Samantha Hornberger
Victoria's
Secret has a long-standing advertising campaign built on the notion
of selling sex and sexuality. Here again, advertisers have done another
fabulous job of selling a product by relying on sex. In this advertisement,
they are selling sexuality, romance, and love. They have placed a beautiful
model, in her underwear, into a bedroom scene. They have then incorporated
the caption, "Tell her she's your angel. Give the gift of Desire."
Desire, of course, is the name of the newest
Victoria's Secret
lingerie line.
It is pretty safe to assume that, when viewers see this underwear ad,
they are viewing implied sexuality. Why else would one look at a beautiful
half-naked woman in her underwear lying on a pile of rumpled sheets? The
images portray the idea that, if this lingerie is given to a woman, she
will not only look as good as the model, but have the same sexy bedroom
appeal as the model.
Victoria's Secret backs up its sexual claims by displaying its products on a beautiful woman. The target audience, 18 to 35 year-old age groups, both men and women, is affected by this advertisement. The women feel the need to be as sexy and beautiful as the model is, and the men want to see their girlfriends and wives look like the model. I would say the ad ignores both older and the younger audiences, simply because the photograph is of a young woman, obviously in her 20's. This ad has a powerful playful image that projects sexuality. In addition, the sexual playfulness of the ad seems, again, to target those individuals in their sexual prime. This ad is selling sex through lingerie, which is implied rather heavily throughout the ad. After seeing this ad, I want the gift of Desire from my Valentine. The model looks incredible.
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