Calm it down.

It seems that advertisers often feel like they need to go to extremes in order to rise above the clutter. But that mentality can lead to some controversial advertising.

Take this american apparel ad for example:

It features a former porn star in suggestive poses, just to model socks. I've noticed that American Apparel has had many suggestive ads in the past. It seems like they focus on sex as their main selling point. It is true, as they say, that sex sells, but to have that as your only way of advertising a product just seems cheap. It becomes ineffective when any selling point is overused and used distastefully. This sock ad makes the audience more interested in googling a porn star than in buying their product. (Although it's possible that the blunt association with sex puts the product in mind subliminally. Ex: The viewer might be passing an American Apparel in the mall and end up going inside, subconsciously hoping to find a naked chick just chillin...?) Either way...ads that go too far with sex are sketchy.

Then there are advertisements that believe in using complete exaggeration to sell their product. For example:

Almost every mascara commercial is guilty of puffery in their ads. 300% more volume? Really? And they film the brushes from an upward macro angle to make them look gigantic. And the models are wearing fake eyelashes so of course they look huge! Makeup ads rely on exaggeration. And to be honest, it usually works. Women want to believe that their eyelashes will look like they're going to stab someone if they get too close. Or that if they wear a certain mascara they will suddenly own more stylish clothing and feel prettier. Some women are thrifty and wise and find one line of makeup and stick with it, and are no longer fooled by hyperbolicious ads. But for the rest of us out there...Keep dancing around in that tuxedo vest, Drew Barrymore.