SEX SELLS: The Ultimate Guide to Subliminal Seduction. How Advertising Gets You Hot And Buying

“Sex sells—but only if you’re selling sex.” That’s a classic line from advertising professor, the American Jef I. Richards. And yet, over the decades, ad after ad has insisted otherwise and sex has become advertising’s not-so-secret weapon.

So, what gives? Is it because sex really does sell? Or because we just can’t stop looking - because, let’s face it—sex has always sold. But today, it’s not just about bare skin and boudoir lighting.

Modern advertising plays dirtier (and cleverer), slipping sexual signals into your subconscious. Welcome to the era of subliminal seduction—where brands flirt, tease, and turn you on without ever saying the word “sex.

Fig.1  Vintage ad 1871 for Pearl tobacco label  

Fig.2  Vintage Art Nouveau style ad for "Sauzé Frères Parfum", 1920

Fig.3  Cicli Fiat (Fiat Cycles), 1910 by Plinio Codognato (1878-1940)

TAKE 1: From Corsets to Clickbait, from Soft Porn to Billboards

Advertising’s Long Standing Love Affair with Erotica

The marriage between erotic imagery and publicity is far from a modern fling, and erotica in the art of advertising is older than your grandma’s lingerie drawer. In the late 1800s, almost bankrupt Pearl Tobacco slapped a sensual, reclining maiden on their tins— people bought it and the sales went up.

Fast-forward a century, and Yves Saint Laurent strips naked for his cologne ad, setting the gold standard for the high-fashion male nude (with homoerotic undertones). By the mid-20th century, suddenly every soap ad, car commercial, and cologne campaign was dripping with innuendo.

In the 2000s, fashion brands took things to an artful extreme. Think: YSL’s infamous Opium ad with a naked Sophie Dahl draped like a Renaissance nude. Or Tom Ford’s unapologetically hyper-sexual campaigns—equal parts soft-porn and high fashion. These weren’t just ads; they were exhibitions of erotica, playing on our deepest desires and posing as art.

Fig.4  Vogue editorial shot by Hiro, 1982 

Fig.5  Yves Saint Laurent  "rive gauche"

Fig.6  Left: Yves Saint Laurent, 1971. Right: David Gandy, nude for Dolce & Gabbana Eyewear by Emily Jane Johnston

TAKE 2: The Sexy Stuff You Don’t See

Hot Attention-Grabbing 101

Why do they keep doing it? Because it works, at least in the short term - our brains are hardwired to respond to sexual imagery. That’s evolutionary biology doing its thing.

Forget the obvious. The real magic happens under the radar. Subliminal sex is about shadows, curves, gleam, and suggestion. That lipstick ad? That’s not just shine—it’s strategic glisten. Tobacco companies were pioneers here, using phallic shapes and sultry colors to get under your skin.

Fig.7  Perfume ad 2002, Tom Ford for M7 Yves Saint Lauren

Fig.8  Banned Calvin Klein Underwear Kendall Jenner Ad Upskirting 

In the extended Premium edition of the article you can check out the 3 additional takes including more on selling the fantasy in sex ads, the brain on lust, homoerotic ads,how erotic advertising gets under your skin (and into your wallet), color psychology, does sex sell in the end?, historical ad-orgasms, iconic sex ad quotes, 59 controversial sex ads, and MUCH more..!

Click HERE for the brilliant erotic ad campaign by the Belgian magazine Humo

What do you think about using sex in advertising? Leave your reaction in the comment box below...!