From Sex to Weird

It's come to perspective recently that media is making is slow drive away from sex. It used to be that everything was sold on that concept. Provocative ads featuring loosely clothed men and women was too common for generally moderated people's comfort. Even though, at the same time, in the back of their minds, their desires were poked at, aroused, and taken out. Openly, I think they were against it. But everyone was moved by it. Regardless of the direction.

For a while, it was exciting. People covered their eyes with open fingers. Sex appeal was the sensual cruise liner on the popular ocean of successful marketing and media. Everyone was along for the ride (as everyone usually is anyway). Advertisers, magazine editors, and even television shows used the "sex" concept to reel in the smaller fish. This concept wasn't old either. It just hadn't been done on such a wide general scale, and it was so available. In many ways, it was forced. Everyone pushed the limits.

Yesterday, something struck me. Things have changed drastically in five years time. All aspects of media have been affected, but I think the most interesting one, is the underlying approach and idea that is more commonly used today. It might've helped that I stayed away from American Media for so long, and was exposed to South America's slightly underdeveloped sense of design and media concept. It might've also helped that my perspective isn't limited by timelines or mediums. It might've also helped that Glee approached the issue, and that Brian told Stewie he was "going soft" in the latest episode of the edgy, weird, and inappropriate Family Guy. Media is sailing out from Sexport, and into "strange" waters.

Watching this year's Super Bowl Ads show us that the general populace is more recently impressed by weird, random, and edgy ads. People no longer get excited by sex in advertising. At least not as much as they used to. Sex is sophisticated. It's private. It's sacred. People feel degraded by sensual commercials, and disgusting innuendos in television shows. Those who still push provocative ideas, still incorporate that dry humor that is void of any justification. It's amazing, and it's refreshing. America's sense of humor and good taste is sophisticating itself, and I like it. We're all taking a more natural and wholistic approach, focusing on greater and more though-out ideas. Even though their weird. America sure is better than when I left it.