Racy Super Bowl Advertisements

Advertisements for the Super Bowl seem to get racier and sexier than ever before. In fact, GoDaddy.com, one of the most popular domain name registrars, recently shot one of its two separate commercial advertisements for the 2012 Super Bowl, which takes place in February. The advertisement has been designed to tease and taunt its viewers.

Danica Patrick, famous race car driver, will be featured in the GoDaddy advertisement, wearing high heeled stilettos. Along with Danica, stands Jillian Michaels, most commonly known for being a fitness guru and tough girl, along with being the official GoDaddy Girl. On the advertisement, Michaels and Patrick are working together to apply paint on the body of a woman, who will appear to be nude. This is definitely an advertisement that will taunt and tease a number of viewers, both males and females alike.

These sexy advertisements are definitely making a comeback at the Super Bowl. With more than 100 million viewers from areas all over, there seems to be a need to really grasp their attention and get their business, whether it is to buy beer, sign up for a domain, or buy a new car. Many advertisers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars for their advertisements as a means of grasping attention of the wide audience during the February 5^th game. However, there are more reasons that lots of viewers to explain why sex and raciness have become part of advertising during the Super Bowl.

Barbar Lipper, the pop culture expert for Goodby Silverstein & Partners, has said, “We are in a very weird moment in time, with daughters of feminists taking pole-dancing lessons.” She also says, “Everyone is looking for fantasy, because reality is so cruel.”

With that in mind, it makes sense why an advertisement during the biggest game of the year would be the best time to air a fantasy commercial that includes a beautiful GoDaddy model and two other beautiful women. The founder of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, has been known for his controversy but he says, “Sex sells on the Super Bowl.”

But the question is does sex really sell? Some studies have shown that sexy is actually quite risky and could work for or against specific companies. In fact, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have been analyzing advertisements displayed during the Super Bowl for over 20 years. The researchers have found that sexual imagery receives more likability and attention than advertisements that display racy images.

Chuck Tomkovick, a marketing professor that looks over the study, has said, “As a basis of comparison, imagine if you were a comedian and you knew your audience felt sexy jokes were 10% less funny than regular jokes.” He also says, “You’d tell them very judiciously.”

And, while many of the different advertisers have spent millions of dollars on advertisements that include sexual imagery were actually not as preferred as the commercials that feature animals, babies, and children. The more sex in the advertisement, the less people seemed to like them.