Today in class, when the guest speaker was showing us all those different commercials, I was thinking to myself if there were any other commercials that I have seen that emasculate men? Then I thought about male products that advertisers try to sell. Advertisers main goal is to get men to see that they will be a "real man" if they use the product they are advertising. On the other hand, if they don't buy this product, then they will be a girly man until they decide to change their mind and buy whatever it is that is being advertised. I found a commercial that is advertising Old Spice body wash.
In this commercial the man persuading viewers to buy this body wash is an extremely muscular and built man. He has the physique of a "real man" which is why I think it has a more effective argument as to why the men viewing should buy this product. If he was a scrawny, weak man, I don't think it would have the same effect. In the commercial the man even says things like: "anything is possible when you're man smells like Old Spice and not a lady." By this quote he is implying that if you are a man and you aren't using Old Spice body wash than you aren't a real man and you smell like a girl. This type of implication can be very insulting to a man, especially one that takes pride in his manliness. There are many commercials out there that emasculate men; this just happens to be one of the many.
I think this commercial is an excellent example of emasculating men. Not only does the ad promote that using their product will make you more of a man, but the man's body type is muscular. His body type suggests strength, as well as using the product will make you more "masculine". A strong body type is often used to portray masculinity as well, so his body type helps to enhance the ad.
ReplyDeleteHe's also a very confident man which I think all guys try to be like. You can't take your eyes off of him because he keeps saying "look at me" and I think some men might think to themselves after viewing this commercial, "If I buy Old Spice Body Wash I'll be as confident as this dude". You can tell that this commercial is purposely over the top but it still draws you in and catches your attention. Nice choice morg.
ReplyDeleteOld Spice is not shy about what they're trying to say in their commercials. I'm sure you've seen the ones with NFL linebacker of the Balitmore Ravens Ray Lewis. In one of them, he says the line, "Men want to be me, women want to be with me..." So I guess to be a future Hall of Fame linebacker in the NFL, and have fame and fortune, all I need is some Old Spice on me, huh. (Of course, I say this while shaking my head and looking over at my Old Spice deodorant stick sitting in my room... =)
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