At what point does marketing become pornography?

 

We might think we live in a more enlightend age but do we?

 

The use of increasingly explicit sexual imagery in print, on TV, on the Internet, as advertising etc. is still common place. This is not a new phenomenon, the female form has been used to sell products and services ever since man invented 'the market place'. Sexuality is considered one of the most powerful tools of marketing and advertising.

At what point does Art and marketing become pornography?

There is a thin (if not a completely invisible) dividing line between art and porn. Intent and message maybe the grey area between them - erotic art is marketed as and is intended to be seen as pieces of art, flirting with formal elements of art processes, for example referencing other historical artworks. Pornography also uses these tools but its primary intent is to sexually arouse. The distinction between art and porn is  highly subjective.

Post-advertising sales response studies have shown that using the naked female form as a tool for attracting immediate interest is effective - but are we becoming immune to sexy ads and not bothering to read the sales pitch?

Maybe marketing and advertising campaigns should steer towards the erotic rather than the pornographic.

Looking back through art history there are artists who have managed to leave the viewer wanting more; Degas’s drawings of women - the way he portrayed them as sensual and 'true to life' is to be admired and maybe adapted…Continue reading ?