Beauty and sex sells!

Ever wondered what liquor, cigarette and oil companies have in common? This question was posed to me by my colleague yesterday. If you say “girls”, then you are spot on ~ beautiful, sexy girls to be more precise. What else can I say except that beauty and sex sells … especially in male dominated, male oriented and male targeted industries.

This brings to mind a highly provocative discussion we had with our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) lecturer last year. The topic was on what constitutes a “relationship” in the CRM context. Clearly, the lecturer believes that a “relationship” can only exist between two or more people. According to him, a “relationship” cannot exist between a buyer and the brand because the human element is missing. The lecturer went on further to explain that we have to look at CRM in a broader context i.e. that the human element in delivering or supporting the product would be able to build that crucial “relationship” with the customer.

This got the class going and we started throwing examples of customer relationship. One of the examples quoted is the sexy girls selling cigarettes and beers at pubs and bars. The reasoning is that the girls help build a “relationship” with the customer and they deliver the crucial human element that the lecturer preached earlier. The lecturer disagreed and called that exploitation of women and sex. In any case, a heated debate ensued and we ended the class with the guys trying to rile up the lecturer by saying that after a hard days work, they don’t need intelligent conversation at pubs and therefore, they only need to look at pretty girls with big boobs. Thus, sexy Carlsberg and Marlboro ladies work for them. *rolls eyes* (Boredom had set in by then and the guys just wanted their pound of flesh! Hahaha ...)

In any case, it got me thinking. Let’s forget CRM for a moment and look at Marketing as a whole. The first rule of marketing is to know your consumers/ customers. And then influence them to purchase. Now, that influence may come in different packaging and add on services i.e the window dressing. Geee … I hope I don’t come off sounding like a pimp or a mamasan. That was not my intention. What I am trying to point out is that when we get to the sphere of influence; like it or not, beauty and sex does sell. And is that exploitation of women? That’s a tough question. I would take the stand that yes, to a certain extent it is exploitation of women. But I would have to then add that women use their beauty to exploit in return. Having been in marketing for donkey years, I can attest to the fact that women who work the pubs selling cigarettes and beers earn relatively “big” money for a few hours of work.

Yes, beauty and sex sells. But are women exploited or do they use their beauty to exploit?

The verdict is yours …