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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.

Unless you are Amish, you have probably seen a commercial on the television, while
watching a show. Now, while 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
sensual 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
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. 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 an American word that we have created to
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. And just like American
media isnt safe from the clutches of sexual content, neither is Japanese media.
Though while very successful, 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 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 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
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 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. 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. 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.
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. 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.

Work Cited
http://www.statista.com/statistics/327136/consumer-book-sales-revenue-japan/
http://goodereader.com/blog/manga-and-anime-news/japanese-manga-sales-have-increased-1-in-2014
http://www.fonerbooks.com/booksale.htm
http://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales.html
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_Mike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_Of_Grey