The reason that I chose this topic to do my research on this semester is because this is a very heated topic, people have been arguing over whether sex appeal should be legal or not. I believe that sex appeal can be a good thing, because for some companies that are in a slump of not being able to sell any product, if they were to use a supermodel such as Kate Upton to market their product no matter what it is, I can guarantee you that you would see a boost in sales almost instantly. This research affected me and my values in a positive way because I found evidence that backed up what I had currently thought and that I wasn't alone on the fact that using sex appeal as a marketing strategy was actually a good thing. My personal experience in this topic is that, humans are exposed to over 5000 advertisements every single day, and I'm sure that one if not more than one of those is something that has to do with using sex appeal to get you to buy a certain product. I am qualified to write about this topic because I have done the research necessary to become knowledgeable enough in this subject that I would be able to defend myself in an argument against someone who thought differently. 

The first article that I found that described the usage of sex appeal in marketing vehicles, more than just used it but used it effectively is the Lexus ad.  This article just explains how whenever you are trying to sell a more high class car such as the Lexus, you have to step up your marketing game a little bid. Therefore, they use an attractive couple using the car on the way to a date that evening to show the speed and the features that the car has to offer. Some of the major values and stakes that were revealed in this article are, for example, the interest obviously of turning a profit off of what you are doing. That is the whole point of using the marketing tactic of sex appeal is because not only do men and women generally enjoy the appearance of the man or woman in the picture, but it gives them the idea that if they drive that car, their life will work out like the people in the commercial. The value of the advertisers product is another thing that is at stake in this article, if you get an attractive woman or man and get them to just prance around your product or to put their own spin on your product so that you can market them, I guarantee you that the value of your item in question will not only go up but also the company as a whole will go up as well. Therefore, furthering not only the product that you are trying to market but the brand that you are marketing as a whole. The author of this article is Forrest Cardamenis. He is credible on this topic because he has been a luxury car reviewer for over the past 10 years. There is no bias in this article because it is an informative piece, not anything that you could put any personal feelings or experiences into. 

The second article that I found described the usage of sex appeal in marketing food, Hardee's used this tactic to perfection in this ad. This article explains how the delicious restaurant Hardee's uses sex appeal with the famous supermodel Kate Upton to sell the mushroom swiss burger. I don't know about you, but using a girl like Kate Upton to advertise something is a really good idea to me because in general, guys will do anything that they can to get their hands on someone like that. Some of the values and interests that are stated in this article are the interest in eating fast food, people that generally are pretty busy and are always out tend to eat fast food more than people than have no reason to go out other than for food. Most of the time people eat fast food because it is convenient. One of the values that is presented in this ad is the value of the burger that you are marketing. Something that restaurants generally do is raise the price of the item in question because it was included in the commercial. They think, hey just because Kate Upton marketed that product, I can increase the price strictly for that reason. While this is a true statement, people do not even realize that whenever they are buying this product, most get interested just because of the ad itself, the first thing on their minds is not the price of the burger. There are four authors in this article, their names are Jared, Arein, Andrew, and Logan, last names were not provided. The reason that they are so credible on this topic is because they are college students as well doing this research so that they can get a good grade in their research class. If you pay attention while reading this article, you will easily be able to see that while they did describe the commercial very well, they gave definitions and examples of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. There is definitely some bias in this article towards sex appeal being legal and not only being legal but being totally right, actually promoting and approving the idea of sex appeal in marketing food. 

The third and final article that I found promoted the use of sex appeal in clothing. This article was written to prove the point that everyday companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch use sex appeal to sell their products and the products that they sell probably would not make such a big bang if they did not use attractive girls to promote them. The way that the company promoted their products aimed as such a younger audience pushed a lot of people the wrong way, therefore taking the company off the market completely. One of the major values used in this article is the value of the clothing. The fact that if you get women or men that are generally fit and don't mind showing a little skin to the world, they are going to increase the value of your clothes to sky high prices because in people's minds they think that if they wear those clothes that they will look like the people in the ad, crazy I know. One of the interests that is at stake in this article is people's general interest in the brand of the clothing that they are witnessing being marketed. But, the response to this marketing tactic in this article was not a positive one. There was a boycott from many families and organizations that would not get anywhere near the stores, not wear their clothes, not share their brand name in any way, shape, or form. After they changed the marketing tactic in Abercrombie and Fitch from the black and white pictures of little kids smiling to intimate looking adults marketing to the same audience, the public automatically took that the wrong way. They demanded that the strategy be stopped because it is not good for their children to be exposed to those kinds of things. Abby Rogers, the author of "Abercrombie & Fitch catalogs caused such a public outcry the company pulled them from the shelves", has been a reporter for the business insider for the past 3 years and has reported on shows such as law and order. It matters because if the person has no experience in what he or she is doing then why would you trust what they say? There was clearly some bias presented in this article from the reaction of the public towards the marketing tactic. 

In conclusion, this research question is arguable because as you can see in the articles above, there are people that think both ways about the subject. You have the audience of the Hardee's burger that are drooling over the fact that Kate Upton is being used in the ad. While you have the parents and guardians of the Abercrombie and Fitch article that felt like it was innapropriate for their audience of little children which it is and there is a point to both sides. These different perspectives definitely open my eyes to both sides, but, I am still in favor of the tactic and believe that every other man with a beating heart would agree with me. My research question does not need to be revised I do not think, maybe to make it more specific to what market I am arguing that sex appeal is strongest in, but, that is the only thing that I see. 

