked to buy the stuff after Axe's sexy ads came out, and sales soared. Eventually, however, people began associating Axe with weird, desperate, anti-social teenagers, and sales plummeted.

** Axe is a fascinating example of Sex for Product working ''too'' well. Teenagers flocked to buy the stuff after Axe's sexy ads came out, and sales soared. Eventually, however, people began associating Axe with weird, desperate, anti-social teenagers, and sales plummeted.

* Likewise, Tag body spray commercials show a young man placed in an awkward situation as the women near him are enthralled by his cologne-granted sexual magnetism. Each ad ends with a parody disclaimer, foreswearing any responsibility for the "negative" consequences of: being suddenly mounted by your girlfriend's (attractive, of course) mother, your girlfriend being unable to resist the urge to strip for you in front of her father, the riot resulting from a mob of women rushing to press themselves against you, cheerleaders leaping off their human pyramid onto you, being jumped on by a female pro wrestler from the top rope, etc. Hopefully, it will never occur to the viewer that [[Abhorrent Admirer|ugly women will try to molest you, too.]]

** One of the cheerleader ones actually ended with a parody of this; "Warning: Actually, there is no warning. This is what is supposed to happen. High five."

** And then there was that ad that ended with a male biker giving the young man "the look".

* Axe and Tag can at least claim [[The Power of Cheese|comedic exaggeration]]; "Yes, we said women would sleep with you if you used our product, but it was clearly meant as a joke." RGX body spray ran a series featuring absurdly hot actress Rachel Specter. She didn't strip, didn't wear anything obscenely revealing, didn't even say she would sleep with you if you used RGX. Instead, she just spoke directly into the camera, seriously and seductively, about general themes like "confidence" and "manhood." In some ways they were more insulting than the Tag and Axe spots.

* Hai Karate cologne once claimed that if you got in trouble from using their ~~product -- and~~ it showed a man trapped in a phone booth in the middle of a parking lot, surrounded by extremely attractive women who apparently wanted to rape ~~him -- they~~ had a toll-free number you could call for assistance, and it shows a helicopter lowering a rope ladder so he supposedly could reach it. Most Hai Karate ads showed the wearer ineptly attempting to use karate to defend himself against the women who were irresistably attracted to him, causing a good deal of [[Hilarity Ensues|slapstick humour]]. Particulary as the wearer in question's movie-star looks are close to Woody Allen's.

* Hai Karate cologne once claimed that if you got in trouble from using their product—and it showed a man trapped in a phone booth in the middle of a parking lot, surrounded by extremely attractive women who apparently wanted to rape him—they had a toll-free number you could call for assistance, and it shows a helicopter lowering a rope ladder so he supposedly could reach it. Most Hai Karate ads showed the wearer ineptly attempting to use karate to defend himself against the women who were irresistably attracted to him, causing a good deal of [[Hilarity Ensues|slapstick humour]]. Particulary as the wearer in question's movie-star looks are close to Woody Allen's.

* Pre-empting the Axe commercials by about a decade were the commercials for Impulse Body Spray. Their tagline: "Men just can't help acting on Impulse." Wearing it would cause random men to run up and give you flowers. They played with the concept with a 90s commercial where a woman tries the Impulse effect in a gay district. It ''almost'' works.

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=== [[Theatre]] ===

* In the play and movie ''The Solid Gold Cadillac'', the character of Miss L'Arriere exists solely to appear in a series of sexed-up advertisements for [[Brand X|General Products]]. When she comes on for one of them fully dressed, one of the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive~~|Corrupt Corporate Executives~~]] objects.

* In the play and movie ''The Solid Gold Cadillac'', the character of Miss L'Arriere exists solely to appear in a series of sexed-up advertisements for [[Brand X|General Products]]. When she comes on for one of them fully dressed, one of the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]s objects.

=== [[Video Games]] ===