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fairy-tale provides a ready-made answer for the insomniac question: How to be a man? Beer advertisements achieve that by focusing on physical structure by using the features of cowboys riding horses and performing in roads. It has been mentioned, " the myth of masculinity is manifested in myriad forms of mediated and nonmediated communication; beer commercials are only one such form, and to a large extent. The das merely reflect preexisting cultural conceptions of the man's man" (Craig 36). Male models are shown in clothes commercials to market a suit or a uniform or a casual look. They also appear in underwares' commercials and the most shocking thing by 8.5% percent though women by 3.4% percent (Rubchak 118). What is masculine in acting like
prostitutes? What is masculine in shaving creams, The Gillette MACH3 Turbo and body lotion? What is masculine in drinking Cult Shaker or smoking LM?
Men and women both drive cars, it’s a simple necessity to be able go to work for most people, however, from the commercials on television, one would assume that men are the primary purchasers of cars. In Steve Craig’s essay, Men’s Men and Women’s Women, he analyzes four commercials to illustrate how advertisers strategically targets the viewers. Craig argues that advertisers will grasp the attention of the viewer by the gender ideals that both men and women have of each other. Not only do advertisers pick a target audience demographic, but they also will target the audience at specific time to air their commercials. By analyzing an Audi and Bud Light commercial, one can see that Craig arguments are true to an extent but it appears that commercials have gone from an idealized world to a more realistic and relatable stance. for are still [true, however it seems that commercials may have altered to appear more realistic.] [relevant to an extent. This is to say, it appears that advertisers may have altered their commercial tactics. ]
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
Michael Messner and Jeffrey Montez de Oca explain that contemporary beer ads represent a desirable male lifestyle to reaffirm masculinity in a time when men are insecure. Their essay, “The Male Consumer as a Loser: Beer and Liquor Ads in Mega Sports Media Events,” goes on to list the reasons for their insecurities: historic and cultural shifts such as deindustrialization, declining real value of wages, feminists and sexual minorities. They support their main point by providing a window to the past as beer ads of the 1950s depicted a desirable lifestyle that was appropriate for post war style of living. By following the transitions of beer ads from the 1950s to now, we could follow the accepted lifestyles of the times during which the ad was made.
In 2011, Dr. Pepper 10 released a new ad campaign. Their new commercial’s primary purpose is to present a soda that is both healthy and still “manly.” In doing this, Dr. Pepper addressed a longstanding notion that Diet Dr. Pepper and Dr. Pepper Zero sodas are inherently unmanly. They attempted to reconcile this societal belief by creating a character that is extremely manly and still enjoys their 10 calorie drink. The average man is the target audience. They were hoping that they could target men that may want to drink more healthy beverages while still retaining their manliness. The character that Dr. Pepper creates to target this audience is a Paul Bunyan type. The actor has a long beard, is very rugged looking and shown being rowed down a river by a bear. The commercial is designed to bring back images of Grizzly Adams.
The 2012 Canadian Club Whisky ad uses gender roles attributes in order to persuade possible male consumers into consuming the product by appealing to their sense of masculinity. The goal is to reach men’s pride and lead them to believe that Canadian Club Whisky is capable of “helping” them achieve society’s ideal of a man through images and sentences that remind them of manhood.
When Americans think of masculinity, they often see an unemotional, assertive, and muscular man. This identity is broadcast all over America and young boys and men are soaking it up like sponges. During the Super Bowl every year, companies display commercials that are intended to subconsciously show men how they’re supposed to carry themselves. For instance, in the Miller Lite commercial “Man card”, four friends are at a club when they see their friend sweet talking to a girl in the corner and they proceed to tell him to “Man up”. Also in the next clip the same 3 guys are playing football when they see the other guy riding a scooter and they proceed to tell him what he’s doing is “unmanly”.
We’re all familiar with the stereotypes and myths about what it means to “be a man.” The victorious leader gets what he wants using aggression and does not accept failure; he is smooth with the ladies, and he is often good with a gun. He is usually rich and in control, especially in control of women, like a father who loves his daughter dearly but will be damned if she’s going to go out dressed like that. The list could go on and on with the stereotypes. But the Coen Brothers’ cult-classic film, The Big Lebowsk (1998), with its hero “The Dude,” contradicts these notions of masculinity. The Coen brothers offer several familiar stereotypes of masculinity (the Vietnam vet, the successful capitalist, an oversexed bowler, some aggressive German nihilists), yet it is these characters that throughout the film are shown to be absurd, insecure, and even impotent. It is these stereotype men that the Coen brothers criticize. “Sometimes there’s a man,” says the narrator over and over again, pointing out the Dude’s non-stereotypical masculinity as the true representation of what it means to be a man. The brothers then illustrate that the men who give no thought to their identity, who ignore the pressure to conform to cultural expectations, are to be regarded as “real men.”
Professors Carrie Packwood and Debra Merskin, authors of the essay “Having It His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food Advertising”, repudiate the stereotypical macho behaviors that are used in several commercials to build a reputation for men while women are used as objects. Media use this stereotype to sell nearly every product; being fast food, beer, and cars on top of the list. Furthermore, Packwood and Merskin claim that advertisement present men, compared to women, as superior individuals with total freedom who see women as prizes. The perfect macho type is a strong resource to sell beer; the Tui beer commercial “Temptations can be dangerous, stay focused” applied this stereotype, where men are on the spotlight and women
Identity is a subject commonly discussed within literature. In William Farrell’s essay entitled “Men as Success Objects” this subject is the object of much scrutiny. Farrell analyzes the role of gender in today’s society and states that male identity is in a condition where male insecurities about success, their appearance, and females have left most men in today’s society in dire straights. Compounded by prevailing ultra-feminist ideals, society has become saturated by the “men are jerks” mentality. This condition can be seen in various aspects of society such as commercials, television programs, even greeting cards (Farrell, 186). While some may not agree with his opinions on the state of male identity, Farrell uses a number of rhetorical strategies and literary devices such as an objective point of view, an intellectual tone, and appeals to both logos and ethos in order to effectively convey belief that men are treated as “success objects” in today’s society.
Advertisements have been utilized for many years to sell products. The very popular company Old Spice, who is one of the top men’s hygienic production companies, is well known for their series of humorous advertising campaigns that uses references to the ideals of what a stereotypical masculine man is supposed to be characterized as. The Old Spice commercial, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” that first appeared during the Superbowl in 2010, illustrates that the company successfully utilizes the influence of humor, gender stereotypes, and ethos and pathos to connect emotionally with the audience and persuades men to start using Old Spice Red Zone body wash so that insecure men can become more of a masculine man that females will desire.
This essay will attempt briefly to argue the damages and benefits of how advertising shapes women's gender identity. First of all, gender identity, sometimes referred to as an individual’s psychological sex. It has been defined as the "fundamental, existential sense of one’s maleness or femaleness" (Spence 1984, p. 83).There are many types of advertisements that might form women gender personality for instance: smoking, drinking, weight and thinness and other supporting sorts that keep women in line trying to be good-looking and fashionable. Many advertisements portray women as just body parts or in a submissive stature to extra use subliminal meaning as reinforcement for male domination.... ...
The Paco Rabanne Invictus fragrance for men advert, published in 2013, seems to portray how a modern male should appear: strong, muscular, and heavily tattooed while women are perceived as relationship-oriented, and eye-candies: a lightweight drapery hides their private parts whilst revealing their forms. Thus, it reinforces gender stereotypes. As Buying Into Sexy points out sex sells, and people tend to be heavily exposed to adds as well as “music videos that feature plenty of sexual innuendo”. That is why humongous corporations “(create) a certain environment of images that we grow up in and that we become used to (in order to) shape what we know and what we understand about the world”, states Justin Lewis in Mickey Mouse Monopoly. So, how is the ideology of masculinity represented throughout this ad? The warrior-esque man is physically desirable, and irresistible to women. Even though the audiences are aware of the existed hyperbole, they might focus on the experienced feelings of smelling good.
The portrayals of men in advertising began shifting towards a focus on sexual appeal in the 1980s, which is around the same that women in advertising were making this shift as well. According to Amy-Chinn, advertisements from 1985 conveyed the message that “men no longer just looked, they were also to be looked at” as seen in advertisements with men who were stripped down to their briefs (2). Additionally, advertisements like these were influencing society to view the male body “as an objectified commodity” (Mager and Helgeson 240). This shows how advertisements made an impact on societal views towards gender roles by portraying men as sex objects, similarly to women. By showcasing men and women in little clothing and provocative poses, advertisements influenced society to perceive men and women with more sexual
In the essay “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” author and philosopher Susan Bordo discusses the history and current state of male representation in advertisements. While using her feminist background, Bordo compares and contrasts the aspects of how men and women are portrayed in the public eye. She claims that there has been a paradigm shift the media with the theory that not just women are being objectified in the public eye, but also men too. Since the mid-1970s, with the introduction of Calvin Klein commercials, men have started to become more dehumanized and regarded as sex symbols. In a similar fashion to how Bordo describes gender, race plays a similar role in the media. People of all different ethnicities and cultures are being categorized into an oversimplified and usually unfair image by the media over basic characteristics.
Young men who drink beer were typically seen as the wild and crazy party type. But, Guinness took this mainstream ideology and tried to shed a much more appealing and uplifting light onto it. The heart-warming and tear-jerking ad is slowly beginning to change the stereotype that was once created many years ago. Guinness most definitely shows that men who drink beer are not only manly, but can be sensitive, sympathetic, and supportive all at the same time.