“Sorry, Kolya, I’m leaving you for Sasha – he is better with the tongue.”
I bet the first thing on your mind wasn’t Sasha’s fluency in a foreign language.
However, an English language school called Speak Up that placed ads with this slogan around the Kyiv metro claims there was nothing sexual about it. It was simply meant to urge people to sign up for English classes, the school’s representative told me.
I, on the other hand, consider it a vulgar and cheap way to promote the service. It is also a sure way to lose potential customers, those who’d like to be pulled by some other strings than sexual excitement.
Yes, we know, sex sells. But does it need to be selling everything that is on the market?
Like, lamps? A short while ago, a Ukrainian lamp retailer Prosvet thought it was a good idea to advertise its products with the help of scantily clad women. The Prosvet’s ads showed women in their underwear sprawled on a bed or sitting on the hood of a car (as we all do at some point of the day) with light strings wrapped around their bodies (another very common thing that women practice).
To be fair, Prosvet’s sex ads weren’t about women only. Another ad showed a huge penis-shaped lamp hanging from the ceiling. “Fu**ing great lamps,” the ad said.
The ads were placed in the streets of Dnipro and enraged some locals. Prosvet eventually had to take down the ads. The company is now developing a new campaign.
However, the company’s spokesman Ivan Shikuro still believes the previous one was top-notch.
“What topic attracts more attention than sex?” he told the Kyiv Post.
Shikuro said that while many criticized the company’s advertising posters, probably the same number of people was excited about it.
I may be a bit old-fashioned, but when I want a lamp, I just want exactly that – a lamp. Not a dildo-shaped one, and not one I can put on my naked body as I sprawl on the hood of a car.
But of course, that may be just me.
I’m also weird enough to be revolted by sex-related food ads.
Back in 2015, a popular Ukrainian chain of sushi bars, Yakitori (then known as Yakitoriya), promoted their dumplings and ice cream with ads that showed a woman’s mouth with captions: “Take it into your mouth,” “Swallow without looking” and “Lick the balls.”
Now the chain has a new owner and its press service told the Kyiv Post they had nothing to do with the 2015 advertising campaign.
Not everyone is averted by sex-related advertising. Some find it creative.
Such was the case for BBDO Ukraine advertising agency, which won the second prize of the 2016 International Festival of Creativity Golden Drum in Slovenia for its campaign called “Stop Playing Balls.” A campaign created for Nemiroff alcohol producer, it was encouraging people to be more active. In Ukrainian, the campaign name was a slang term for masturbation.
I don’t find sex-related ads of sushi, lamps, or booze creative. Actually, they are the opposite: lazy.
Each time I see that yet another product or service advertised through sex-focused pictures or a petty wordplay, I get upset. I can’t help but thinking about what it says about our level of culture and our agenda.
Sex sells, but it also can alienate your audience. Yakitoriya’s ice cream would be the last ice cream I’d lick, and I’d choose any English school before Speak Up and their “tongue” ads.
Advertisers should give sex a break and give their audiences some credit.
