Score advert
1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
Sexism in 1960s advertising was on a much greater scale – and
continued this way for many years after. As Breena Fain argues (tintup.
com) with adverts speaking to a woman’s inability to open a bottle of
ketchup, it’s shocking any purchases were made in the 1960s until you
consider that women earned far less than men. It is clearly the male
breadwinner who was the target audience for these advertisements.
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
In the UK, advertising in the post-war period was characterised by
campaigns that very effectively reinforced that idea that a woman’s
the e was in the home. Ironically, during the Second World War,
propaganda posters had convinced women that their place was on
farms and in factories while the men were away fighting.
*
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?
men are placed literally above women(superior)-reinforces gender roles- stereotypes power in balance-links to 1970 equal pay act
Direct address- model is eye-contact - addressing the audience
anchorage text-reassures men about their sexuality-1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality- targeting heteros (heteronormative
Dresses productively mew in the 60s (sexually objectified 'females are exploited.)
women are desperately reaching for men in power
jungle setting evokes Britain colonial past
phallic symbol- male dominance
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
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
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 Liquid hair tonic is a product of the American Bristol-Meyers
Company. Like many large companies of this era, they paid much
more attention to building a distinctive character for the brand. The
brand message is clear: to present the product as grooming product
for a ‘real’ (masculine) man. The choice of the ‘Score’ brand name is
deliberate and carries very obvious connotations.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
JUDITH BUTLER
Judith Butler asserts that gender is not biologically determined but
rather socially determined; learned through society. She believes
that gender is a performance. Both the male and the female in the
Score advert is performing the roles of the (masculine) man and the
(feminine) woman in accordance with their biological sex. The advert
also serves to reinforce the binary opposite gender roles ascribed by
society.
BELL HOOKS
bell hooks is a feminist writer and social activist who has explored the intersectionality
of race, social class and gender issues. Regarding feminist theory as a historically middle-class concern, her contemporary perspective identifies a kind of double or triple oppression of women who are also black and/or working class. She also advocates that feminism should be seen as the struggle to end patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination (and that men need to participate in this process). Indeed hooks uses term ‘white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy’ to describe all the oppressive factors in our society. This might aptly describe the image presented
in the Score advert.
van ZOONEN
The feminist writer Liesbet van Zoonen argues that ‘gender’ is
constructed through discourse and that its meaning varies according
to the cultural and historical context. The Score advert constructs
a representation of women that is typical of the late 1960s - and accepted as ‘normal’. Indeed the women depicted in the advert are not
dissimilarly dressed to Jane Fonda in the film Barbarella (released
in the same year). Women in this era were largely represented as
either domestic servants or sex objects – and in Score they might be
considered both servant and sex object.
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
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. Similarly, women would
have a clear sense about their place in the world, despite many of
the social changes that were leading to greater equality both socially
and sexually (for instance, through access to the contraceptive pill).
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)?
In the years that followed, gay sexuality was policed
more aggressively than before and the number of men arrested for
breaching those conditions actually rose considerably.” Incredibly,
several police constabularies actively took advantage of loop holes
in the Sexual Offences act of 1967 to prosecute homosexual men
engaging in consensual sex in their own homes.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and
cultural contexts of the ending of the British Empire. Paul Gilroy
argues that despite the passing of empire, the white western world still
exerts its dominance through cultural products. In Hollywood film,
for example, the white male (usually American) plays the role of the
hero, who inevitably saves the (dependent) world from disaster.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
There’s an unconscious bias that
males should simply ‘man up’ and deal with any crisis of confidence themselves. After all, men
(certainly white, middle-class, Western men) are better paid, have more opportunities and are not
inhumanely oppressed in some parts of the world.
Yet, the reality is that men commit suicide more than women, and are more likely to drop out of
education and get involved in crime, drugs and binge-drinking.
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"?
Campaigner David Brockway, who manages the Great Initiative’s Great Men
the project, urges the industry to be “more revolutionary”, particularly when it comes to male body
image, which he says is at risk of following the negative path trodden by its female counterpart.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing – but advertising
is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal. Others are seeking “a true
understanding of their target consumer; who they really are, their beliefs, their attitudes, where
they are now, where they want to be in future. “These brands are not just governed by the jobs men
do or their age”.
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?
“This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad]
are attractive. Now we 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.
“What being a man means, and what ‘success’ means, is changing and this change is for the good.
The message hasn’t exploded yet but we will make it explode. We will democratise it.”
Sexism in 1960s advertising was on a much greater scale – and
continued this way for many years after. As Breena Fain argues (tintup.
com) with adverts speaking to a woman’s inability to open a bottle of
ketchup, it’s shocking any purchases were made in the 1960s until you
consider that women earned far less than men. It is clearly the male
breadwinner who was the target audience for these advertisements.
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
In the UK, advertising in the post-war period was characterised by
campaigns that very effectively reinforced that idea that a woman’s
the e was in the home. Ironically, during the Second World War,
propaganda posters had convinced women that their place was on
farms and in factories while the men were away fighting.
*
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?
men are placed literally above women(superior)-reinforces gender roles- stereotypes power in balance-links to 1970 equal pay act
Direct address- model is eye-contact - addressing the audience
anchorage text-reassures men about their sexuality-1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality- targeting heteros (heteronormative
Dresses productively mew in the 60s (sexually objectified 'females are exploited.)
women are desperately reaching for men in power
jungle setting evokes Britain colonial past
phallic symbol- male dominance
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
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
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 Liquid hair tonic is a product of the American Bristol-Meyers
Company. Like many large companies of this era, they paid much
more attention to building a distinctive character for the brand. The
brand message is clear: to present the product as grooming product
for a ‘real’ (masculine) man. The choice of the ‘Score’ brand name is
deliberate and carries very obvious connotations.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
JUDITH BUTLER
Judith Butler asserts that gender is not biologically determined but
rather socially determined; learned through society. She believes
that gender is a performance. Both the male and the female in the
Score advert is performing the roles of the (masculine) man and the
(feminine) woman in accordance with their biological sex. The advert
also serves to reinforce the binary opposite gender roles ascribed by
society.
BELL HOOKS
bell hooks is a feminist writer and social activist who has explored the intersectionality
of race, social class and gender issues. Regarding feminist theory as a historically middle-class concern, her contemporary perspective identifies a kind of double or triple oppression of women who are also black and/or working class. She also advocates that feminism should be seen as the struggle to end patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination (and that men need to participate in this process). Indeed hooks uses term ‘white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy’ to describe all the oppressive factors in our society. This might aptly describe the image presented
in the Score advert.
van ZOONEN
The feminist writer Liesbet van Zoonen argues that ‘gender’ is
constructed through discourse and that its meaning varies according
to the cultural and historical context. The Score advert constructs
a representation of women that is typical of the late 1960s - and accepted as ‘normal’. Indeed the women depicted in the advert are not
dissimilarly dressed to Jane Fonda in the film Barbarella (released
in the same year). Women in this era were largely represented as
either domestic servants or sex objects – and in Score they might be
considered both servant and sex object.
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
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. Similarly, women would
have a clear sense about their place in the world, despite many of
the social changes that were leading to greater equality both socially
and sexually (for instance, through access to the contraceptive pill).
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)?
In the years that followed, gay sexuality was policed
more aggressively than before and the number of men arrested for
breaching those conditions actually rose considerably.” Incredibly,
several police constabularies actively took advantage of loop holes
in the Sexual Offences act of 1967 to prosecute homosexual men
engaging in consensual sex in their own homes.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and
cultural contexts of the ending of the British Empire. Paul Gilroy
argues that despite the passing of empire, the white western world still
exerts its dominance through cultural products. In Hollywood film,
for example, the white male (usually American) plays the role of the
hero, who inevitably saves the (dependent) world from disaster.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
There’s an unconscious bias that
males should simply ‘man up’ and deal with any crisis of confidence themselves. After all, men
(certainly white, middle-class, Western men) are better paid, have more opportunities and are not
inhumanely oppressed in some parts of the world.
Yet, the reality is that men commit suicide more than women, and are more likely to drop out of
education and get involved in crime, drugs and binge-drinking.
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"?
Campaigner David Brockway, who manages the Great Initiative’s Great Men
the project, urges the industry to be “more revolutionary”, particularly when it comes to male body
image, which he says is at risk of following the negative path trodden by its female counterpart.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing – but advertising
is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal. Others are seeking “a true
understanding of their target consumer; who they really are, their beliefs, their attitudes, where
they are now, where they want to be in future. “These brands are not just governed by the jobs men
do or their age”.
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?
“This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad]
are attractive. Now we 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.
“What being a man means, and what ‘success’ means, is changing and this change is for the good.
The message hasn’t exploded yet but we will make it explode. We will democratise it.”
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