Score advert and wider reading - incomplete
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?
In the 1960s advertisement relied less on market research and leaned more towards creative instincts in planning their advert. It was more stereotypical in order for the audience to understand and relate with the advert. This is different in today's society whereby stereotypes are not used anymore due to movements like the #MeToo movement which allows the audience to have the power of controlling whats portrayed in the media.
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
Woman were portrayed as objects or portrayed as domestic servants. In the post-war period women were characterised by campaigns that very effectively reinforced that woman's place is home. They believed that this was designed to make woman feel useful in the domestic arena as during the World War, prpoganda posters had convinced woman that their place was on farms and in factories whilst the men were of to fight in the war.
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 women are wearing revealing, sexualised costumes which show off the beauty ideal for bodies and there there for the male gaze. The man is smiling and is sitting down in a crossed leg position suggesting that he feels laid back. The women are carrying the man which suggests that they see him as some kind of god. They are also reaching for the man which could suggest they have a desperate, sexual desire towards him.
The man is carrying a gun which shows off the dominance he has but it can also have an underlying meaning: a penis (phallic symbol). The women are all white and "pretty" which shows off the eurocentric non-diverse society in in the 60s and 70s. The setting is an exotic jungle: male fantasy and escapism. The jungle illustrates wild, bestial and animalistic behaviour.
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.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
In 1967, an audience may have seen this advert as normal, especially the men. They'd believe that when they use the Score hair cream, they'd feel exotic and attract loads of women. The women would believe that if they dressed sexualised then they'd attract a man. However, in 2019, due to the dramatic rise in feminism and social media (#metoo) women would feel obliged to speak up about this advert and they'd suggest that the women in this advert are seen as inferior and the man is seen as dominant which is an old stereotype now.
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?
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Judith Butler's theory links to the Score hair cream advert because her theory suggests that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology. Gender roles is a "performance".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 Score advert can be seen to negotiate. Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. For males growing up in the 1970s and 1980s being labelled “queer” was a direct challenge to one’s manhood. Male grooming adverts in these two decades predominantly represented the user as a ‘real man’, employing brand ambassadors like the footballer Kevin Keegan and boxer Henry Cooper to promote Brut deodorant and after-shave.10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
By the 1970s, as the women’s liberation movement gathered its stride, advertisers did try to lead the way with a more progressive representation of gender. This was achieved through a series of ‘role-reversal’ adverts, in which the man was seen to undertake a series of household chores, such as cooking and cleaning. This experiment with role reversal, however, did not last long, due largely to the response of the female audience.
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'"?
It suggests that we could be empowering the wrong sex
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
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?
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?
2) What are the five stages of masculinity?
it states that there are five levels of masculinity being: unconscious masculinity, conscious masculinity, critical masculinity, multiple masculinity and beyond masculinity.
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.
I beleive i am in stage 1 of masculinity4) 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?
1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
In the 1960s advertisement relied less on market research and leaned more towards creative instincts in planning their advert. It was more stereotypical in order for the audience to understand and relate with the advert. This is different in today's society whereby stereotypes are not used anymore due to movements like the #MeToo movement which allows the audience to have the power of controlling whats portrayed in the media.
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
Woman were portrayed as objects or portrayed as domestic servants. In the post-war period women were characterised by campaigns that very effectively reinforced that woman's place is home. They believed that this was designed to make woman feel useful in the domestic arena as during the World War, prpoganda posters had convinced woman that their place was on farms and in factories whilst the men were of to fight in the war.
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 carrying a gun which shows off the dominance he has but it can also have an underlying meaning: a penis (phallic symbol). The women are all white and "pretty" which shows off the eurocentric non-diverse society in in the 60s and 70s. The setting is an exotic jungle: male fantasy and escapism. The jungle illustrates wild, bestial and animalistic behaviour.
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.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
In 1967, an audience may have seen this advert as normal, especially the men. They'd believe that when they use the Score hair cream, they'd feel exotic and attract loads of women. The women would believe that if they dressed sexualised then they'd attract a man. However, in 2019, due to the dramatic rise in feminism and social media (#metoo) women would feel obliged to speak up about this advert and they'd suggest that the women in this advert are seen as inferior and the man is seen as dominant which is an old stereotype now.
- "Get what you've always wanted" is direct address. It anchors the meaning.
- The product information informs customers the results you can get from the product- neat hair that will attract women.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Judith Butler's theory links to the Score hair cream advert because her theory suggests that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology. Gender roles is a "performance".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?
- Stuart Hall's representation theory can be applied to Score hair cream advert. Nowadays people would disagree with this advert (oppositional or counter-hegemonic reading) because it presents women as quite needy. Stuart Hall’s ideas about the systems of representation can also be discussed in relation to the advert. To what extent has the producer created a representation of gender that is deliberate in its depiction of a dominant male (intentional approach)? To what extent do the representations simply reflect the gender inequality of 1967 (reflective approach)?
- David Gauntlett argues that both media producers and audiences play a role in constructing identities. The role of the producer in shaping ideas about masculinity is clear in the Score advert, which is undoubtedly similar to countless other media texts of that era. Surrounded by such representations, 1960s men would inevitably use these to shape their own identities and their sense of what it means to be a man in the mid-twentieth century.
the Score advert can be seen to negotiate. Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. For males growing up in the 1970s and 1980s being labelled “queer” was a direct challenge to one’s manhood. Male grooming adverts in these two decades predominantly represented the user as a ‘real man’, employing brand ambassadors like the footballer Kevin Keegan and boxer Henry Cooper to promote Brut deodorant and after-shave.10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
By the 1970s, as the women’s liberation movement gathered its stride, advertisers did try to lead the way with a more progressive representation of gender. This was achieved through a series of ‘role-reversal’ adverts, in which the man was seen to undertake a series of household chores, such as cooking and cleaning. This experiment with role reversal, however, did not last long, due largely to the response of the female audience.
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'"?
It suggests that we could be empowering the wrong sex
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
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?
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?
2) What are the five stages of masculinity?
it states that there are five levels of masculinity being: unconscious masculinity, conscious masculinity, critical masculinity, multiple masculinity and beyond masculinity.
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.
I beleive i am in stage 1 of masculinity4) 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?
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