Sex Sells !!

Well, I am not talking about prostitution or pornography. I am talking about sex selling in broad daylight, overtly, in front of thousands of people & corporate delegations. I happened to be a witness to this 'sleaze marketing' about 3 weeks back.

Crudely put, it was much of a 'soft sleaze' analogous to 'soft porn'. I happened to visit Asia IT Expo '07 and there I was a witness to this widely used marketing tactic. Many of the visitors may not have been in a state to comprehend these situations, because rationality loses ground in visually tantalizing scenarios. One may not realize that he is getting lured into visiting that stall & checking out the products. Its one of the most successful marketing mantras & is unfortunately, here to stay.

The fact that surprised me was that the corporate houses using this 'soft sleaze' were among the top companies of that segment. Normally, a lesser known company would resort to such gimmicks in order to attract visitors to their products. Why does the world leader in processors require pretty girls in micro-minis to markets its new range? I mean, the name is enough for a consumer like me, to whom features of a new Notebook PC would appeal rather than those of a girl wearing a skimpy outfit. The same applies to a company dealing with security equipment like surveillance cameras, hiring girls in order to rake in visitors to their stall. The visitors' surveillance on the girls was much more prominent than any of their peeping security lenses!

These practices are rampant on most of the marketing checklists. May it be TV shows, advertisements, billboards - sex truly sells. And even 5 star hotels & reception desks in offices are no exception. After all, what matters at the end of the day is the Sales Graph! And sex is a tried & tested way to boost it. The visit to this "Asia IT Expo(sure) '07" turned out to be quite a first hand experience on these 'practices'. And yeah, of course I did come across some great products too!