Complete the following tasks and wider reading on the Score hair cream advert and masculinity in advertising.
Media Factsheet - Score hair cream
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
"ads attempted to win over consumers with humour, candour and, above all, irony."
"Print ads took on a realistic look, relying more on photography than illustration"
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
In the UK, advertising in the post-war period was characterised by campaigns that very effectively reinforced that idea that a woman’s place was in the home.
Through advertising, women were encouraged to return to domestic life and resume their subservience to men.
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?
-The jungle dressing of the set as well as the white explorer man suggests Britain's colonial past
-The scantily clad women give sex appeal to the advert and boldly suggest users of the product will also have sexy women holding them
-The women are physically below the man as a metaphor for their place in society
4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?
"identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’"
Meaning they suggest you can also be the hero through buying the product.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
The gender representation in this advert would have been hegemonic in society during 1967, therefore having little negative backlash would have been expected.
However, in 2019, gender representation has widely changed since the 60s. The reception of this ad would be increasingly negative for holding traditional views over masculinity.
6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?
It uses advert conventions such as slogans and anchorage text to promise the audience a better life through purchase of the product.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Using Judith Butler's 'Gender as performance', it can be analysed that the women are all traditionally feminine and attractive, showing skin for the male viewers. Their gender representation has been constructed to perform what most men viewing the advert would want most: enamored woman slaves.
8) How could Stuart Hall's theory of representation and David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?
The media constructed a hypermasculine representation of men as the legalization of homosexuality shook hetero-normative values. This evolved the idea of masculinity a great bit.
9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?
The media constructed a hypermasculine representation of men as the legalization of homosexuality shook hetero-normative values. It's very heteronormative.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
It's a nod to Britain's true power! The advert is clearly trying to force a power dynamic into play, where the white British male is on top by using the product, much like in the good old days of the empire.
Wider reading
The Drum: This Boy Can article
Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:
1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
As we focus on empowering women, men are falling behind and their representation has not been as viciously updated over the years.
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
As Lynx/Axe found when it undertook a large-scale research project into modern male identity, men are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a ‘successful’ man in 2016, and to relieve the unrelenting pressure on them to conform to suffocating, old paradigms. This insight led to the step-change ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign from the former bad-boy brand.
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
Campaigner David Brockway, who manages the Great Initiative’s Great Men project, urges the industry to be “more revolutionary”, particularly when it comes to male body image, which he says is at risk of following the negative path trodden by its female counterpart.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing – but advertising is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal.
5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?
This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad] are attractive. Now we have our platform and our point of view, we can break the man-bullshit and show it doesn’t matter who you want to be, just express yourself and we will support that.
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