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?
1967 it would not be remarkable to see females as both subservient to men and wearing next to no dress – as saw in the Score advert.
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
Men were spoken to only as the provider and – as a general rule - mentally better than their female partners.
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 man is above all of the women as seen in the image. This could show the connotation of the women being below men at that time period.
- The women reaching out to him connotes that there may be a sense of desire.
- There is a sense of male gaze with the women on the left.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
In 1967 this would be seen normal as the advert connotes the idea of men being superior than a women but in the 2019 the women are now as equal as a man would be.
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?
The score cream advert does have anchorage at the top which is 'get what you've always wanted' this suggests to the male audience that if they use this product they will get what they want which connotes women.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
You can link Laura Mulvey's male gaze to this as that is in the mise-en-scene.
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?
You can link Stuart Hall's theory to this as he suggested the media actively constructs representations of our society rather than reflecting it back. This is clearly being shown that the women and men have a big diversity between them where the men are above the women in everything at that period of time.
David Gauntlett suggested that the audience have more power and the mass media pick and choose for our own identity. This clearly shows the differences at that time period between the two genders.
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 gun is a phallic symbol, the gun represents a male body part. In 1967 homosexuality was decriminalised so that meant any gay relationship was against the law.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
The advert could reflect the colonial past by showing a jungle theme background. This could be a reference to the colonialist values can also be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of an 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'"?
That now that there is more awareness of the female's being treated unequally in the past now in this time period the society is more accepting for a women rather than men. So now the the boy's are in 'crisis' which is increasing.As 'women are increasingly empowered, many men feel increasingly disempowered, accentuating these social problems'.
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
They had a campaign called 'Find your magic', the deodorant brand has told men that it can help them get a girl. Or, as its ads show, several sexy women. Targeting teenagers with this idea has worked well, as sales have increased.
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
That they should 'dare to paint a world where boys like pink, don’t like going out and getting dirty, or aren’t career ambitious, for example'.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
The roles of the male and female in families is becoming more equal or the same. So both the male and female and male roles are changed to an extent.
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?
Fernando Desouches said "that 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".
Campaign: Why brands need to change
Read this Campaign article on Joseph Gelfer and why brands need to change their approach to marketing masculinity. If the Campaign website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the article relates to our work on gender and advertising then answer the following questions:
1) What are two ways advertising traditionally presented masculinity and why does the writer Joseph Gelfer suggest this needs to change?
This is 'either a glamorous James Bond-style masculinity that attracted ‘the ladies’, or a buffoon-style masculinity that was firmly under the wifely thumb'. As this will 'traditional masculinity causes problems, whether it be its impact on men’s wellbeing or on women and their equal representation in society'.
2) What are the five stages of masculinity?
- Stage 1: "unconscious masculinity"- traditional view of men.
- Stage 2: "conscious masculinity"- as above but deliberate.
- Stage 3- "critical masculinity"- feminist: socially constructed.
- Stage 4- "multiple masculinities"- anyone can be anything.
- Stage 5- "beyond maculinities"- it does not exist.
I feel like i am at stage 1 because i have the traditional view of men.
4) What stage of masculinity was the Score advert aiming at in 1967?
5) Why are the stages of masculinity important for companies and advertisers when targeting an audience?
The masculinity is important for companies and advertisers when targeting an audience because this will allow them and let them know what is appropriate for that type of audience and what should or should not be included.
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