Sexy in Ads lead to Sexy on Children

     -Ashley Ciero

 Our advertising today is full of sex in every direction we turn. Why is this? Because sex grabs attention. Many feel like "sex in advertising is not a crime" but I feel quite differently. (1) When you turn on the television there are commercials on just about every channel. When you get in your car and drive down the street there are billboards and fliers with sexy advertisements on them. These commercials and ads can be seen by children and are inappropriate for their age. Not only do children see these advertisements, but they are not being properly educated when it comes to sex.

According to North Carolina State law "HB 694 requires parents [to] provide written permission to schools before their children receive certain instruction in reproductive health and safety" yet there is no law prohibiting us from using pictures like this in advertising. (2) If we cannot educate our children without consent in the public school system then why can we advertise it freely in the public media? (2)

 

      Our children are growing up in a world where sex is everywhere and getting worse.  "In the early 1900s, exposed arms and ankles of female models generated the same level of arousal as partially nude models do today" but now we see advertisements with mostly nude men and women. (3) It is true that it grabs attention and is effective, but is that what we want our children seeing out their school bus window on the way to school? When children see these kinds of pictures or media they think that this is a common norm and mirror what they see.

      Not only do children mirror sex from the media, but parents promote it too. The show "Toddlers in Tiaras" is a perfect example of how parents encourage or force "sexy" onto their children and onto our society at too young of an age. These little girls are dressed up in inappropriate outfits and are covered in make-up to out pretty the other girls. These girls are taught "from the cradle that their main value in this world is their looks." (4) There is an ongoing debate about whether this show should continue to air or be cancelled because dressing up little girls as prostitutes is "robbing these small kids of their childhood” and giving children a   false image of reality.

       Do you really want your children growing up thinking that looks are everything? Or that they have to be sexy at age four in order to have a relationship? Sex in advertising should be monitored and controlled because our society is teaching children the wrong motives and negatively impacting our society.

(3) Mulvey, Jeanette. "Why Sex Sells...More Than Ever." (online forum message). Business News Daily. June 07, 2012. http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2649-sex-sells-more.html (accessed January 27, 2014).

 (2) . NCSL. Jan 2014. http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools.aspx

 (1) "Sex In Advertising." (online forum message). youtube. 0ct 14, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtmTj-1arjs (accessed January 27, 2014).

(4) "The Five Biggest Controversies To Hit 'Toddlers and Tiaras'." (online forum message). Business Insider. Sept. 17, 2012. http://www.businessinsider.com/toddlers-and-tiaras-controversies-2012-9