Is sexual appeal in today's advertisement indispensable to gain attention ?

It has become a source of distraction and therfore it is being looked as indispensable.

AGREED WITH MR.HASEEB,,,

Trying to ban sexuality is a consciousness decision. But advertising address to subconsciousness. To emotions, basic needs. And, like it or not, sex is deeply programmed into our genes and we all react to it. It is not indispensable to advertising but why would you want not to use it when sex appeal is one big powerfull tool you can use?

sex is only one of the attention grabbers that may trigger sales, just like humour or surprise

Good Day!!!

I would say it is not indispensable. Its a choice widely used by adv industry. There are quality adv. that doesnot give such importance to it.

As a principle, it is not bad to have both genders appearing in a certain ad. It would attract both men and women to follow the ad. But in today's large large competition there is more focus on women more than men in ads. Adverstiment companies know very well that a young man does not want to see an old man eating a chocolate or driving a car. He wants to see a young woman telling him how powerful is the car or how delicious is the chocolate. Moreover, this trend is not only limited to ads. For example all lebanese tv channels have women presenting the weather and not men anymore. Large number of tv shows are hosted by women. And in the worst case scenario by a men and women. Old people are used for funny ads to attract kids and elderly people with punch lines and never appear as attractive by ad companies.

Sex Sells is a very well known term in the advertising world, but now it is a much less powerful technique than before but still most widely used technique.