Blog task: Score advert and wider reading

Blog task: Score advert and wider reading

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?

Advertising agencies in the 1960s relied less on market research and leaned more toward creative instinct in planning their campaigns. “Eschewing portrayals of elitism, authoritarianism, reverence for institutions and other traditional beliefs, ads attempted to win over consumers with humour, candour and, above all, irony.

2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?

Women were objectified in adverts and they were portrayed as vulnerable and 'things' that men owned.

3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?

4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?

The Score advert identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’ in this narrative. The image infers that he is ‘exulted’ as the hunter-protector of his ‘tribe’. The adoration – and availability – of the females are his reward for such masculine endeavours. This has a clear appeal to the target audience of (younger) males who would identify with the male and aspire to share the same status bestowed on him. The idea of women being sexually available and falling at the feet of a man is echoed in the long running series of Lynx deodorant commercials that ran for the greater part of the early twentieth century.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?

In 1967, the audience would see the advert as normal however, in 2019 they may be more sensitive towards this advert because women are being objectified and they look like all they've got to worry about is finding the right man.

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 male in the advert has got a gun with him which is a prop and a phallic symbol that reinforces the strength of a man. In terms of mise-en-scene, the costume that the females are wearing in the poster is a short skirt and crop top which is sexualised. The setting that this advert has taken place is a jungle which reinforces the post colonial context. One of the females in the advert is staring at the camera which makes the audience feel as if she is staring at them. This is the male gaze which tells the audience that if they use the hair cream, they will be able to pull girls.

7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?

Lisbet Van Zoonen was one of the first theorists to explicitly link gender, feminism and media studies. Writing since the 1990s, Van Zoonen is a key figure in the third wave feminism alongside theorists such as Butler and McRobbie. Van Zoonen was interested in the pleasures female audiences took from women's magazines that were heavily criticised by more radical 1970s style feminist.

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?

David Gauntlett disagrees with the popular view that masculinity is 'in crisis'. This can be applied to the score cream advert because clearly the male is being praised and he has got a gun in his hand. The man is also surrounded by females which reinforces masculinity is not in crisis.

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)?

A representation of sexuality that can be found is that the male is clearly happy in the poster and he is being carried by females who are wearing short skirts and crop tops.

10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?


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'"?

The writer suggests that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'" because people are unlikely to talk about the issues men face and if anything, men are told to 'man up' and deal with any issue with confidence themselves. The reality is that men have committed suicide more than women and are more likely to drop out of school and get involved in crime and drugs.

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"?

David Brockway would want advertisers to present men doing typical things a female is stereotyped to do and vice versa so gender is totally 'reinvented'.

4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?

Lynx/Axe admits it had been relying on assumptions before its repositioning. It was only when sales growth slowed that the brand decided to invest in some proper research.

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?


“Women have feminism. But men don’t even know they are sick. This is why we need to put men alongside women, not move them to the side to give room to women. Both genders need to be in the centre.”

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?

Joseph Gelfer says that masculinity was mostly presented in one of two ways: either a glamorous James Bond-style masculinity that attracted ‘the ladies’, or a buffoon-style masculinity that was firmly under the wifely thumb. 

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 Masculinities" - Feminist, socially constructed.
Stage 4: "Multiple Masculinities" - Anyone can be anything.
Stage 5: "Beyond Masculinities" - It doesn't exist.

3) What stage of masculinity do you feel you are at in terms of your views of gender and identity? You can read more about the five stages of masculinity here.

To be honest, I'd say most of us are stage 1: Unconscious Masculinity however, we'd tried to keep genders balanced and equal (Stage 4/5)

4) What stage of masculinity was the Score advert aiming at in 1967?

The score advert was aiming at Stage 1: "Traditional view of men"

5) Why are the stages of masculinity important for companies and advertisers when targeting an audience?

If the companies and advertisers are directly targeting Stage 1 (The traditional view of men) it may cause some controversy which can lead people to not buying the product/service that is being advertised. 

Representation of women in advertising

Blog tasks: Representation of women in advertising

The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.

Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising

Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

Mistry suggests that since the mid 1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which gender and sexual orientation of the subjects are markedly ambiguous. 

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?


Soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate. Looking at women's magazines in the 1950s, Betty Friedan (1963) claims this led to the creation of the 'feminine mystique': 'the highest value and the only real commitment for women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity. Women begun becoming more objectified.

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

The increasing influence of clothes and make-up changed the representation of women in advertising because it showed that the women were only in the adverts for the way they looked. If they were pretty they'd be presented in the advert.

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

Laura Mulvey's (1975) theory of the 'male gaze' is important here; she contends that scopophilia (the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings) has been 'organised' by society's patriarchal definition of
looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female 'passivity'. Male power means that any social representation of women is constructed as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

From the mid-1970s there was a proliferation of distinct images that became labelled as the 'New
Woman', and that were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position
and of the influence of the women's movement' (van Zoonen, 1994:72).

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?
The New Woman was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfillment'

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?
Similarly, Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that, underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman',

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up? 

Christian Dior make-up to make themselves sexually attractive - and that her sexuality is for her own enjoyment. Richard Dyer however, claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation: [advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness'




Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?

The 'Are You Beach Body Ready?' campaign launched by Protein World featured a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose.

2) Why was it controversial?

It generated so much controversy because it caused women to think about their figures.

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?

The advert suggested that women's body should be in a specific shape to look nice.

4) How did some audiences react?

Consumers chose to disagree though, as shown by the sticker placed on the model’s stomach. When people began to campaign against the poster’s sexist portrayal, a change.org petition signed by 71,000 urged the ASA to take the adverts down. Some protesters responded visually by posing next to the advert in their bikinis, to offer a more realistic depiction of women’s bodies.

5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages. Dove created an interactive Ad Makeover campaign that put women in charge of the advertisements, where they themselves would choose what they saw as beautiful, not the advertisers.

6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 

The campaign employed an FBI-trained sketch artist to draw women twice – first based on their own self perception, and then based on that of a stranger. The outcomes demonstrated that the strangers’ descriptions were both more attractive and more accurate than the women’s own perceptions, suggesting that women are often hyper-critical of their appearances, and unable to see their own beauty. The campaign resulted in upwards of four billion PR and blogger media hits.

7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?

In relation to Stuart Hall's reception theory, the dominant reading of these case studies would be that women would need the exact figure as shown in the advertisement in order to look good.

8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?

I think the representation of women has not changed and till this day women are still being objectified. Furthermore, they're often shown in advertisements/magazines to show of their figures.

Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task

Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Persuasive techniques'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54  (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

John Berger life suggests ‘All publicity works on anxiety’.

2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

Psychologists in the field call this referencing. We refer, either knowingly or subconsciously, to lifestyles represented to us (through the media or in real life) that we find attractive. We create a vision of ourselves living this idealised lifestyle, and then behave in ways that help us to realise this vision. -MM

3) How was Marmite discovered?

Marmite was discovered in the late 19th century when German scientist Justus von Liebig discovered that brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten.

4) Who owns the Marmite brand now?

 Marmite is owned by Unilever.

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

Marmite uses emotional appeal in their marketing. In the advertisement we watched, there was a numerous amount of strong feelings e.g. when the son received the results for the Marmite genes test, he was telling his father the results as if he is coming out.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

I think Marmite is in the middle between popular culture and high culture as there are some people who love Marmite and there are some people don't.

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

Marmite positions the audience as 'superior' because there are only some people in the world who love Marmite, it isn't for everyone and Marmite wants to make those that love Marmite special.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Advertising seeks to make us dissatisfied with our present selves and promotes the idea that we can buy our way to a better life. ‘All publicity works on anxiety’

Narrative in advertising: blog task

Narrative in advertising: blog task

Nike has received critical acclaim for its February 2018 advert ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’. Embed the advert in your blog and answer the following questions: 
 


1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert.

One of the narratives this advert uses is Propp (Familiar character types) as there are many celebrities in this trailer. An example is Michael Dappah (02:00). You can see that towards the end of the trailer Michael Dappah (Comedian) is with Alexander Iwobi (Footballer).

Another narrative that is used in this advert is Barthes Enigma & Action codes. This advert clearly portrays that everyone has their own story with Nike which tells the audience/customers that Nike products can be used for anything. This could create enigma codes such as "Should I buy a pair of Nike trainers?".

The third narrative that is used in this Nike advert is Todorov's Equilibrium. In the Nike advert at 01:42 the equilibrium is that no one plays ice hockey at London. The disequilibrium is when the ice hockey player is playing by himself on the ice rink as he is his own opponent. The new equilibrium is when Michael Dappah comes into the shot and starts rapping how he goes through worse.

2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?

The advert uses celebrities to gain a audience so customers buy their products and the advert uses less well-known people to give them hope and a sense of achievement that they've been participated and been in the advert.


3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience? ADVERT Keeps popping up despite refreshing the page a numerous amount of times.

4) What representation of London does the advert offer?

The advert offers a representation of the younger side of London and the multi-diversity along with everyone being unique in their own way as in the advert it was clear that everybody had their own story.

5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?

This advert might appeal to an audience because the audience might be able to relate e.g. In the advert when the female boxer says she has to fight her family when she gets home before she even gets into her room. Some people may relate to this as they might argue with their family as soon as they get home. Another part in the advert is when the school boy has to run a lot just to get to school with a heavy school bag, other students may be able to relate to this because when may travel/walk a lot when getting to school with a heavy school bag.