Consumer Society and Sex

If you wondered why there are always scantily dressed women in motor shows, here's the answer.

 

Marketing experts have it all figured out. (jlp)

 

If you want to sell something to a man, offer him a beauty in a bikini along with the product. Beauties in motor shows, or beauties who sell construction equipment and hi-tech devices, always play the same card. Commercials for all possible things, from jeans to mint drops, hint at sex, emphasizing the curves of beautiful women and using a sensuous voice. Bram van den Bergh, Siegfried DeWitte and Luk Warlop (Belgium) tried to confirm a verified marketing trick on an experimental basis. The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Men, do this picture make you want to buy something? (jlp)

 

“It seems that sexual appetite causes a greater urgency to consume anything rewarding.” Thus, the activation of sexual desire appears to spill over into other brain systems involved in reward-seeking behaviours, even the systems that have no connection with sex, for instance, a desire for food or money. “After they touch a bra, men are more likely to be content with a smaller immediate monetary reward. Exposure to sexy stimuli may influence the choice between chocolate cake or fruit for dessert.” Authors believe that sexual stimuli bring men’s minds to the present as opposed to the future: “The study demonstrates that bikinis cause a shift in time preference: men live in the here and now when they glance at pictures featuring women in lingerie. That is, men will choose the immediately available rewards and seek immediate gratification after sex cue exposure.”

 

Sexual cue exposure makes you seek immediate gratification of any kind. (jlp)

 

The researchers have merely described the effect widely exploited by marketing in consumer society. Everything connected with sexuality arouses a desire in people that has to be satisfied as soon as possible. This impulse to be satisfied is transferred to all mechanisms of decision-making. Sexual stimuli makes men impatient and reckless. Instead of thinking about pros and cons, they seek immediate gratification. They buy things not because of the product's quality, but because they feel the need for some immediate satisfaction. They just have to have them.

One of the ways out of this pattern is satisfactory sex life. Fulfilment of sexual desire calms people down so that marketing tricks don't push them into a manic search for gratification.

If you want to save money, you should have sex more often. But not over the phone.

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