There are many types of marketing methods used in business all over the world. There’s word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, traditional one on one marketing - but perhaps the most successful of them all is Curvature Marketing. Never heard of it? That’s because I just made it up, in plain English this would be referred to as show some skin, make some money. That’s the world we live in…

You would be hard pressed to not find some sort of suggestive marketing tactics used in virtually every type of product sale that goes around today. Some marketers do use their creativity, never mind that they also have a product that people are willing to buy, and for that I applaud them. But the overwhelming use of skin to sell products nowadays is just amazing to me. Have our intelligence levels really stooped to such a point where we cannot pay attention unless there is a either a sexually suggestive premise or a scantily dressed woman/man talking, posing or showing a product?

For instance lets look at the recent launch of Mariah Carey’s M fragrance - The commercial leaves little to the imagination. {video slightly NSFW}

Never mind the fact that the official site is also…well, suggestive.{link also slightly NSFW}

It’s not just Mariah, Curvature Marketing is everywhere. From Got Milk Ads to sandals from Gisele Bundchen, you see skin and curves everywhere. I’m not trying to be a moral policeman, I’m just trying to figure out which came first the Chicken or the Egg?

{yes, she’s selling sandals here…somewhere}

Why Does Curvature Marketing Work?

Well for one, we’re a reproductive species. We need another to reproduce, if we reproduced asexually then perhaps we would be to preoccupied with ourselves to be paying attention to others. Marketers thrive on this basic law of creation.

But why is a woman drawn to an ad about perfume, or sandals, promoted by virtually naked women? It’s simple because a woman feels the need to attract the opposite persons attention. She think to herself, “I might feel sensual in this and hopefully someone/my man will notice that”. Ultimately a marketer is looking to strike a chord in the back of your brain, using as many curves as possible, to give you the feeling that this is something that you absolutely need to have, and hopefully feel or look like the model in the ad.

The same goes for men. Masculine ads that show you spraying some cheap Axe deo, which smells horrible to me btw, with hordes of women running and winking after you will give you the impression that you’re a chick magnet. Uh-huh…riiight.

On the other hand, men buy most of the perfume for women. My wife has basically never bought perfume for herself. So there is also the male side that wants their woman to perhaps look like the woman in the ad. Never mind the fact that your mate is probably more beautiful than the model in the ad. I know mine is

Curvature Marketing in Web Design aka Rounded Corners

Most everyone that cares about web design today knows about rounded corners. They are everywhere. It’s made design look more…well, smooth. There are certain elements of sensuality in rounded corners for web design which make it appealing for everyone.

So the next time you glance upon a huge billboard ad sporting Curvature Marketing techniques just know that they’re only selling what comes natural to you. Desire.

I’ll leave you with a good example of Curvature Marketing.

Tch, Tch…Come on Men!

About the author

Hyder has been blogging for the past two years on this blog. He started Weborithm, his web company, in 2007 and along with designing blogs and websites also releases various web related products.