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Joey LeDrew

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Malcolm Campbell
4/21/2015
UWRT 1103

Fifty Shades of Green: Does Sex Sell and at What Cost?

Sex. It is an activity as old as time itself. If you believe that what the bible tells you is
true, then the first two humans created, Adam and Eve, had to have had sex to create Cain and
Abel. Even if you dont, someone somewhere had to have sex with another participant to create
you. So with that being said, you were exposed to sex before you had any idea. And even now,
you still may not know you are directly being influenced by it. With various ad campaigns on TV
and in magazines, showing a sexy man or women holding a Coke, they have used a seemingly
effective marketing tactic to get you to buy their product. You may have also had your fantasies
appealed to through romance novels and movies, like the recently popular Fifty Shades of Grey.
So its easy to say that sex has been used as a ploy to sell, but does it work? And if so, why?
Why is it that Fifty Shades can sell? Is it because we are all middle-aged women on the inside?
Why do people use love hotels? Is it because we think people wont know what we are doing in
them? Stay tuned to find out.

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Now, uUnless you are Amish, you have probably seen a commercial on the television,
while watching a show. Now, Wwhile most seem insignificant, there are some that catch your
attention. And once they have your attention, they try to persuade you to buy their product, or
subscribe to their service, or visit their country, or veto a controversial bill, or sue someone for
something, or to watch another show where they will eventually continue the cycle of
advertisements. Get the point? Since there is such an endless monotony of ads on TV, they
needed to find a way to stick out to you. With the use of flashing colors/pictures, jingles, and sex,
they were able to set themselves apart from other ads.
I recently watched a Hardees commercial, where a women wearing minimal clothes
sensually took a bite out of what appeared to be a heart-attack inducing monstrosity. Luckily she
was fine. But then I realized what had happened. They tried to bamboozle me into wanting a
burger, by appealing to my lusting male teenage boy desires. But not all ads try to appeal to men.
Women are also targeted by sexy male actors in ads. An example of this was an ad where the
camera slowly panned from a mans 6-pack, to his rippling biceps, then his hand clinching a Dr.
Pepper. Clearly implying that you will indeed receive the bonus hot man with your purchase of
a Dr. Pepper. Why do they do this, you ask? Because they know that studies have shown that you
are more likely to recall an advertisement with sexual content, then one without. (E. Parker, A.
Furnham, Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and nonsexual advertisements.) And if you can recall an advertisement, then when you are at the store
and see their product, you are more likely to buy it. But sexualized products and services do not
stop at mere television and magazine advertisements.
An ultimate healing that exceeds the sky of time is here is just one of the many
descriptions the infamous love hotels of Japan give themselves, as seen in an AbroadInJapan

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video blog by Chris Broad. As hard as it may be to take an establishment that uses silly, poorly
translated English phrases as a way to attract customers, these love hotels are very serious
businesses. In fact, based on statistics of the same video blog, the some 25,000 hotels are visited
500 million times a year, grossing over 40 billion dollars in revenue each year. Love hotels are a
unique variation of a typical hotel, in that they are designed for shorter uses, 3 or less hours, and
for the eventual purpose of having sex. However, as with any large money producing business,
there is bound to be competition. Thus spawned a slew of incredibly, for lack of better word,
interesting designs for the love hotels, and their rooms. Examples include a BDSM theme paired
with the widely popular Japanese character Hello Kitty, a Jurassic Park theme, with dinosaurs
included, and even a subway car, that serves as your bedroom. To make matters more interesting,
some love hotels decided to add elements of amusement parks into their rooms, with one even
featuring their own bumper car track inside.
It can be pretty easy to get caught up in the madness of these love hotels, but at their
roots, love hotels were designed to serve two purposes upon their invention; be a place to have
inconspicuous sex, or as a cheap, shorter stay alternative to a traditional hotel. (Basil) An
example as to why the latter reason is actually incredibly helpful, is if you miss a train back
home to Tokyo, but you are stuck in Kyoto, you can stay at a love hotel and take a load-off there
as you wait for the next train, for around $20-30 for a few hours. You can also rent one to use as
a place to take a quick shower or nap in between outings in a place not so close to home. So its
no wonder that love hotels can appeal to not only couples looking for love, but people
checking in alone or with friends.
Sticking with the theme of Japan, another product that has a huge market in
contemporary Japan is anime and manga. Anime is an American word that we have created to

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categorize any type of cartoon made in Japan. Manga is a Japanese comic book, not unlike an
American comic book. The differences though, are that manga is read right to left, and is usually
in black and white. Also, the amount of manga purchased in Japan greatly surpasses the amount
of comic books bought in the US. Last year alone, Manga encompassed nearly 25% of all of
Japans literature sales, (i.e. books, manga, ebooks etc.) while in the US, comic books were less
than 5% of literature sales. Basically, while similar to their American counterparts, anime and
manga are much more prevalent, and even economically successful (Kozlowski). And just like
American media isnt safe from the clutches of sexual content, neither is Japanese media.
Anime and manga are so popular, that they have spawned a subculture of their own. The
people in this group have many names, some are self-proclaimed like Otaku while others are
considered derogatory and offensive, like weeaboo. The term otaku was originally used to
refer to people who were up to date and obsessed with technology, but it has since evolved to
anime, manga, and other forms of Japanese culture lovers. The otaku subculture involves fans
wearing their favorite anime or manga gear, like t-shirts or cell phone cases, and cosplaying.
Cosplaying is dressing up as a character or type of character, basically like what kids do for
Halloween, except at any time of the year. Cosplayers often time get into character of the people
they are cosplaying as.
Though while very successful and influential, anime and mangas sexual themes have
been very controversial with some of the content included in them. One very recent controversy,
is that of Japans latest child pornography laws, banning anyone from possession of it, and
imprisoning anyone found with it. However, anime and manga are protected from the law, under
the defense that it is art and freedom of expression, as well as that no actual children are being
harmed. CNN recently did an article about the law, with their attitude being that it should not be

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protected under the law, due to some of the provocative situations featured in many shows and
comics. CNN correspondents also claimed that manga and anime can be used as reference
material for pedophiles. I personally think that, while yes it may depict what look to be children
in explicit situations, it is much better than the real thing happening. And quite frankly, if it gives
a pervert their fix, then so be it.
Now back to America. Our media isnt safe either, from the allure of sex, be it book or
movie. A huge hit in the erotic novel genre recently has been Fifty Shades of Grey. While I
personally havent read it, I have seen numerous pictures of my friends reaction faces (the face
you naturally make as a reaction to something, in this case, incredibly graphic sexual content).
To quote the summary on its Wikipedia page, Fifty Shades of Grey traces the deepening
relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate,
Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes. This made me wonder just how lewd
and raunchy the novel was. Regardless, you dont have to have read it to know its popular. And
if you didnt know before, you probably do now, since they even made a movie adaptation of it,
as is popular to do with bestselling books nowadays. What surprised me the most about the
movie though, was how poorly many of the ratings were, but yet how much it sold for in the box
office. It made over $90 million in its first weekend alone. To put that into perspective, that is
over 4 times the salary of MVP National Football League Quarterback Peyton Manning. Another
good comparison, is that it is $90 million more than my yearly salary. So that is pretty crazy.
Another contemporary American film is one that appeals more demographically to
females; Magic Mike. It stars Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, and is about a 19yearold played by Channing Tatum, looking to get into the business of male stripping. The film
had a modest budget of only $7 million, but grossed over $150 million, and is now spawning a

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sequel aptly named Magic Mike 2. While the movie is about male stripping, it is true that it has
appeal other than just seeing muscular men take their clothes off. It also has comedy themes.
This allowed it to appeal to more than just people looking to see some abs. Just to show the
people who have seen this movie, my own grandmother actually went to see this on its opening
weekend because, and I quote, I really like Matthew McConaughey.
I recently ate a fortune cookie, and inside I kid you not the fortune word for word said
Pleasure requires company. Now this made me giggle. Since obviously they had never heard
of alone time, and that you can have fun by yourself. But then I thought of this paper, and
realized the people who wrote these also had never heard of masturbation. The porn industry
knows this, however. Be it online or print, this industry has grown over the past couple of
decades, and most notably with the creation of the infamous publication that is Playboy

magazine.

My fortune cookie.

Playboy was controversially created at a time when the Comstock laws were still
enforced, but slowly being removed. These laws prohibited anything that could be considered
sexually explicit, and included things like sex ed. text books. The Comstock laws were also an
influential force as to why it took so long for things like Playboy to exist. The Comstock laws
were never formally removed, but obviously they are non-existent. Just look at the things in my

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paper for reference. Hugh Hefners creation of Playboy magazine made pornography more
easily accessible to the general public, and thus making it less of a taboo. Once it became less of
a taboo subject, pornography was much easier to sell as well. As to why it sold, that can be
traced back to my Confucius-esque fortune cookie; it allowed pleasure to no longer require
company.
With pleasure no longer requiring company, it was made obvious that this was the future
of the sex industry. And so a slew of imitators spawned, as well as pornographic material seeping
into other forms of media. Most notably was that with the invention of the internet. The internet
allowed for a whole new realm of unexplored and unlimited knowledge, now available to nearly
everyone with a computer. With this came websites for knowledge, games, news, and porn. The
internet porn industry has since become a dominant force, due to its ease of access.
On to the fun stats of internet porn. It is honestly one of the fastest growing industries I
have personally witnessed, besides social networking, electric cars, and GoPro. The internet porn
industry revenue increased so drastically, and so quickly. In the short span of 6 years between
2001 and 2007. In 2001, it had a total revenue $1 billion, and in 2007 it was $3 billion.
(Pornography Statistics) That is a 200% growth in only 6 years. And its not like that is a 3x
growth of 1 dollar to 3 dollars, but 1 BILLION to 3 BILLION. In 2006 pornography
encompassed nearly 70% of pay-per-view internet content on the market. That beats out boxing,
wrestling, ultimate fighting, ultimate cooking and basically everything else and more. Another
fun fact that made me laugh, was that the most searched term on YouTube in 2009 was porn.
That search alone was searched 330,000 on YouTube. Even more shockingly, is that the study
reported in the Pornography Statistics article, showed that all 137 of the top results on
YouTube when porn was searched had over one million views.

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If it wasnt apparent, sex sells. But to answer the other question, At what cost? youll
need to answer that yourself. Of course, the monetary numbers are there and easy to interpret,
but some would argue that it is morally wrong, and we shouldnt capitalize on something
sacred and private. Despite what you believe, sex is here, and most certainly not going
anywhere anytime soon. In fact, not only is it not going anywhere, but it is only going to grow.
With things like Fifty Shades of Grey no longer being taboo, and becoming the norm, people are
more likely to seize the opportunity to market sex even more heavily in the near future. Though
they dont exist now like they did in the past, I wouldnt be a bit surprised if they started opening
movie houses for pornographic movies, just like they did back in the day. In addition to those, I
also think love hotels will start to make an appearance in America as well. Especially since we
seem to be importing other things from Japan, like anime and manga. Also, as to why sex sells,
there is actual scientific research as to why it does, but Ill just say its because it is an instinct to
be attracted to it. You wouldnt exist if not for sex, and the sale of sex wouldnt exist if not for
you.

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Consumer Book Sales Revenue Japan Statista. Statista. N.d. March 15, 2015.
(Kozlowski, Michael) Japanese Manga Sales have Increased 1% in 2014 GoodEreader. GoodEreader. Feb 1,
2015. March 15, 2015.
Book Sales Statistics Amazon, Barnes&Noble and Book Store Sales Numbers Annual Update. Amazon,
Barnes&Noble and Book Store Sales Numbers Annual Update. N.d. March 15, 2015.
Comic Book Sales by Year comichron. N.p. N.d. March 15, 2015.
Parker, E. and Furnham, A. (2007), Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual
and non-sexual advertisements. Appl. Cognit. Psychol., 21: 12171228. doi: 10.1002/acp.1325
Ripley, Will, Hillary Whiteman, and Edmund Henry. Sexually explicit Japan manga evades new laws on child
pornography CNN. 18 June, 2014. Web. 09 March 2015
Streitmatter, Rodger. SEX SELLS! Published in the United States: Westview Press, 2004. Print.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_MikeMagic Mike Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo. N.d. Feb 2, 2015

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_Of_GreyFifty Shades of Grey Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo. N.d.
Feb 2, 2015
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Basil, Michael. Japanese Love Hotels: A Photo Essay. Consumption, Markets and Culture, Volume 10, Number 2,
June 2007, pp. 203-221(19) P Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
Broad, Chris. LOVE Hotels in Japan: 5 You Should Know. Online Video Clip. YouTube. Youtube Jul 22, 2014.

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Web. July 23rd, 2014.
Covenant Eyes. Pornography Statistics. Clinicalcareconsultants. Web. March 16, 2015.