by Bridget Webber

Created on: July 02, 2007   Last Updated: February 28, 2011

We all know sex sells, and attractive women have been seen draped, scantily clad over vehicles for sale for as long as we can remember when it comes to advertising. But what exactly is the message being sent by such adverts?

The combination of attractive women and goods for sale implies that making a purchase will attract the type of women seen in the adverts to the buyer and make them irresistible.

No matter what adverts are supposed to be suggesting, a logical person viewing them really knows better. A man knows that a car may make an attractive woman glance his way, but that she will be looking at the car and not at him. We all know that purchasing an object will not ultimately increase our desirability, and that having a sexy woman pictured in an advert for a product doesn't necessarily make the product great.

We know all of this and yet adverts are still being churned out sending subconscious messages to viewers that women are objects, to be admired for their physical attributes and little else. There is nothing wrong with women being seen to be attractive, but it is the lack of balance in adverts which may be viewed as worrisome..

Society is aware that repeatedly viewing images makes us remember them more. Are women then, only to be remembered as fashion accessories with no mention of brains or feelings involved?

It is not only men who view adverts with women being used to sell products, but other women too. They look at adverts of perfectly airbrushed women and compare themselves to them, and lose self esteem in the process.

Many young women are striving to be like those pictured in adverts, as they perceive that society wants women to look this way. Some women not only experience a dip in self esteem, but end up with an eating disorder in an attempt to be slim like models in adverts.

Another point that annoys many women about adverts is that they are so unintelligent. They may be thought of as only being on walls in garages where men ogle them, but actually they are in women's magazines, and on bill boards and the television too.

If a product is good and worth having surely it should be able to sell on its own merits, without having to have a near naked women pictured with it.

Learn more about this author, Bridget Webber.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.