Hey, Foxy Lady. Wanna Buy a Watch?

When marketing to women, there’s a fine line between sexy and squicky.

Does sex always sell? If done right, it may sell to some women, say experts who studied the effects of sexy ads on females. While sultry ad campaigns generally appeal solely to men, they have traditionally not been as successful with women, previous research shows.

What inspired Vohs and her colleagues to pursue this research? “My colleagues and I have long been interested in women's and men's beliefs, feelings, and preferences about sex,” she tells demo dirt. “Then we hit upon studying reactions to sexy ads as a vehicle for understanding how men and women think about sex.”

If sexy ads depict romantic attachment, connectedness, and intimacy alongside sexual content, the study authors contend, women would be more receptive to that style of advertising.

Which advertisements currently target women in that manner? “Yves St Laurent has some ads featuring more expensive perfumes, and DeBeers the diamond company, tries to pair sensual—not really sexual, though—ads with love,” Vohs explains. “There are some ads aimed at women that feature scantily-clad men.”

Are consumers to expect an onslaught of sexier ads peppering fashion magazines and popping up on Lifetime and the WE channel? Not likely, says marketing expert Marti Barletta, founder of consulting think tank The TrendSight Group (www.TrendSight.com), which helps companies optimize their messages to better reach and retain female consumers.

“It is true that women will not respond to explicitly sexual advertising,” she says. “It is much riskier to do it than not, but if you do add in the message about commitment, it may not be as risky. However, I can’t think of any products where using sex would really work.”  

“Women are far slower than men to have the kind of response that advertisers want, that the ad makes them feel sexy and want to buy the product,” explains Barletta, who is the author of PrimeTime Women™: How to Win the Hearts, Minds, and Business of Boomer Big Spenders.

In fact, Vohs adds, advertisements aimed at women still tend to be tamer than those targeting men. “In truth, there just aren't that many out there that use gratuitous sex and are aimed at women,” she notes. 

Using sexy marketing to reach such a broad demographic is risky, as there is always the possibility to offend or turn off consumers. The ideal target—and a dubious one at that—is a very specific group, Barletta says, and that group would be single women between 18 and 32. Why? “If they are not in a relationship, it’s all about dating and mating,” she tells demo dirt.

Older women, she adds, just won’t be as receptive. “They think about other things,” she says. “But the models keep getting younger and younger. Not smart if you are trying to sell a lot of product.” 

When using the “sex sells” strategy to reach women, the best products, Vohs says, are “expensive ones, or ones that connect love or gifts from a man to the special woman in his life, [such as] diamonds, jewelry, pricey watches, vacations, [and so on].”

The dismal economy makes shopping of any sort, especially luxury goods, already unattractive to consumers. Campaigns must be very careful not to cross that fine line, Barletta advises, and offend their target audience.  

“In this economic climate, I guarantee that people are not buying the diamonds, luxury vacations, and pricey watches,” she says. “Even people who are in the top two percent are economizing.”

Consumers who can afford the best luxury goods and services don’t need coaxing to continue to spend. “The super wealthy—the top one half of one percent—of the U.S. population don’t need to be advertised to. They are the only people buying the really expensive stuff,” Barletta explains.    

As marketers and researchers continue to explore the best ways to reach female consumers, Barletta says that she is glad that studies are examining all avenues to connect with women. “I am glad that they are testing this. One of the things in marketing to women, is that it is fundamental to ask the question ‘How do you do it?’”

Future studies, Vohs says, will focus on the male side of the story in the researchers’ current experiments. “We are testing whether men are more sensitive to exchange situations in which sexual ads are paired with exchange of love/emotional connectedness between a man and a woman, or something more on the financial side, like a gift from a man to a woman,” she explains.