Poll: Does sex really sell?

[Chewster]

Generally speaking, I think the answer is going to always be yes since sex, or rather, sexual attraction is a strong motivator for all manner of strange behaviors in people. We've thousands of years of evolution working in its favour, after all.

Just look at the industry this entire site is based around. It is still steeped in all kinds of foolish (though not necessarily malicious) misogyny. When was the last time you saw an average looking female protagonist in reasonable clothing? It's relatively rare.

Not that men have it much better when it comes to games, but there seems to less pressure on men to look stereotypically "Hollywood" anyway. That might be changing though, so who knows.

EDIT: And I'm betting that everyone saying that it doesn't affect them at all aren't even aware of the subtle and potentially intrusive effects of modern day advertising. Assuming you don't buy the specific product advertised, the brand is likely still in mind (even unconsciously), thanks to sex, and often that is all these groups care about. Even if the opposite is achieved and people are completely repulsed, it still potentially gets them talking (watchdog groups are especially bad for this).

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

They tried selling peace, but who's buying?

 

[AssOnFire]

Yes, I'm stupid, alright? Gimme a pair of bewbz and I'll watch, buy or do almost any crap.

 

[DRTJR]

We use movies and games as escapism from the trilals and triblations of the day to day life, and we would like to see good looking people. short awnser Yes it does

 

[twostripe]

yes

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Sex doesn't sell, beauty does. If you suggest two ugly people doing it, nobody's interested. I have never once bought a product under the assumption that the purchase of it would increase my chances of gettin' some. Possible exceptions include personal hygiene products and guitars.

 

[Drexler]

Look at mass effect >.> thank you fox

 

[Aurora219]

I love this. Every single person here says "Oh, I don't get affected by it."

Yeah, I'm sure you do. On some level. Not to say you buy a game because the main character's hot, but your original impression of the game is raised by her not being a dull, frumpy creature that you don't want anything to do with.

I suppose this could be construed as being in the other direction - it's not that sex sells, but if it's not sexy, it doesn't sell. But that's what our world is like now I suppose. Everything is designed to appeal to our senses, and I don't mean just hot women either. All products, from magazines with their front covers, to your bottle of Lucozade adorned with carefully selected colours and the contours of the plastic itself, is all designed to be sleek and unique. Actual physical sex is obviously the highest form of this, and that's why it affects us the most prominently. But the other, lesser degrees are found in everything around us.

 

[SilverUchiha]

I wouldn't spend money for games with sexual content. If they are offered, might check them out... but it's not a priority or anything.

But yes, taking a look at modern advertising, sex does indeed sell.

 

[balanovich]

my Ex-hooker friend says yes !

 

[Versago]

Depends on what you mean by "sells." Will I buy something simply because it's being shilled by someone attractive? Of course not. But will I pay more attention to something being shilled by someone attractive? Quite probably. The one thing I remember about the first Tomb Raider movie, for example, is Daniel Craig coming out of the shower. A memorable visual, to be sure. When first I heard he was the new Bond, I was more interested in seeing the movie. (To be fair, I also already had a fondness for Bond flicks.)

Susan makes a great point - a character who is sexily designed, if designed well, can be very attractive and interesting to look at, hence you tend to pay attention to characters that look interesting, important, and yes - sexy.

I think the question relates to the difference between Bayonetta and Bulletwitch (as Loading Ready Run have said in their recent podcast) Bulletwitch's selling point was 'Ohhh, look at the sexy sexy lady with the many sexy costumes'. Bayonetta was not only fun - but had WAAAY more going as a main character.

Bulletwitches main character - Alicia, has no personality, she is mostly silent, entirely dead-faced, and simply the trigger finger behind the gun the player shoots. Her bieng sexy in no way excused how very little i cared for her.

Bayonetta was sexy - but she was also badass, VERY badass, and that made her a good character.
Thats not to say the was 'unfortunatly sexy' redeemed by badassary; much to the inverse - these 2 things work very well together.

Putting this into the context of the question: Sexual Content is one of the MANY things that go into making a game worth buying - it doesn't have to be there as a reason to buy, many other characteristics, such as character design, playbackability and such may also give you a want to buy things.
But in this modern market sexiness can be a PART of a game's selling point - in Bayonetta it was part of why the characters were likable, and it made most of the humor.
In Bulletwitch sexiness was THE selling point. And the only one. A game CANNOT live of just a single reason to buy.

Man i can waffle - sexiness can be part of a great game, and if so it can definatly help MAKE it great. But its not a reason to buy in itself.

 

[CloakedOne]

sex sells for me in certain areas. television, for instance. A sweet rack is enough to get me to watch a tv show at least once. beautiful women on video games keep me coming back. When it comes to buying products...I block out the sex and seriously evaluate that which they want me to buy.

 

[Kriptonite]

No... Especially if it's poorly portrayed, which it usually is.

Sometimes it does to some people, like banner ads obviously work since they are still around. But it has never made me want to buy that product.

 

[Rhade]

To men that are the age of our dads, probably, given that a lot are likely married (which might mean, at a later age, getting less and less sex), many seem to watch endless Grey's Anatomy type shows (well, with the wife, probably not alone) in which sex is exceedingly vital to the story (the whole cast must sleep with everyone else on the cast, sometimes regardless of gender) and may or may not also be having issues with E.D.

But that's just a guess, and honestly, I don't want to know. Like really, just would rather not know anything with certainty.

Anyway, the actual topic, I would imagine the sex-sells business strategy appeals most to either them, or the usual standard, 13-20 year old boymen. As for women, I don't really know, but I'm guessing they're most likely to be influenced by such adds when they're more hormonal than usual (as in adolescence, that early-30s-sexual-reawakening thing, or just...the usual). Or feeling insecure about being sexy.

 

[crudus]

I like to think that I have a higher thought process than sex in buying an item because there are Ds next to said item. This is not the case for most people however...sadly.

Not for me, no.

But for the masses.
Yes

What this moron said. Sex sells to people, but not to me as a person.

Sort of like how no one drives in Chicago because there is too much traffic?

 

[Bobbovski]

That depends on what I'm after. If I'm after pornographic material, then of course things become more attrative when they include sex/nudity since that's the whole purpose with it. But if I'm just after an ordinary movie/game/whatever then sex doesn't make me want it more.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Depends on what you mean by "sells." Will I buy something simply because it's being shilled by someone attractive? Of course not. But will I pay more attention to something being shilled by someone attractive? Quite probably. The one thing I remember about the first Tomb Raider movie, for example, is Daniel Craig coming out of the shower. A memorable visual, to be sure. When first I heard he was the new Bond, I was more interested in seeing the movie. (To be fair, I also already had a fondness for Bond flicks.)

Pretty much my thoughts.

Will I give something a second look because an attractive lady is being used to advertise it? Absolutely, I'm a guy after all. My actually purchasing decision goes much deeper than that, of course, but sex is certainly a valid way to get my attention.

On a related note to the quoted post, I will definitely be more interested in seeing a movie if it has someone I consider attractive in it. The subject matter/storyline/etc. are all important but some of that can get a temporary pass from me at least if it's got, for example, Kate Beckinsale in it.

 

[Biosophilogical]

Sex doesn't make me want to buy something more, but for the masses, adding sex appeal to a video game/movie/whatever makes it more likely that they will buy it/see it/whatever.