November 24, 2006
Nudity and News Don’t Mix
While I was skimming the Internet for interesting topics to write about, I strayed across several stories about a news network called, of all things---the Naked News. This news network with the provocative title and gimmick is available on the Internet, and also on cable. I later found out that the Naked News has been around since 2000 (although I had not previously heard about it).
The Naked News is the brainchild of Ontario attorney David Warga, who created an all-female news network with a twist: the correspondents read their news and do field reporting au naturel.
In the interest of serving my readers, I visited the company’s website and viewed some of their sample programs. The Naked News is part Playboy, part CNN. A NN broadcast goes like this: A fully clothed female newscaster begins reading a normal news report. A few lines into the story, she begins shedding her attire. By the end of the report she is well---you know---naked.
Sex Sells---Sometimes
I am not offended by the idea of the Naked News. (It takes a lot to offend me at this stage in my life.) Nor I am going to pretend that I am a touchy-feely, new-age kind of guy who views the Naked News as an act of unpardonable exploitation. Let’s please not go there. If female newscasters want to do their reporting in the buff, let ‘em, I say.
I do, however, happen to think that this network is an example of flawed marketing at work.
The notion that sex (usually in the form of female nudity) sells has become accepted as axiomatic. Hugh Hefner and others have made a fortune selling naked female images. In 2004, the watchdog group Family Safe Media reported that a full 25% percent of Internet searches involve searches for sexually explicit content.
Nevertheless, it is a mistake to think that gratuitous nudity can automatically enhance any commercial message---or any media product, for that matter. In fact, sex can actually diminish the effectiveness of a commercial message if it has no logical connection to the product or service being promoted.
Paris Hilton and the Hamburger Chain
Consider the now-infamous hamburger commercial involving a scantily clad Paris Hilton. Carl’s Jr. hired the heiress to don a skimpy bathing suit and writhe all over the hood of a Bentley automobile---before taking a bite out of one of the restaurant chain’s new Spicy Burgers.
I saw the commercials when they aired in Cincinnati. While they may have stoked my middle-aged male fantasies about Paris Hilton, they did not make me want the hamburger---which was introduced as an afterthought near the end of the commercial. (I am, of course, assuming here that Paris Hilton is not included with the Spicy Burger).
Moreover, the commercial generated a lot of flak for Carl’s Jr. (see link below) from family watchdog groups and feminists. The management of Carl’s Jr. (or at least the ad agency that the company hired) must have been under the impression that only overly libidinous males eat hamburgers. Otherwise, they would not have used sexual imagery to market one.
Nudity and the News Don’t Mix
Which brings us back to the Naked News. Nudity just doesn’t mix with the serious issues covered in the news. More to the point: I don’t want to be distracted by a disrobing anchorwoman when I am trying to learn about the latest developments on Wall Street or in North Korea.
Here is another way to think about it. Eroticism is sort of like ice cream. It is good in the right doses and in the right time and place. But I wouldn’t particularly want a scoop of ice cream for breakfast, or as a side dish with my steak----or right before my gym workout.
So while the thirteen-year-old boy in me was admittedly titillated by the idea of the Naked News (where was this kind of stuff when I was thirteen?), I don’t think that I will be turning to NN for my news needs.
This is a shame, because several of the network’s correspondents seemed to be making a stab at serious journalism. But despite their youth and winsomeness, I would be able to take them a lot more seriously as journalists if they would leave their clothes on.
Notes:
http://www.theinsideronline.com/celeb/3781/
http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/24/news/newsmakers/carls_ad/