Sex Sells – But What, For Whom, And To Whom?

by GaryG

When someone says “I’m no prude,” it is pretty easy to imagine what typically comes next: a prudish commentary on some aspect of modern society or youth culture, often delivered by someone who hasn’t had his or her age checked to ensure legal drinking in a bar for some time now.

As a result, I guess that particular angle is out to lead off this article describing the many ways in which sex is used in watch marketing and watch-related media. So, how to begin?

Blasting off: composite photo posted online by a Harry Winston Opus 3 owner

Blasting off: composite photo posted online by a Harry Winston Opus 3 owner

I like sex.

There we go! To the point and leaves no doubt as to intent, I’d say.

That said, I typically try to keep my interests in sex and watches somewhat distinct.

For instance, it should be noted that when MrsG caused a stir at her medical clinic a few years ago by using the words “Gary,” “bed,” and “watch porn” in the same sentence, it really was about some horological macro photos that I was reviewing before going to sleep, not some more nefarious activity.

In addition to my non-aversion to things sexual, as a practitioner in the field of marketing strategy I have an appreciation for two important principles.

1) Markets are made up of segments, and marketing tactics such as celebrity endorsements (see Celebrity Ambassadors: Good Marketing Or Terrible Waste?) that may seem frivolous to some consumers may actually work quite well for attracting and retaining members of other segments.

2) All human behavior that persists does so for a reason. If brands, publications, blogs, and individual Facebookers and Instagrammers are using sex to attract, they must feel that it works in some way.

But in what ways, with what audiences, and to what ends?

Brands and sex

While our recent “Ladies’ Week” here at Quill & Pad provided some great examples of female watch enthusiasts (read My Wife, The Watch Collector and Why You Shouldn’t Get Your Better Half Interested In Watches), it is likely safe to say that from the perspective of the major brands, horological collecting is primarily a male pursuit.

Some brands, like IWC, have even gone as far in the past as to position their products as “for men only” in advertising copy.

So far so good, but from my perspective it can be a small slide down a slippery slope from that innocent-seeming observation to some “male-oriented” brand collateral that is somewhere between comical and offensive, at least as seen by this self-styled non-prude.

Breitling in-store display, Las Vegas

Breitling in-store display, Las Vegas

Yeah, I’m looking at you, Breitling. This photo is from the brand’s store in Las Vegas, but MrsG gave me a pretty good shot to the ribs when I stopped to make a professional assessment of a similarly-themed poster in London.

But is this worse, better, or the same as Maximilian Büsser’s whimsical use of World War II nose art on his MB&F HM4 Double Trouble and Razzle Dazzle watches?

That’s why they call it a slippery slope, I suppose: one man’s whimsical expression can well be another’s exploitive act.

MB&F HM4 Double Trouble with replica World War II bomber nose art

MB&F HM4 Double Trouble with replica World War II bomber nose art

Brand events are another opportunity to cross the line between titillation and outrage: witness the image we see below from an event at which one German brand or its local retailer apparently thought that a “Luftwaffe in bikinis” motif would be just the thing to promote its product.

For once, words simply fail

For once, words simply fail

Media and sex

In the world of mainstream watch media, Revolution magazine occupies an exalted status with its glossy and professionally produced photo spreads being one of its core attractions.

Many of those features, including a great many of the cover stories, feature female models in various states of dress and undress who also happen to be wearing watches.

Revolution magazine: let them eat cake?

 ‘Revolution’ magazine: let them eat cake?

By and large, I personally find the Revolution images to be on the artistic side of the decorum line, although the “Cake” article image above is perhaps an exception. But on at least one legendary occasion things went hilariously amok with a series of boudoir photos featuring leading independent watchmakers.

I know that at least one of these guys is still in trouble with his wife years later about his participation in that shoot, so I won’t share any of “his” photos here. But here’s one of Philippe Dufour, apparently passing a bit of time between sessions at his watchmaker’s bench.

I have to confess that I’d be deeply offended every time I look at this photo if only I could stop laughing so hard. (See Why Philippe Dufour Matters. And It’s Not A Secret.)

Another quiet evening in the Vallee de Joux: Philippe Dufour hard at work

Another quiet evening in the Vallee de Joux: Philippe Dufour hard at work

The age of self-promotion

The further we range from the brands themselves, the blurrier the link between the use of sexual images and direct promotion of brand equities becomes.

Starting in the heyday of the big watch forums, and continuing to the Instagram-intensive present time, there are folks out there who just seem to love portraying watches with women (rather than the other way around).

This genre, which seems mostly about attracting attention to the post originator, takes multiple forms: wristshots (read Wristshots: The Story So Far), composite photos like the one that launched this article, and even semi-nude selfies by enterprising female bloggers.

There’s even a highly talented (and quite pretty) independent practitioner of finissage with a Facebook page called Vidayhado who has taken to posting relatively demure beauty shots of herself at the bench and on the beach to the delight of her Facebook followers, myself included (remember, I’m no prude).

Crossing the line

So if the slope is so slippery and the lines so indistinct, how do we know unsavory watch-related sexuality when we see it?

Image from the “Watches of Grey” post on Watch Anish

Image from the “Watches of Grey” post on Watch Anish

Exhibit one: the “Watches of Grey” post seen recently on the Watch Anish site that caused no small uproar in the online watch world, including a heated rebuke from a well-known French-language blogger (who apparently felt the need to publish many of the offending images to prove his point).

What’s wrong with the image above? Take a quick look at who’s clothed, who’s not, who’s wearing the watch, who’s at each end of the leash, and who is sufficiently out of focus to be treated as a convenient object, and you should get an idea.

It might (or might not) have been so bad if article author “Ed” had read 50 Shades of Grey and this was his attempt at an honest interpretation, but in the article itself he freely stated that he had not: “Now I haven’t read the book or seen the movie . . . ” A later postscript to the article, “#Chilloutgreg,” was widely understood to be a direct rebuke to the above-mentioned criticisms.

Where were the brands featured in the article through all of this? Mostly claiming plausible deniability by stating that they did not pay specifically to be featured in this particular post and hence couldn’t be blamed.

The sixty-four (thousand) dollar question

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half” – attributed to merchant John Wanamaker.

Does sex actually sell watches?

Here’s my sense: to the extent that brands like Breitling use sexual imagery that appeals to a certain group of youthful buyers, they may be succeeding in attracting some new customers. But this tactic is likely ill-suited to the brand identity objectives of the haute horlogerie brands we cover here at Quill & Pad.

For all of the other members of the horological ecosystem who are publishing sexual images, I think it much more likely that the economic and notoriety value, if any, is flowing to the magazines, bloggers, and individual posters, not to the watchmakers and watch brand owners.

A modest call to action

So what to do? I’m disinclined to give morality lectures, but a few thoughts:

If you like, look: Hey, why not? Female (and male) forms have been displayed in art and commerce for a very long time now, and if it floats your boat I’m not going to try to discourage your discreet viewing.

If it works or doesn’t, say so: I for one would be very eager to hear from our readers about their views on this topic and whether you have ever been influenced – pro or con – on the decision to buy a watch based on sexual imagery.

If it demeans, call it out: Be vocal in helping to set the ethical guardrails for visual discourse in our little watch-loving community. If you don’t, who will?

Brands, stop hiding behind that (figurative) fig leaf: If you stop paying, directly or in aggregate buys, for inclusion in online images that denigrate the participants, there won’t be nearly so many of those images.

At the end of the day, the line between edgy lifestyle marketing and insulting imagery can indeed be razor-thin: if as a result of reading these words you feel a bit more equipped to reach your own conclusions on the topic, I’ve achieved my goal!

7 replies
  1. Carol
    Carol says:

    There is a reason why the average “sex session” lasts only eleven minutes. It’s meant to be short, sweet and, in my opinion, a special event that you engage in, with enough time in between each event to make the next one as meaningful as the one before. Of course, the space between is a subjective matter, for some it can be 5 minutes for others 5 days, but I still contest that it’s the many little things that comprise a sexual encounter that makes it exciting – partner, mood, timing, location, what you’re wearing, and, yes, TRUST, are the key ingredients in my opinion. So I would say that used sparingly, sexy ads (male and female) can be an exciting and refreshing uplift for a product/brand. But used too often, or worse, using sex as your brand position long-term, is just bad decision-making. It would be like limiting your spice rack to only paprika, or wearing the same (sexy?) clothes everyday. Watches are timeless and ethereal. It’s these traits that deserve long-term brand positioning. Sex is locked in a specific time and place, time after time, and only exciting for as long as it lasts – as it should be.

    Reply
  2. Carol
    Carol says:

    Oh, and one more thing – a beautiful mechanical watch movement epitomizes all that is right with humanity: intelligence, creativity, patience, timeless beauty, longevity. Couple that with the subjectification of women as objects to be dominated? That epitomizes all that is wrong with humanity – greed, fear, insecurity, cowardess… No thanks. Laisser tomber!!

    Reply
    • GaryG
      GaryG says:

      Thanks for both of your comments, Carol, and it’s a delight to see you here!

      Couldn’t agree more with both of your thoughts — and I suspect that the same concepts might apply to the marketing of timeless, beautifully finished, and mechanically innovative mens’ accessories such as belt buckles as well 🙂

      All the best,

      Gary

      Reply
  3. horologium
    horologium says:

    Okay, after various mental drafts of a reply, I decided to finally try and conslidate my thoughts in a half-way coherent manner and respond.

    So many thoughts…

    I am not by any stretch of the imagination proficient in the dark arts of marketing but as a sentient being I am part of various segments of targeted consumers, and I do admit that I am sometimes intrigued (and bewildered) by what works, the motivations that drive people to buy, to consume, especially non-essentials. Which is essentially most of what marketing is about, isn’t it? Convincing us that we really ‘need’ something that we don’t.

    But let me start first with the sex thing.

    Perhaps I am dancing on the head of a pin here when it comes to marketing, and to some degree my past life may have something to do with this delineation, but I don’t believe that nudity = sex. You can have nudity that is not sexualised, and sexualised nudity. Nudist beaches aren’t about sexualised nudity, to use the most obvious example, nor are medically related photos and images. However, it appears that flesh = sex in marketing and advertising, and perhaps this is one of the things that has always puzzled me. I don’t get overwrought about nudity in public, we’ve all got bodies underneath the varying amounts of clothing after all, so I can see something with partial/ full nudity marketing a product and either see it as nudity-that-is-not-sexualised-but-has-no-context-in-this-ad or as sexualised nudity with the whole ‘sex sells’ thing.

    I dare say that I am a minority in looking at it all so clinically, but there we have it!

    Does sex sell? Some things undoubtedly yes. Watches? I’m not so sure whether nudity and sexualised nudity does in fact sell watches. I have not conducted a proper rigorous social science experiment about this, but over the years I have asked many many people (almost all men as yes, it all seems to be male-dominated) what motivates their purchasing decisions and in particular, whether photographs of women in bikinis or topless in various positions including that of being dominated, influence how they perceive the brand being featured (plus if they recall the brand at all), and whether it makes them think ‘oh yes, I think I want that watch’. Or even ‘yes, I must take a look at that watch’. I’ve asked people aged from their teens to their seventies, all types of enthusiasts and collectors, and I have yet to find one person who has put any weight on a nudity (sexualised or otherwise) related image in terms of their final decision. I will keep on asking both men and women this question.

    Oh and yes, there are people who have told me that they rule out brands based on such images, on objectification of women, because they believe that it reflects something about the brand’s image that they don’t want to (literally) buy in to.

    If people are talking about the photo, the set up, and not the actual watch, then yes, what is it about? I agree with you. It’s about the photographer etc, it’s not about the watch, the brand, the watchmaker.

    Nudity is a funny thing. I don’t mean ha-ha funny but in the sense that people can get worked up about it when there’s not much to get worked up about in and of itself. Context is vital for me – tasteful nudity where you can see the reason for it, tacky exploitative use of nudity for purely giggling titillation etc.

    What is somewhat bemusing is that nudity is still seen by some as being boundary pushing, especially in regards to depictions of women, when in fact in many ways it is conservative and regressive, as it is illustrative of a rather old-fashioned approach to gender and the role of women. For it is mostly women who are depicted in this manner.

    If nothing else, as figures show, women are increasingly buying luxury watches, and as a woman in the industry said to me recently, and it is a thought with which I obviously concur – why do you want to potentially alienate a growing market? There’s money in them there wimmin.

    “If it demeans, call it out” – hear hear. As Australia’s ex Chief of Army Lieutenant General said about sexism and behaviour that is demeaning to women in the armed forces but which is pretty much an approach applicable to life in general – “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept”.

    Here’s his speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaqpoeVgr8U it is worth watching.

    Oh and in terms of IWC ‘Engineered for men’ I have gone so far as to ask them about this as well as, including suggesting (via Twitter) a new tagline, ‘Engineered for you’, in light of their move back into women’s watches. It makes the watch-wearer relationship personal, is not too far a jump from their current tagline, and is inclusive of all of their customers.

    Reply

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  1. […] rebuttal to a certain story that has gotten some attention here at Quill & Pad recently (read Sex Sells – But What, For Whom, And To Whom?), rest assured this is not. While I thoroughly enjoyed the aforementioned article, my curiosity is […]

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