How Durex sold sex to a youth audience

Simon Buchanan, group account director/managing partner at McCann Erickson Communications House, discusses the use of sex in advertising, and the particular problems faced by a product whose raison d'etre is sex - Durex condoms.

How Durex Sold Sex to a Youth Audience

Simon Buchanan

A trawl through the advertising archives over the past 50 years could lead you to the inevitable conclusion: sex sells! And what is more it has been used to sell everything from contact adhesive to chocolate, coffee to cars and bras to beer.

SAFE SEX?

Using sex is undoubtedly a safe route for brand owners and sometimes the more distant the link between the product being sold and the imagery, then potentially the more impact the campaign has.

However, when your brand is intrinsically linked to sex, using sex to...

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