Sex Sells

It’s no advertising secret that sex sells, and the 70s were all about the love, baby. Before the AIDS epidemic of the 80s made sex dangerous, the 70s celebrated it and more was better. Advertising not only hinted at it, but embraced nudity as seen in the following ads. I’ll start with the cover of the book. I’m sure it’s an advertisement for an underwear company, but I have no idea who it is and I don’t care. The female hand resting on the inner thigh of the male is hilarious. And check out how hairy the dude is!

I love it! Then, I open the book and this is one of the first ads I see. The ad is for Male jeans and is targeted to males (of course, why else is the model topless), but I don’t begin to understand the sad copy. “I walk down the street without joy. A hapless place where freedom rings. I see them look at me. I wear the gladness of the nation. But they don’t understand. They rip to tears the colors of my time. But I’m so proud that it’s a part of me. Male. It fits the time and my mind. To ease my sorrow for those who bust the wave of freedom.”

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t make me want to run out and buy a pair of red, white and blue jeans. Matter of fact, I can’t figure out who would. I’m sure this was printed to protest the war, but, man, it’s depressing! One thing I did notice is that the model is, ahem, very natural. No silicone implants here.

Moving on. Let’s try to make socks sexy. Hmm, what can we do with socks? You don’t see much of them but we all need them. I know! Let’s put a bunch of men in socks and nothing else! Oooo! And let’s make sure they’re diverse – age, race, etc. – and we have some stylin’ shades on them. Ok, now let’s pose them so the socks are the main focus and we don’t see any naughty bits. Yeah, I like it!

It certainly makes me want to go out and buy socks. Now, let’s take a look at the classic polo shirt. It wasn’t the 80s yet and the Ralph Lauren Polo wave hadn’t crested, but a polo-style shirt was still worn (by Squares, man). The Robe di Kappa Company obviously wanted to get in on the sexy advertising action by sexing up the lowly polo shirt.

I don’t know what bugs me more in this picture, the model’s butt or her hair. I’m going with the hair. John Frieda had not launched his Frizz Ease line but this woman is a prime candidate. Makes me think of Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born. Ick.

The sad part about all this sexiness is that the women don’t get to see  as much of the men as they do of the women. Equal rights, man! Join me next Friday for another look at 70s advertising. I think next week’s theme will focus of DIY of the 70s.