Super Bowl advertisements trade on sex

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Updated: February 23, 2012 8:12AM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Sexy ads are slinking back to the Super Bowl.

At stake: the eyeballs of more than 100 million Super Bowl viewers. And the urgent need to drive all of them online to find out more, socialize and tweet with friends and ultimately buy that beer, smartphone or luxury car.

Thirty or so advertisers will spend upwards of $230 million just for the airtime to fight for attention in the Feb. 5 game. But that only partly explains why sexual imagery in Super Bowl advertising is becoming about as common as sand in the Sahara.

“We are in a very weird moment in time, with daughters of feminists taking pole-dancing lessons,” offers Barbara Lippert, former Adweek ad critic and now pop-culture guru at ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners. “Everyone is looking for fantasy, because reality is so cruel.”

Here at the headquarters of GoDaddy.com, the godfather of sultry if not tacky Super Bowl spots, its new, multimillion-dollar production studio is buzzing this day with sights and sounds aimed to tease, titillate — and taunt.

Here’s Danica Patrick, arguably as famous for her GoDaddy spots as for her race-car driving, standing on the set in 4-inch stilettos. Here, too, is Jillian Michaels, the shapely fitness guru and official GoDaddy Girl. She’s helping Patrick strategically apply body paint to what will appear, in the ad, to be a nude model.

Bob Parsons, GoDaddy’s controversial but confident founder, has a simple explanation: “Sex sells on the Super Bowl.”

Not according to the research gurus at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who have been analyzing Super Bowl ads for more than two decades. They’ve found that spots with sexual imagery take a 10 percent hit in “likability” vs. ads without racy images.

“As a basis of comparison, imagine if you were a comedian and you knew your audience felt sexy jokes were 10 percent less funny than regular jokes,” says Chuck Tomkovick, the marketing professor who oversees the study.

While some of the biggest Super Bowl advertisers have spent millions on ads that exude sexual imagery, most viewers actually prefer to see ads with kids or animals. “The more you put sex in an ad, the less it is liked,” Tomkovick says. “It’s like using Botox but not having it work out.”

Beyond GoDaddy’s ads, sexy model Adriana Lima will appear scantily clad in a Kia spot, and also in an ad for another Super Bowl advertiser that won’t discuss it yet.

Online consumer voting will determine if Doritos airs one with a guy whose wish is for three “hot, wild” girls. And, in a nod to equal time for sexy images, clothier H&M will air a spot with soccer hunk David Beckham in his underwear.

Christy Buchanan, a professor of psychology at Wake Forest University, said most parents — particularly of grammar-school kids — wish the Super Bowl had more “family-friendly” ads. Parents may want to distract kids under age 10 from watching certain racy spots, she says. For pre-teens and teens, parents may want to comment even as the ad runs, such as, “That’s not how most women dress or act,” she says.

“The ads put me and my team in front of 100 million people. That’s a lot of eyes,” says Patrick, who has appeared in more Super Bowl ads (12, including the two this year) than anyone. “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but the networks are the filter.”

When GoDaddy aired its first Super Bowl spot in 2005, it was a $100 million company few people knew with a 16 percent market share. Fast-forward to 2012, and GoDaddy is a $1.1 billion company with a 52 percent market share.

Gannett News Service