Chris Lee of the "Los Angeles Times" called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, ""Transformers" broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as "Maxim"s Hot 100 lists and when "FHM" readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. "People" named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in "Transformers" because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of "Men's Health" also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.