The Male Gender as a Performance in Beer Advertisements Essay

Since the emergence of advertising in American culture one thing that has remained constant is the visible truth that men and women are portrayed differently. In consideration to the evolution of man kind gender roles have evolved immensely throughout time, although advertisements have not kept up with this process of evolution. Companies to this day use their tactics and skills to reach out to specific genders such as pretty fonts with a stylish message, while advertisements towards men portray the character as strong and intimidating. The typical viewer can easily spot the difference in the portrayal of genders. Men are portrayed this way because the viewers look up to these characters, they want to be

In the article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender,” the author, Aaron Devor, is trying to convince his audience that gender shapes how we behave and relate to one another. He does this by using an educational approach, describing gender stereotypes, and making cultural references. These rhetorical devices serve his larger goal of getting readers to reflect on how their childhoods formed their genders. “Maleness and femaleness seem “natural,” not the product of socialization.” (Devor 527) Throughout his article, he makes us wonder whether or not gender is recognized through socializing.

Our gender has an effect on every aspect of our lives, varying from how we view ourselves and other people to how we interact in social and civic life. It also impacts the way we set our goals in opportunity areas such as education, work, and recreation. Gender socialization starts at birth then manifests through family, education, peer groups, and mass media. Gender norms are automatically placed on us, where women should learn how to be nurturing, sensitive, emotional, passive, and always hold a man’s position higher than hers. On the other hand men should be overly confident, aggressive, dominant, and view women beneath them. This paper uses various readings to show how these gender norms are supported and challenged in today’s society.

Both Deborah Blum’s The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over? and Aaron Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” challenges the concept of how gender behavior is socially constructed. Blum resides on the idea that gender behavior is developed mainly through adolescence and societal expectations of a gender. Based on reference from personal experiences to back her argument up, Blum explains that each individual develops their expected traits as they grow up, while she also claims that genes and testosterones also play a role into establishing the differentiation of gender behavior. Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and

In the vast majority of advertisements, beer is positioned as an alcoholic beverage for men, and more specifically, heterosexual men. Oftentimes, beer commercials seem as though they are selling “testosterone juice.” The commercials look like a hop-fueled fraternity parties replete with sexually objectified women. Pitchmen include the “most interesting man in the world,” male sports celebrities and every day “bros.” The most gender-balanced beer commercials are parties on beaches where women are guests, but not portrayed as the primary consumers of beer. Recently, Amy Schumer, alongside Seth Rogen, broke the glass ceiling by serving as the spokesperson for Bud Light Beer. But what about other marginalized groups? Earlier this year, Heineken released a commercial for Heineken Light featuring openly gay actor Neal Patrick Harris. Heineken Light’s “Neil Patrick Harris & the Grill Master” both reflects and resists hegemonic norms of sexuality through the juxtaposition of the two actors’ characterizations. Neil Patrick Harris represents homosexual men in a way that does not reflect or reinforce gay stereotypes. His sexuality is not made obvious through his behavior, as his lines are served in a deadpan manner. Instead, his gayness is revealed through the sexual innuendo in his dialogue. On the other hand, the “grill master” is the picture of heterosexual masculinity, both in his grilling and his subtle fear of homosexuality. Overall, the commercial is representative of the divide

In the article from the 2016 book, Rereading AMERICA: Cultural Context For Critical Thinking And Writing by Aaron H. Devor titled “Becoming Members of Society,” Devor illustrates what it means to become a member of society based off learning their gender identity. Based on attributes that are identified with a type of gender offers insight into the social meaning of gender. Societies base gender off on characteristics identified with “masculinity” or “femininity” instead of sex characteristics. The general idea of the social meaning of gender is that men are the dominant ones, while women should be delicate and dependent on a man. The way society bases a gender is off of a body’s demeanor or tone of voice, which creates a false illusion to

Many people confuse the definition of gender and sex. “Gender, on the other hand, refers to the meanings, values, and characteristics that people ascribe to different sexes. Sex is a biological concept, determined on the basis of individual 's primary sex characteristics.” (Blackstone) Society gives social cues on the appropriate behavior for each sex. For example, women are to exert more feminine traits such as being dependent, emotional, passive, innocent, nurturing, and/or self-critical. On the contrary, men should be more

Candance West and Don Zimmerman are the authors of “Doing Gneder” that was published in ‘Gender Society; on 1987. The point that the authors were trying to get accros in “Doing Gender” was that people fullfille their ‘gender’ just like any other rutine that people do in their life. It is hard for people to avoind ‘doing gneder’ becae it is almost a never ending activity. We do gender each and everyday to where we are onlivion to it. We step into our gender unknowingly while we are interacting and socializing. Children learn frm a ver yound age how to do gender. From a young age girls care about things like lip glass. The little girls associate wearing lip gloss with looking prettier. We make sure that they know how to be a ‘boy’ and ‘girl’. Gender is not at all who we are and it is not our identity. Gender is a mask that we put on when we face others. We don’t act in public like we act when we are alone. Just as stated in “Doing Gender” by Creative Sociololy, “It Is a product of social interaction… production…..A social construction. “ We do gender to avoind being judged by others. A man takin on the characteristics of a femal and vise versa is risky. As stated in the article “Doing Gender”, “…behave outside the boundres…risk…judge harshly…” Society treats the individuals who break the statues quote unfairly becase they are challenginf the system. There is a raise of unequal distribution of power by every person who participates in doing gender. Whne you compare men and

In Craig's article, the author explores how advertising views men and women as separate consumer markets and appeals to both of them at separate times. Gender roles are heavily influential when creating commericials for each respective market. Craig details this through an analysis of beer ads

In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.

An advertisement for alcohol marketed to Latino/a population was easy to find. The example shown below is a commercial of Corona Light targeting middle-aged drinkers rather than young drinkers that are in their twenty’s. The stereotypes reinforced in this advertisement is that middle-aged drinkers are more relaxed and responsible than young drinkers. For instance, the advertisement portrays this stereotype by featuring a middle-aged man who is relieved to be walking through a bar looking at a hot, brunette woman who happened to be his wife. There is no dating involved or trying to be comfortable in the bar because the atmosphere is set at a comfortable mood already. In addition, the significance of these stereotypes used in the advertisements

The authors suggest that gender identity transitions through various stages much like cognitive development. As children age from toddler toward more maturity into adolescence they move from less gender awareness towards a complete awareness of differences in sexual make up. Typically many of us have been socialized to participate in groups, dress and play with toys that are gender specific. Some examples that explain this is the way in which we bring babies home from the hospital. Girls are dressed in pink and boys are dressed in blue. This continues

Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by many elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood followed by adolescence. One major societal issue uprising with the way children are raised in today’s society is the gender specific dressing for boys and girls. The history with gender specific dressing is a one sided masculine enforced point of view for centuries. As children move through childhood and into adolescence, they are exposed to many factors which influence their behaviors and attitudes regarding gender roles. It is difficult for a child in today’s society to grow to adulthood without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping. The question lies whether the view of gender specific dressing shall change or stay the same. As society continues to evolve and grow so does the tolerance of new uprising views for the general purpose of equality and freedom to do as pleased. Children regularly learn to adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. These attitudes and behaviors are generally learned first in the home but then reinforced by their environment, school experience, and media viewing. Nonetheless, the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting. Culture, values, and beliefs are the parents early role for passing on, both overtly

Representations of men in media have a different approach—they tend to focus on strength, power, physique, independence, etc… The first ad portrays a clearly athletic, strong, male individual. His expression is one of determination and focus—He’s not going to let anyone get in his way. He is aggressive, and overflowing with testosterone. It is unclear what the product is, something to do with athletic performance. The next image is fitted with the caption “Always A Champion”, making it simple to realize this ad is all about the male ego. This man has a very intimidating expression, one of strength and—almost anger. His positioning shows off his clearly muscular arms and his aura is almost overpowering. In both images, the idea that a true man should be strong, aggressive, etc… is presented. For any normal male individual viewing this ad, he would feel like that is what he should be—if he was a “real man”.

Marilyn Monroe, Marlboro Man, Hugh Heffner, Pamela Anderson, and The Rock are all examples of the society of idols whom the American public has looked up to in various media forms. In today’s society there are many gender and social stereotypes that remain a prevalent part of the advertising tactics of the media. In the particular ad that I have chosen are examples of gender stereotypes that I would like to analyze and discuss using Douglas Kellner’s article “Advertising Images”. Kellner states that the tobacco industry in both the past and present use subliminal messages with the intention of portraying lifestyles and choices to the American public. Cigarette ads in particular, Kellner argues, “contribute to identity formation in