Should Developers Use Unclothed Women’s Body to Sell Apartments?

It is common to see images of women in bikinis in adverts for products that mainly target male buyers such as wine or a car. However, to sell homes, the best come-ons would be photos of the model units of an architect's perspective such as this illustration.

However, CPM Realty, a Sydney-based developer, opted for a more risqué advertising concept by using the image of an unclothed woman. The photo, seen below, would likely be considered artistic by many people because of the form as well as no private parts of the female anatomy are seen, only a lot of skin.

Definitely, it would not fall in any description of pornography. However, while treading the fine line between art and commercialism, the use of such image may raise some ethical issues because of the product being endorsed.

When asked about their use of the nude female form to sell homes, Sam Elbanna of CPM Realty, explained to Courier Mail, "Our marketing campaign decided the building would be very beautiful and wanted to reflect that with a beautiful female body ... People looking for developments online are looking for something a little bit out there."

The building that Mr Elbanna was referring to is this one below, to be built on Elizabeth St. and slated for completion in August 2014.

The use of a naked female form is also being questioned in view of property sales in the area being quite good with median values for apartments actually zooming 28.6 per cent in the last five years while gross rental yield is 5.6 per cent, according to RP Data.

In fact, the two-bedroom units of this East Central development has been sold out and the only remaining unsold units are the three-bedroom penthouses that have beginning price tags of $1.25 million.

CPM actually has on its side the Advertising Standards Bureau which views non-sexualised nudity as not breaking Australia's advertising standards code.

"There have been no complaints, but probably an ad with a completely naked woman, we would expect people to have concerns," said Advertising Standards Bureau CEO Fiona Jolly.