Winner of the 2010 Grand Prix for film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial for the Portland ad agency Wieden+Kennedy. Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ads advertising campaign took on a life of its own, spilling into social media and becoming the object of debates. Some media outlets, like CBS News, asked, “Is the Old Spice Guy ‘Post-Racial’ or Just Another ‘Mandingo’?” (Edwards, 2010). These surface readings do not impress when the advertisements are critically interrogated though the lens of critical race and gender theories that draw on Marxist and psychoanalytic themes.
Mustafa is a “dashing, tall, dark and handsome figure with impossible abs, a gleaming smile, and a twinkle in his eyes,” who “possesses an electric charisma and a self-deprecating sense of humor” (Romano, 2010). The ads are full of non-sequiturs, absurd humor, and the usual ribbing about “what a man should be like.” Here is the transcript to the first ad in the series, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” with what is going on in the scene:
Hello, ladies (bathroom with shower running, shirtless, towel wrapped around his waist). Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man (the frame narrows on him, eventually showing him naked from the waist up). Now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me. But if he stopped using lady scented body wash and switched to Old Spice (he holds up a soap covered bottle of Old Spice body wash) he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up. (scene changes to a boat) Where are you? You’re on a boat. (his towel flies off to reveal white boating pants underneath and a blue and white shirt falls from the sky around his neck) With the man your man...
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Old Spice. (2010d, July 7). Boat [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7e_igiPIUI
Old Spice. (2011a, January 20). I’m back [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6iEGzLPjg
Old Spice. (2011b, February 1). Scent vacation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R2cnxz27LI
Old Spice. (2011c, March 3). Fiji [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdkHlCiWRCA
Old Spice. (2011d, March 3). Komodo [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAB9K6dOD9A
Romano, T. (2010, July 18). The Old Spice man’s internet triumph. The Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/07/18/old-spice-guy-post-racial-commercial-genius.html
Storey, J. (2008). Cultural theory and popular culture: an introduction. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.
It’s clear that those advertisements try to make an impact on our buying decisions. We can even say they manipulate viewers by targeting specific group of people or categorizing them so they could have a feeling this product is intended for them or what he or she represents. For instance, they use gender stereotypes. Advertises make use of men and woman appearance or behavior for the sake of making the message memorable. Therefore, most effective and common method is to represent a woman as a sexual object. They are linked with home environment where being a housewife or a mother is a perfect job for the. In other hand men are used more as work done representations. They are associated with power, leadership and efficiency. Those stereotypes make the consumer categorize themselves and reveals the mainstream idea of social status each gender needs to be to fit in and what products they are necessary to have to be part of that
The ad campaign is funny to the point that the commercial is pretty much making fun of itself. The sex appeal is apparent as the bare-chested man sells the product of a man, man. The product name and logo are repeated and shown throughout the entire ad, making repetition a strong selling point. This advertisement is effective because it appeals to a wide audience using humor, sexual appeal, and repetition to sell the product. Women like attractive men, but they also like men who are adventurous, handy, charismatic, and intriguing.
The second thing you notice in this ad is the spokesperson. It’s a nice looking, slim-shaped White lady. She’s dress in a gold short dress and also very pretty. She could attract attention from anybody of any sex or race, but I believe she is try to grab the attention of young white teenage men. I think they are trying to say that if you smoke these cigarettes you could get a woman like the spokesperson in this ad. Some people like things that represent beauty, and that she is, and she also represents the cigarettes. She’s carrying a carton of these Turkish Gold Camel Cigarettes and in a way it looks like she is trying to sell these cigarettes. They also have this glow of light around her and the box cigarettes next to her. Something else I notice is that the lady is dressed in like clothes from the 60’s or 70’s. Although these cigarettes have just hit the market, they try to use the mature look to make you feel like it’s something that’s been around for a while.
In the old spice commercial, the brand is showing that men are just brainless robots and the women are just hyper-sexual individuals. The setting of the commercial is in a nightclub where women are dress in provocative clothes that come off like they are looking for sexual intention from the men. Men are
How is it that the advertisers take our mind from the image on the page to the thoughts that progress in our head? To figure this out let us more closely examine the images, or signs, that have been presented to us. Let us first examine the image of the man in the ad. He is dressed casually "preppie", wearing khakis and a blue, collared shirt. Tucked under his left...
This commercial uses several of the qualities of modern advertisement outlined by James B. Twitchell (1996). The most obvious quality that is employed by this advertisement is the use of the profane. The advertisement not only includes actually profanity with Aubrey cursing and calling out the marketing developers on their questionable choices, it also uses profane humor by poking fun at itself and the idea of a marketing conglomerate throughout the entire commercial. The use of profane
In the past few years, advertisement has changed significantly, and with it bringing many changes to our current society. Susan Bordo, a modern feminist philosopher, discussed in her article “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” how current society has changed starting with Calvin Klein’s advertising campaign that showed men wearing nothing but underwear. Bordo argues how men are becoming the subject of the gaze, just as women were for centuries. This argument of the gaze is especially pronounced in John McTiernan’s film The Thomas Crown Affair, which focuses on two main characters, a man named Thomas Crown, who is a billionaire Manhattan financier, and a woman named Catherine Banning, and insurance investigator who is investigating Crown’s robbery of the 100-million-dollar painting, the “San Giorgio Maggiore Soleil Couchant”. The film addresses Bordo’s modern feminine and masculine gaze to target a wide range of adult audience.
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. ]
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
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 commercials were mainly directed at men. Every single advert glorified masculinity, except one, where a man’s “sensitivity” being referenced as a reason his partner chose to have a relationship with him. This advert depicts a woman at a car dealership, describing her dream car as a “perfect.” Seconds later an attractive man comes to the desk holding a pup...
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
It clearly depicts characteristics of Craig’s men’s men and men’s women. Firstly, the commercial was aired during sports related shows, which a lot of men tend to watch. The lead male in the commercial was muscular and handsome, radiating clear masculinity. He is also has unchallenged freedom since he is not portrayed as being tied down to any responsibility. In addition, Craig states that, “On the other hand, the absence of women must not suggest homosexuality. Men’s men are clearly heterosexual.” His point is that even if there are no women in the commercial, there has to be a clear indicator that the men are not homosexuals. Indicators include that men in ads are heterosexuals are that more than two males are present and the men are introduced as brothers.
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.
...control of the current lives but wants to experience the nostalgia. The “Marlboro Man” did not advertise a life, which could be achieved or reclaimed, but a life that was forever lost. Therefore, the “Marlboro Man” symbolizes white male who resolve to remain stubborn to the changes in society. The visual images, slogans, the gesture and attire of the cowboy symbols presented in “Marlboro Man” ads were designed for white American men who were losing much of their former power in society which discriminated other races migrating in their country. “Marlboro Man” was not merely trying to sell a cigarette to the targeted audience , but an image of an unrecoverable past, sexism, and racism. Furthermore, When the Marlboro Man was introduced; they were able to fulfill their purpose of increasing their sales as there were many more male customers including teenagers.