I had a conversation on Twitter yesterday about sex in advertising, mostly from a personal perspective in terms of how it informed my sexuality growing up. The truth is I like sexy ads much of the time. I have mixed feelings about what is exploitative and what isn’t, but the simpler question of what’s hot is often easier to answer.
I grew up looking through my mother’s fashion magazines, and one of the things I remember most was photos of women in various states of undress who looked powerful. Looking back, this was not necessarily because it was all that common. But it is what I remember.
So, what ads do you remember as being hot? Are there images that stand out in your mind as formative? Do you still find certain advertisments sexy, or are the politics of it all too complicated for that to be possible?
Here are some ads I remember, along with some newer ones. I do find most of them hot one way or another.