Senior Account Executive

When did “sex sells” become the mantra for advertising? I can’t prove it, but I think I can make a convincing argument that there are some Egyptian hieroglyphics out there of a voluptuous young woman who wants to sell cat embalming for your personal tomb.

Whenever it started, it’s long been successful (like the iconic Pepsi commercial starring Cindy Crawford), at times really controversial (like so many of the Go Daddy Super Bowl ads) or just plain stupid (like the Herbal Essences shampoo commercials. No woman is ever that happy to wash her hair. And I defy you to introduce me to a single female who has washed her hair in a tiny, dirty airplane lavatory).

What can be fun to watch is when commercials are sexy and funny, or silly sexy. These spots are more apt to have a wink-and-a-nod toward consumers, letting us in on the joke instead of offending half of us at a given time.

Here are a few great ones:

1. Two of the planet’s most beautiful people, Sofia Vergara and David Beckham, team up for Diet Pepsi.

2. Go Daddy still makes ridiculous commercials that are probably R rated, but lately they’ve found a sweet spot that makes fun of their own image, offering sexy in slapstick form.

3. The best silly/sexy commercials are those that are clearly meant to be ridiculously over the top. The brand knows you don’t think these are sexy, but you’ll probably find a commercial like this one for Kraft Italian dressing to be funny. All hail the “Zesty Man!”

4. And the mother of all silly/sexy commercials has to be Old Spice Man. Any commercial that somehow manages to marry washboard abs with a boat and a horse and diamonds and soap – and do it all in tongue-in-cheek fashion – gets my attention and helps to form a memorable spot.

Have any favorite commercials like these? Let us know!