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Sold on Sex

“IN France,” says Time magazine, “advertisers have increasingly turned to sexual innuendo.” Quoting from a London adman, the article continues: “Eroticism has always been part of the advertiser’s armory, but in France they’re approaching overkill.” In Brazil, when nudity was featured on television to advertise jeans, a 30-percent increase in sales was confidently predicted. India’s parliament, in contrast, has approved a bill barring the use of women as sex symbols in any form of advertisement. In the United States a wind of change seems to be blowing​—through television commercials at least. “Advertisers want to touch our funny bones more than our erogenous zones,” reports the Daily News, citing in support a consumer survey revealing that of the ten favorite television ads, five were humorous and none contained a sexual theme.