Early this summer, Science world began an advertising campaign for their new exhibition ‘The Science of Sexuality’. The exhibition itself was meant to target young adolescence in a positive and educational way to enlighten them how science is related to the sexuality. In order to gain popularity for the exhibition, they began to release advertisements on billboards and on the side of city buses. Some of these ads are very racy because of their extreme sexual suggestiveness. Images from their advertisements can be found on the following link:
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/08/science-world-sex-exhibit-ads-get-banned
These provocative advertisements raised controversy which lead to an increase in media attention for Science World’s marketing campaign and the ads were banned. I personally think this method of advertising is creative but risky and unethical because sexually suggestive images and slogans were used to promote the topic- and they certainly did catch the public’s attention. Instead of taking an informative and professional approach to educate the young audience, a provocative approach was taken to hook the audience and reel them in to see the exhibition. The slogans and images that were used can be seen as encouragements to the youth to participate in sexual activities in such manners.
