Sut Jhally, in his documentary “Codes of Gender”, investigates the strikingly binary portrayal of gender stereotypes resulting from superficial and ritualized media representation by revealing an interestingly generationally resilient pattern of idealized masculine and feminine postures and poses (2009). Jhally shows that advertising is much more than just “selling products” in order to expose dualistic terrain of media-portrayed identity and power. This analysis is rooted in the philosophies and theories of key sociological icon Erving Goffman who, his book Gender Advertisement, studied contemporary commercial advertising to show how American pop culture shapes the false norms masculinity and femininity (1979).
One prime example of this overly masculine media portrayal is an advertisement presented by the men’s cologne and deodorant company Old Spice that I found while browsing a sports website. This advertisement is highlighted by a male model with well-defined muscles, dressed in a wealthy manner, and appearing to be living a luxurious life on the beach while riding a white stallion. It does much more than simply convey that men will smell better upon using the product. Fundamentally, it appeals to the simplest of male desires—to be a “manly man” (Goffman 1979). In depicting the textbook masculine signs …show more content…
This unfortunate truth is not necessarily the fault of the advertising companies, but society for being so vulnerable to the establishment of norms. If we investigated the “strange” of the force-fed masculine and feminine ideals in the “familiar” of everyday media exposure, maybe the ideals of masculinity and femininity would be nothing more than a matter of individual
One prime example of this overly masculine media portrayal is an advertisement presented by the men’s cologne and deodorant company Old Spice that I found while browsing a sports website. This advertisement is highlighted by a male model with well-defined muscles, dressed in a wealthy manner, and appearing to be living a luxurious life on the beach while riding a white stallion. It does much more than simply convey that men will smell better upon using the product. Fundamentally, it appeals to the simplest of male desires—to be a “manly man” (Goffman 1979). In depicting the textbook masculine signs …show more content…
This unfortunate truth is not necessarily the fault of the advertising companies, but society for being so vulnerable to the establishment of norms. If we investigated the “strange” of the force-fed masculine and feminine ideals in the “familiar” of everyday media exposure, maybe the ideals of masculinity and femininity would be nothing more than a matter of individual