SKEWED vs. SEX

SEX in skirts. SEX in hair. SEX surely shivers in ice cubes and swims through Kahlua, but I never could find it.

When I was in 8^th grade, a teacher showed the class an example of subliminal advertising. The word SEX was spelled out in the fringes of a skirt. Once seen, it couldn’t be unseen. Ever since, I have been on the lookout for subliminal advertising. Despite decades of searching, I never found any examples as blatant as that skirt… until yesterday.

Finally, SEX screamed at me from the wavy locks of a male model’s hair. It was the only word in the ad, aside from the brand name. The ad was for his jacket, but who cared? After all, there was SEX to think about.

Advertisers naturally assume that human brains turn to horny, quavering blobs of Jell-O at the mere mention of SEX; perhaps they’re right. After all, humans are simple creatures. Despite brains so big that our heads are disproportionately large for our bodies, we still respond to any hint of SEX like it’s the fountain of youth and the key to the universe (all of you octogenarian males with hot trophy wives can stop nodding now).

And so I kicked myself when I realized my missed opportunity. I titled my new book SKEWED for reasons both rational and titillating (plus it only eats up six characters on TWITTER). Would it have been so hard for me to call the book SEKWED, with the K disguised as an X? I could have put one of those switcheroo arrows above the E and the K and watched sales skyrocket! But nooo, I gave humans credit for not yanking out their wallets whenever SEX appears in a polyester/cotton blend hem or, even more temptingly, in human hair.

But then, I’m proud I rose above tawdry temptation and kept things aboveboard. Just to clarify, my new book, SKEWED, is not called SEXWED or SEKWED or SEX. And even though it contains some SEX scenes, it is first and foremost a mystery with myriad twists that have very little to do with SEX. I would never want you, the reader, to buy SKEWED because you now associate it with SEX.
       Glad I cleared that up. And if you stumble across any great subliminal advertising out there, please share!

Anne McAneny is the author of five books, including the best-selling mystery, RAVELED.  She wants you to know that her use of the words hard,titillating, yanking, and horny in this post were not meant to suggest SEX, but rather to lend nuance to the post. To check out Anne's new mystery, SKEWED, just click HERE.