The Role Of Hyper-Masculinity In Advertising

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

Society faces an issue that is not usually addressed because it is seen as the norm in today’s American culture. It is the crisis of masculinity. The notion of how men should be portrayed is not usually identified as a problem; today’s society views men’s apathetic and exasperated exterior as the orthodox behavior of everyday life. Boys at a young age are taught by the popular culture that they need to be a “real man” - strong physically and emotionally. The mask many men put up is based on the extreme idea of masculinity that emphasizes toughness, physical strength and gaining the respect of others through violence or the explicit threat of it. This front is put up by men because they do not want to stray from what is accepted, for men who

Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men

Michael Kimmel and Jean Kilbourne both set out to show how culture and cultural myths shape the roles that women and men play in personal relationships. Michael Kimmel is the author of “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code” which was written in 2008. Kimmel gives an analysis on the code of masculinity that guys are expected to follow. He does this by providing examples of the rites and values that are given to young men that are passed down through generations. Jean Kilbourne is the author of “Two Ways A Women Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” which was written in 1999. Kilbourne argues that ads affect individuals in profound and damaging ways. Kimmel’s analysis of American masculinity shows that boys from an early age are told to control their emotions, do not submit to weakness, and that to become a man they must suppress all the feelings that are associated with the maternal. Kilbourne gives examples of how certain ads shows violence and dehumanization of women which can lead to sexual aggression.

Overall, society constructs masculinity verbally and visually. It begins early in the adolescent stage with toy images and advertisement to appeal to boys. It defines masculinity and constructs their key role and body image. The components to influence masculinity are strongly implied by the meaning of masculinity to be strong, stern, and independent. Children’s toys carry small masculinity, but as the child ages the definition will be more

Male gender roles in contemporary media that are negatively portrayed through masculinity greatly effects the physical, psychological, and behavioral image of men. The social construct of masculinity in society and its relationship to males is generally reflected in male media consumption. The popular concept of women’s feminine image in the media is vastly overshadowed and more predominantly acceptable in subtle society in comparison to male’s image of masculinity.

The media today makes us have a skewed vision of our own bodies from the use of masculinity and femininity for the fast-food’s advertisement. According to the article, “Having It His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food TV Advertising” by Carrie Packwood Freeman and Debra Merskin argue that fast-food advertisement today continuously uses human sexuality for their buying and selling, causing the viewer feelings craving for consumer products. This ad Carl’s Jr, Burger King confirms Freeman and Merskin’s argument that fast-food ads today commonly reinforce “heteronormative, sex-role stereotypes” (456). While television adverting of fast food is an easy target for criticism, we still feel it is important, how meat is culturally constructed

Media places the belief that anything that challenges masculinity or goes against the “ideal masculinity” is in fact not masculine at all. This creates the belief that anything associated with femininity is not to be associated with masculinity. Society teaches boys that showing emotion is for girls, not always being tough makes you weak and less of man, and that certain feelings, ideas, and activities are off limits because they aren’t deemed manly enough. What society is really teaching our boys and men is that being yourself is never okay or enough if it anything outside of the set masculine norm. We create an entire gender to be what is expected of them and never their true selves, damaging their self-identity before it can begin to

Taking the popular Old Spice commercials as an example, the public is metaphorically beaten over the head with the idea that the narrator ## is a “man” because he is physically fit, he has a deep voice, and holds no associations with what would be considered an effeminate male. He is typically depicted in a shower, nude from the waist up, and continuously talking to an understood female viewer and target market, telling them that he is desirable and insinuating that he is what the men in their life need to be. These advertisements suggest that to be desirable a man should look, talk, act, and essentially be the narrator and that all they need to do so is to purchase and use Old Spice products. The idea the level of physical fitness is common amongst American men is extremely

The main traits of this would be sexual attitude towards women, the belief that violence is the only way to fix things and the experience of danger is exciting. Certain things like war, Sports , sexual music videos all take a huge part in this. Society feeds are mind with these false ideas that this is the only way to become man and we fall for it every time. Music artist and sports athletes have the biggest part in hyper masculinity. In the music industry they try sell that the only way you're going to get girls is unless you have money and you act like a dick girls will like you as well as that girls have to wear skimpy outfits and do what ever a man says. However in sports they try to sell that you're not a man if you're not this tall or this muscular. On top of that both of these 2 main traits both specifically show that you can call your self man if you're not the dominant one. Society gives false hope that if you do all these things you can become man. Social media app like twitter, Instagram ,Facebook are making things worse. Their constant pictures being posted that display hyper masculinity and there is no way we can stop it. Pictures are being posted every second as well things are being tweeted and posted on Twitter and

Boys and young men are often being urged to be manly. Advertisement always makes men look strong and handsome, as opposed to lanky and unattractive. Our society affects men in a way that women wouldn’t understand. Women think that men have it easy all the time but do they really? They face issues just like women do. A central issue facing boys and young men is that they are forced into being sporty, dull-witted, and physically appealing.

How does advertising use of gender effect our views of males as consumers in the auto industry? Auto advertisements, specifically truck advertisements, use an all-male platform from the voice describing the truck, the physique of the male looking at or driving the truck, to the male purchasing the truck from another male, thus leading us to the great assumptions that males are the consumers of the vehicle being advertised. This assumption that men are the consumers of trucks begins at a very young age. As David Buckingham stated in Childhood in the Age of Global Media “…this is a very pink and blue market” (46) With this type of advertising beginning at such a young age, it is easy to see how advertisements in the auto industry, specifically

Masculinity, a seemingly simple concept. Yet, when examined more closely, it is clear that masculinity is constantly changing in its definition as well as in its most basic essence. Throughout the years, one can see this evolution firsthand by looking back at the men who have been portrayed in popular media in the United States of America. From the suave Don Draper types of the 1950s to the more casual, educated, and easygoing men- with perfectly chiseled abs, of course- that are portrayed in media today, the difference is clear. This drastic, yet unsurprising, shift in ideals, as well as the exponential increase of media consumed every day, has led to a change in how “masculinity” is perceived, as well as how it is enforced by society in the modern day. Alarmingly, this trend has led to the birth of so-called “toxic masculinity”, a bastardization of the original ideas behind masculinity which has created an enormous, detrimental effect on society as a whole. As defined in the article The Difference Between Toxic Masculinity and Being a Man, toxic masculinity is “manhood as defined by violence, sex, status, and aggression. It’s the cultural ideal of manliness, where strength is everything… where sex and brutality are yardsticks by which men are measured,” (O’Malley) This is a clearly displayed truth, and it’s astounding to see how even from a young age boys are taught not to show emotions other than anger, conditioned to believe that being “like a girl” is the worst possible

Family being one of the biggest influences ‘from the moment an infant is born and wrapped in a blue or pink blanket’ . Straight away just by the colour choice of a blanket we are ushered into masculine or feminine hegemonic notions depending on our biological sex. In education, ‘a preschool boy may be ridiculed for playing with dolls, and young girls may be steered away from activities considered too physically rough’ . This displays gender roles and the typical hegemonic notions of masculinity and femininity already being put into action at a tender age. Notions of masculinity and femininity are just the start, further from this gender expectations are broken down into binary oppositions ‘society is patriarchal to the degree that it promotes male privilege by being male dominated, male identified and male centred. It is also organised around an obsession with control and involves as one of its key aspects the oppression of women’ . Here the binary opposites forwarded are that men are to take on a dominant role and women are to be submissive. A patriarchal society is one controlled by men, this is what we are currently ruled by. Patriarchy is then maintained through mediation - the role the media plays on our enculturation to the meanings and values in society is massive. This stereotypical way women are depicted in the media is very adverse ‘virtually every media

The roles of males and females in society have significantly changed, as opposed to the predominant roles in our history. In the modern culture of today, women have begun to break out of the mold that which society has placed her in. This much can’t be said when it comes to modern gender representation in mass media advertising. It can be safe to state that woman are seen as sexual, fragile, exotic—whereas men are portrayed as tough, in control, and aggressive. This trend can be one seen as an inhibitor to the advancement of our culture, because especially for women, it is hard to pull away from the stereotypes that are continuously represented. As examples of the given trend, the following