Monday, February 6, 2012

Media Will Make a MAN Out of You

Today in class we talked about how the media constructs and sways the opinions the public. With the super bowl just passing, I thought about all the commercials that send subliminal messages to TV watchers.


What I came to realize was that commercials, as well as media in general, inadvertently send a lot of gender stereotype messages through their advertisements. For example, the Old Spice commercials are very popular commercials that specifically outline what it takes to be a man.

In the Old Spice Body Wash commercials, the "Old Spice Man" is half- clothed, very muscular, and has a deep seductive voice. He then lists all the things a man could smell like if he used Old Spice Body Wash. For example, Old Spice Man addresses the "ladies" and says, "Do you want a man who smells like he can bake you a gourmet cake in the dream kitchen he built you with his own hands?"

Even though this commercial is funny, it implies that only manly men do things like build kitchens with their "own hands" and smell like "adventure" (<- later mentioned in the commercial). Whether this advertisement means to or not, it sends a message to its viewer about the ideal man. Boys across America look at this commercial and assume they have to fit this rugged outline. But we all know the media goes well beyond commercials. Action movies, models, TV shows, and other advertisements all spend millions of dollars enforcing this manly mold.

So is this what a "man" is? Or is it what Americans want men to be?

1 comment:

  1. I think this is part of the perception of what being a "man" means to Americans and to the rest of the world. Obviously, the majority of the male population does not adhere to these high standards of having a low voice, muscles, and a motorcycle. However, those are the standards set by various media outlets in our society and men are left to try and achieve them.

    I don't think this is what America wants men to be. I think this is what men want men to be. The commercial plays on the stereotypes already in place in our society. These stereotypes and standards of "manliness" have changed a little bit throughout the course of history, but mostly they've stayed the same. This commercial is simply playing on the values already in place in our society.

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