Sexual-affective education on Instagram: branded content in Spanish sex shops

Abstract

Modern day branded content generates engagement with users and this participation is taking place on social networks. This article uses methodological triangulation to analyze how the most popular Spanish sex shops manage branded content on Instagram and how much importance do they give to sexual education in their communication. It is important to analyze this scope in Spain where the values of Francoist dictatorship continue to survive in certain sectors of society. The results demonstrate that sex shops opt for a communicative model in which the product is relegated to the background, while the dissemination of content on sexual education constitutes the essential element of the branded content.