From: dgross@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Dave Gross)
Subject: Men's Issues Newsbriefs #47
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 92 22:51:04 GMT
Organization: Mousebat, Follicle, Goosecreature, Ampersand, Spong, Wapcaplet,                 Looseliver, Vendetta & Pang
Reply-To: dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross)

Subject:  Men's Issues Newsbriefs #47

	* Special issue:  Men in advertising

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	Original article by Jennifer Nicholson
	AdBusters Quarterly (Summer/Fall 1992)
	ADVERTISERS TARGET MEN
	--------------------------------------

John opens a GQ.  Within seconds, cologne reeks from the advertising flaps.
Clashing odors waft in my direction.  What are the stakes in these perfume
wars, I wonder.  Can Chanel's Egoiste outstench Obsession?

GQ, Esquire, Men's Fitness, Details, Men's Health...  At first glance, or
whiff, these magazines seem only the masculine versions of Cosmopolitan.  It's
a hunt to find that rare glimmer of editorial poking through the pages of these
pseudo-catalogues.  An issue's fashion spreads become indistinguishable from
the reams of advertisements, the male models as uniformly Ken as the Barbies of
female fashion -- thoroughbreds, ideal "speci-men" photographed to cast perfect
shadows on perfectly sculpted jawlines.

John frowns as he thumbs through the chiseled features and blank stares.  "Do
you ever compare yourself with those guys?" I ask him, sensing a familiar
insecurity.

"I'm smarter than that," John laughs.  Still, I wonder.  After all, even the
most discerning of men are swayed by the media pull.

With the aftermath of the sexual revolution, new voices are scrambling for
attention in developing a new men's social conscience.  The once concrete male
ideal of the '50s is being transformed by the complex socio-cultural climate of
the '90s.  The influences are many:  feminist charges, politically correct
force (and its equally radical backlash) and, increasingly, the drumming
rituals of the thriving men's movement.  These have all conspired to create an
image of man so multi-facited, it rivals the collapsing demands of the '80s
superwoman.

The result?  One confused, if not schizophrenic, target male.  By creating a
variety of new male identities, advertisers gain access to a wider collection
of pocketbooks.  Whether the '90s man is actually changing is irrelevant -- the
point is to convince him that he's part of a market-driven trend.

"What about this?" I ask, pointing to an advertisment of an upwardly mobile
businessman in Wall Street suspenders off to close a deal.  But the picture
includes one progressive '90s addition -- a squeaky-clean baby strapped to his
back.  Both of them are beaming above the caption:  "Success is knowing which
appointments to keep."  Men should do it all, this ad proclaims:  have a
lucrative career, be a great husband/father, and never fail to give your kid
the very best.  The baby is waving a sterling silver rattle.

"What arethey trying to do, make me feel guilty?" John smirks.

Perhaps.  By developing new stereotypes and anxieties, the media has created a
new, lucrative market.  The product, of course, is secondary.  After all,
advertising isn't so much about proving a product as it is about marketing
insecurity.  And nothing can compare with threatening media images to plant the
seeds of inadequacy.  It's been a marketing ploy used on women since the days
of dishwater hands, and (horrors) feminine odor.

Advertisers are opportunists, and now is the time to seize the shifting male
ego and create profitable new stereotyps.  Liz Claiborne's "Claiborne -- the
fragrance for men" recent advertising campaign, proclaims that "Man is not so
simple, after all."  It is characteristic of the bait dangling before the new
male market.  No longer will the modern multi-faceted man be forced into a one-
dimensional straight-jacket.  Instead, he will be led to one of many equally as
restraining stereotypes.  Here are just a few to choose from.

HE'S A SEX OBJECT.  The '80s marked the beginning of a revolution in
advertising, as designers realized that the sexist techniques perfected on
women could easily be transferred to men.

The objectification of specific men's body parts, pioneered by the yuppie-
targeted Soloflex campaign of the mid '80s, continues to thrive in Calvin
Klein's Obsession cologne and underwear ads.  These men are faceless, their
heads turned away, the photograph cropped to decapitate.  It's a dehumanizaion
technique custom-made for a society more at ease with the external than the
internal.  The body reigns supreme -- a well chiseled icon of success.

Feminists have long battled the use of Playboy bunny-looking women to sell
unrelated products (i.e. cars, liquor, watches, etc.)  But what about
Playgirl's pets?  Take the headless hunk in an ad for Bugatti ties.  He could
well be employed by the Chippendale's stripper revue.

Ten years ago, a Paco Rabanne advertisement created a stir by presenting an
imge of a cavalier male the morning after a triste with a career woman.  She's
off on a business trip, and he's languishing in bed.  She's left him a note
assuring him that she can't wait to get back to his sexy scent.  This ad
trumpets a new male sex object who isn't afraid of an aggressive woman and
isn't a slave to a conventional job.

Today, such modern role reversals abound.  Remarkably, though, they continue to
rely on images of sexy women.  One of the recent Virginia Slims ads featuresa
sultry blonde in an outfit the off-putting shade of a "Men Working" sign,
perched above her enlightened feminist slogan:  "There's nothing wrong with
letting a man go first as long as you enjoy the view."

This ad talks change, but there are no visuals to prove it.  There are no cute
male butts waddling away -- and even if there were, the only twist would be
this:  "We've come such a long way, baby, now we can ogle men too."

These are little different than typecase sexist guy ads like the Johnnie Wlker
ad featuring two jocks ogling on the beach:  "She looks even better walking
toward you.  And she drinks Johnnie Walker Red."  Only the victim has changed.
The game itself remains the same.

Where change can clearly be seen is in the breadth of sexual imagery.  Robert
Mapplethorpe's shocking images may not have swept the masses, but subtle
homoerotic and androgynous images have been popping up in Calvin Klein ads for
years.  They are a safe commercial bet; appealing to image-conscious men of all
sexual preferences and to women as well.

Increasingly, sexually aggressive images of violent homo-erotica are also
penetrating mainstream publications.  In an ad for Nanni Italian belts, a
perfect male body waits, submissive and abandoned in a parched desert.  He's
leaning forward, crouched on his elbows, his head covered by a leather Nanni
belt which tightly binds his wrists.  At first glance, this is an artistic
photograph of a beautiful body.  But it is unmistakably eerie, a photograph
sellin belts with a body in bondage.  Why not?  For years, Georges Marciano
has been profiting from near-rape images to sell Guess jeans, so why not Nanni
and belts?

HE'S THE NEW VICTIM.  Almost as progressive as making man a piece of meat, is
making him the bad guy.

After analyzing 1,000 commercials in 1987, researcher Fred Hayward reported in
Family Therapy Networker (Nov./Dec. 1988) that "when an ad called for a
negative portrayal in a male-female interaction, an astonishing 100 per cent of
the time te 'bad guy' was a man."

Likewise, Kathryn Robinson observed in her "Are Men the New Victims" (Seattle
Weekly):  "Insidiously, male bashing seems to have found its way onto the list
of enlightened endeavors -- right alongside recycling and writing Amnesty
International letters..."

Last year, Jeff Pavire's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation "Prime Time" radio
program devoted a segment to the current trend of male bashing in television
advertising.  In one of the featured ads -- a business lunch -- a savy,
health-conscious modern woman busily educated her dunce-like male lunch
companion about the caloric content of salad dressing.

Do advertisers really think they are equalizing gender inequities by making a
man stupid about detergent and salad dressings?  Certainly, diminishing men
rather than women is a shallow feminist victory.  Shallow or not, it is a safe
demographic bet in an advertising campaign, reinforcing female insecurities
while hiding behind a flimsy mask of political correctness.  If these ads
qualify as sexually appropriate, it's merely because they are stabbing at the
correct gender.

Nor is this trend limited to the advertising industry.  It has filtered into
the pop psychology book market as well.  Not convinced?  Pick up a copy of "No
Good Men" or the classic "Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them,"
somewhere in the sea of Harlequins.

HE'S THE SENSITIVE CONVERTED FEMINIST, POLITICALLY CORRECT DUDE.  Career-aged
yuppies, the prime target of glossy men's advertising, are stuck in a bind.
Old enough to have been raised with traditional attitude but young enough to
have felt the impact of feminist changes, these modern males are scrambling for
a sense of themselves amidst the misguided barrage of "politically correct"
hostility.

"The feminist perspective on relationships has become like flouride in water,"
claims Warren Farrell in Family Therapy Networker (Nov./Dec. 1988).  "We drink
it without being aware of its presence.  The idea that men are jerkshas become
integrated into our unconscious."

This "Sensitive, Converted Feminist Politically Correct Dude" is willing to
take on this burden -- he views it as a penance.  "After all," says an old
friend and recently converted SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy), "after thousands of
years of oppressing women, it only makes sense that we should now be put in the
wrong."

So it should come as little surprise how quickly marketers are quick to tap
into this newfound conscience, not to mention its bittersweetguilt.
Maidenform lingerie, after decades of shocking the masses with public images of
women posing in their underwear, has finally thrown in the skivvy and turned to
new models: men.  With images of lady-killers like Omar Shariff and Corbin
Bernsen (who discloses, in the ad, that he finds shopping for lingeie
"intimidating"), advertisers are targeting a "new woman" in search of this
curious and sensitive "new man."  A virile 30-something is photographed in deep
sexy shadows.  His caption teases  "A friend of mine says she has better luck
choosing her lingerie than she does her dinner companions... perhaps there's
just a better selection of lingerie out there."  But underneath those puppy dog
eyes is more a look of seduction than a statement of male humility.  He may
talk sweet, but he's still a lady killer.

Other advertising images deliver similarly mixed messages of this new
misunderstanding.  An ad for Fathom cologne with a photo-montage of macho men
promises a scent "For Men Whose Emotions Run Deep."  Allowing men to have
traditionally female qualities opens up a whole new world for advertisers.
Thus the age of...

HE'S THE NEW DOMESTIC MAN.  He does his own cooking, buys his own clothes, and
makes his own purchasing decisions.  But before we assume that this new and
improved male reflects a role-change in household chores, we'd best remember
that these ads cater not to women, but to a single man who is affluent enough
to be independent of any woman for domestic support.

The hyper-yuppie Johnnie Walker ad campaign is a prime example.  In one ad, a
man running with a buddy on the beach makes mention of his latest squeeze, "She
loves my cooking.  And she drinks Johnnie Walker."  He's the pinnacle of
achievement in our society: financially successful, cooks for himself and,
doubtless, has all the women running his way.  He's the "New Domestic Man," the
man who does it all; which leads us to the inevitable...

HE'S SUPER MAN.  Money maker, super cook, great pectorals, sensitive, a
wonderful parent, in touch with his masculinity, and he's good in bed!

Having finally realized the demands on the '80s career woman were unreasonable,
we're being offered an alternative... He's the man who can do it all.

To avoid being phased out by feminine selection, ads tell us, a man must be a
perfect balance of gentle and macho virtue.  Revlon's That Man cologne urges
users to "Sense the confidence.  The warmth.  The power.  Sense the man."

Revlon is promising one hell of a man.  He's successful, and he's got an
equally successful woman at his side.  According to Farrell, "Even successful
women have not relaxed the pressure for men to succeed."

Another purveyor of gainful gender myths is the ubiquitous Johnnie Walker
campaign.  One ad highlights two upwardly-mobile men at a business lunch, both
enraptured with the unseen woman:  "She was law review," and of course, "she
drinks Johnnie Walker."  Here is an affirmation of the male ego.  This "Super
Man" is smart enough to choosean ambitious woman, a woman that is man enough
to drink scotch.  Unfortunately, she's little more than his commodity.

To balance this high-powered Johnnie Walker "Super Man," other ads in the
campaign feature (and thus implicitly recognize) the non-competitive masculine
hero.  A woman, seemingly successful only because of her beauty, confides to a
colleague in a modeling dressing room:  "He doesn't mind if I make more than he
does.  And he drinks..."

The next stage for this multi-facetd man is to become a Super Dad.  Men with
their cherubic tots are advertising everything from GAP sportswear to Georgio
Armini suits.  Does it matter that these men are never doing anything with
these babies, that they are simply on display?  Apparently not.  It's the
romantic fathering image, not the act of true diapery, slobbery, messy
parenting, that sells.  Adolescent girls' bedroom walls from sea to shining sea
boast arty posters of shirtless, sinewy hunks in faded jeans; all of them
pictured with naked bbies.  After all, what could be sexier than a man holding
a baby?

The only advertisement I could find that offered men any solace from these
demanding media images was a campaign for Tag-Heuer watches.  It shows the
furrowed brows of a driven man, and offers the advice:  "Don't crack under
pressure."  Given the prevailing strains of modern manhood, that warning may be
in vain.

HE'S IRON JOHN'S MAN (THE NEW MASCULINISTS):  It comes as no surprise that
within an environment of old and new male stereotypes, there are an increasing
number of men gravitating to the forest; challenging male-accepted roles of
workhorse provider, dispensable cannon fodder in time of war, or helpless
victim of the sexual revolution.  It's no coincidence that Robert Bly's "Iron
John" has attracted more male attention than the '80s "Real Men Don't Eat
Quiche."  In a time when men don't know who to believe, the book offers a
perfect solution.  As Kathryn Robertson sees it, Bly is operating on the theory
that "Men carry around a profound sense of inadequacy where their sense of
maleness used to be."

To compensate for this lost maleness, advertisers are filling the void with
empty images, twisting the movement's valid concerns into profitable marketing
directions.

Many of the ads which reflect this trend appeal to the$primal male who has
oppressed his manliness in the modern city.  A recent Ralph Lauren Polo ad
shows a long-haired stallion-looking male elegantly dressed in a three-piece
suit.  He's the image of Iron John, the wild man trapped within the confines of
urban life -- aching to break out of his gray flannel suit and discover his
masculinity in the rituals of his roots.

Likewise, a new campaign for Cuervo Gold tequilla displays a stampede of tribal
men charging from the page.  They're wearing masks, wielding bows, armor,
arrows, and the new symbol of the men's movement: drums.  The caption reads:
"No other ritual comes close."  Marketers realize that if they can link the
idea of drinking buddies with their regained primal rituals, they might be able
to sell by association.

HE'S A RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST EVOLVING INTO THE EXISTENTIAL MAN.  The Marlboro
man has long symbolized man's freedom and rugged individuality.  The appeal of
this old selling tactic has evolved into a slightly more sophisticated neo-
individualist ad ploy in the '90s.

Still the sexy modern loner, this existential fellow is no longer simply a
hanger for stylish clothing.  Now he's contemplating Kafka or solving the
crisis in the Middle East.  These ads exalt solitude -- and, by association,
spending -- to the most honorable male pastime.  A recent American Photographer
essay describes them:  "...Sitting alone, they burrow darkly into their superb
sense of style, meditating in their Armanis."

Doug Copeland's "Generation X" labels our generation's exclusionary trend as
the "Cult of Aloneness":  "The Need for autonomy at all costs, usually at the
expense of long-term relationships.  Often$brought about by verly high
expectations of others."

Whether these ads pretend to reflect society's high expectations of man, or
simply his high expectations of others, they offer this evolving existential
man a way out of the chaos of modern relationships.

To avoid the inevitable disappointment with mere mortals, this stylish man is
better off alone.  He's searching for direction, and these ads guide him to the
insular world of consumerism.  The irony is that while these ads exalt the
solitary fashion mission, the first step is a trip to the long line-ups of
crowded, chaotic shopping malls.

HE'S SELF-OBSESSED.  Every movement has a backlash, and the advertising trend
towards male sensibility is no exception.  That's why some marketers have given
up on the new sensitivity, and are returning to the tried and true method of
marketing men as the power elite.

This wave of self-obsession is even more frightening than gratuitous images of
sexual role-reversals.  It is downright vanity.  Here is a man who deserves to
be proud, a man who deserves to be in love with himself.

The latest Obsession ad is true to its name.  Here is a WASP unmired by guilt
over years of oppression, a man who can't get enough of himself.  Staring at
himself in the mirror, he's a perfect statue, fixated by his own image.  He's
the modern version of the myth of Narcissus, in love with his own reflection in
the pool (swiming pool, that is).  This is safe, solitary sex.  And in the
'90s, it sells.

Other ads echo the cry of this politically correct backlash.  A slogan from a
Lagerfield cologne campaign proclaims "Power begets power."  The Franklin Mint
Golden Falcon Watch puts it best:  "Some men have it.  Most never will."

But the most alarming model of this new, prideful man is Chanel's new men's
cologne, Egoiste.  "To assume he is aloof or uncaring is to misread him.  He
walks on that fine line separating arrogance fom an awareness of self-worth."
This cologne is going to be snapped right up by any man who needs an elaborate
justification for an inflated ego.

Despair not.  Marketers have not even begun to exhaust their plans to mold the
modern man.  There's always...

THE SELF-ACTUALIZED MALE.  Market researchers promise a new breed of man who
isn't worried about his thinning hairline, flabby physique and failing
eyesight.  He's at ease with himself and his place in the world.  Not that this
signals the collapse of an insecurity-driven industry.  qds will simply appeal
to men's new, self-actualized ways.  For example, Lee jeans' new ad featuring
an easy going guy:  "We don't think wearing jeans should raise your voice an
octave."

Despite any newfound self-awareness, this "Self-Actualized Male" won't be
shopping any less.  "As sensitivity has spread, it has lost its moorings in the
therapeutic experience," reports Working Woman (April 1990), "and come to
signify the heightened receptivity associated with consumerism: a vague
appreciation that lends itself to aimless shopping."

Claiborne's "Man is not so simple any more" campaign reveals four panels of a
man's internal questioning, finalizing in his self-acceptance.  1. "Am I really
at the height of my powers?"  2. "Is my masculinity on the wane?"  3. "Is it
all downhill from here?" and then... 4. (the revelation) "Nah."  Let's hust
hope he proves to be right.

AND HE'S OBLIVIOUS.  I showed these ads to a dozen or so males ranging in age
from 25 to 5, and was surprised by their homogenous response.  "That isn't
me," they said.  "Other men might react to that ad, but not me..."

These men may read high-end glossy men's magazines, but they feel removed from
its advertising pull.  Of course, it is precisely these men, these "others,"
that the advertisers are targeting.  And like it or not, they don't have to
realize it.

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	THE STATUS OF MEN AS REVEALED IN ADVERTISING
	by Dave Gross, Men's Issues Newsbriefs original
	-----------------------------------------------

                           Stay Put Shoulder Pads:
                          "They're like a good man:
                       a little bold, a little square,
                          around when you need them
                             and they stay put...
                         They never lose their shape.
                Which is more than you can say for most men."

Years after the feminist movement identified the power of sexism in
advertising, that sexism remains.  In this paper I will show how American
advertising shapes and exploits the male gender role.  As I do not own a
television, and neither love nor duty could force me to sit in front of one
for the time necessary to collect a reasonable amount of data on television
advertising, I will limit my analysis to print media.

In attempting to find advertisements which primarily target men, I chose as my
source for most of the advertisements within, Playboy: Entertainment for Men.
Playboy has the fourteenth largest circulation of any magazine and is the best
selling of those magazines which primarily target men{1}. Advertisements from
other sources are also included.

There are five aspects of advertising that I will address in this paper.  The
first is the reenforcement of the stereotypical male role.  men in ads are
regularly in pursuit of power, control, danger and violence.  The cold,
unemotional "Marlboro Man" is still the prevalent image of men in
advertising.

Secondly, there is the message which is pounded in from an early age that
women are teasing objects of pursuit.  Although most women fulfill the primary
requirement of men (as reflected in advertising), beauty, almost no men
fullfill the primary requirement of women (as reflected in advertising), which
is the role of successful hero.  This image of$men as unworthy of the
attention of females is exploited by advertisers to sell their products.

Third, advertising teaches men that success is a product of money and
conspicuous consumption.  This evaluation of success will enable the man to
buy women, friends, and happiness.  Women in advertisements are often
inseperable from the product advertised, and the implication is often that the
women come with the purchase.

Fourth, there is a common message in advertising that men are inept in
domestic life.  Men "can't cook.  They can't change diapers.  They tend to be
complete idiots when it comes to doing the wash."{2}  Men are almost never
portrayed as parents and in fact advertisements often explicitly refer to
"mom" and almost never to "dad."

Fifth, there is a "new sexism" in many of the advertisements of today.  As
Fred Hayward, director of Men's Rights, Inc. puts it, "Advertisers are gearing
their message to women.  They heard a lot of anger from women these days in
the media and in literature....  It's politically chic to dump on men."{2}
Today, there are many demeaning roles for men in advertising that would not be
tolerated if they were instead demeaning roles for women.

The Marlboro Man Remains

The image of men being powerful and in control is often reenforced in print
advertising.  Occasionally, these advertisements tend toward the absurd.  Even
an appliance as passive as a car stereo can be transformed via advertising
into a tool of domination and control:

         The sound of a Jensen car stereo doesn't just come out of
         your dash.  It explodes.  It screams.  It roars with power
         and high-tech muscle to turn your car into a beast that kicks
         up dust and dominates the highway."

The Jensen car stereo promises explosions, screaming power, beastly muscle,
kicks and domination.  A boxer promises to hit you in the face with an
antiperspirant.  Similarly, the power and control of racecar driving is
transferred to a men's bracelet via Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan, who
endorses the bracelet for men who "like taking the inside track....[and] like
getting there first."

And driving cars at dangerous speeds isn't only for the racetrack.  Any man
can catch a piece of the danger and the thrill of speed on his very own
highway.  Of all of the ads for cars and auto supplies in a copy of Ms.
magazine, all were for models of cars except for one for a gasoline additive.
Of all of the ads for cars and auto supplies0in a copy of Playboy, EVERY AD
was for a radar detector.

Thomas R. Forrest researched the new wave of male cosmetics and found that
"many of these products are identical to their counterparts for women, but
their presentation undergoes a radical change to make them distinctly
masculine... hair spray became 'hair control'... moisturizers become M Lotion
[or] moisture lock."{3} An advertisement for Parfums Lagerfeld is yet more
direct:  "I have created this fragrance for the man who understands power."

An ad for Xeryus cologne (pronounces "serious," we must assume) shows a
square, metallic bottle with sharp angles resting on a block of rough-cut
stone.  The sky in the background is an angry shade of red.  This is no sissy
perfume -- this is "Xeryus for men!"

The above advertisements were from Playboy and had a message that was
directed toward men.  The idea of men being in control is not restricted to
men's magazines however.  Even magazines for the "liberated woman" have
advertisements which buy in to the stereotype of the in-control man.  An
advertisement in Ms. magazine for the Toyota Camry shows a woman alone in the
car in the driver's seat in the upper right, but when the man joins her in the
car (at the bottom of the page), it is the man who takes the wheel.  In fact,
in the limited survey of advertisements that was conducted while putting
together this report, an interesting trend developed:  When an adult man and
an adult woman were pictured in a car together, in no advertisement was the
woman driving.

Along with power and control comes the power to control ones emotions.  Men
are to be solid as a rock, as the earlier ad for Xeryus shows us.  The models
of male perfection in ad after ad are fairly consistant in their brooding
stares.  The men may vary from ad to ad, the clothing or the product may
change, but the expression remains the same.  An ad for Playboy Fashions
advises men to "Play it Loose."  If the model in the advertisement were
playing it any looser, he might slip into a smile.

The ideal man may be the one in the advertisement by The Hamilton Collection
for a doll.  A doll?  For men?  But this doll is different; It's not a doll
for cuddling or for imagination.  This is a doll of Mr. Spock, the "calm and
rational" crew member of Star Trek's Enterprise.  Mr. Spock is most noted for
his inability to comprehend or to display human emotion.

The most celebrated emotionless man is, of course, the famous Marlboro Man
(adopted by Camels, et al. as well).

But capitalism, in all of its versitility, has also found a way for men to buy
their way out of a cold, emotionless suffication.  J.J. Cochran sells
clothes that will turn "Henry R. Merriweather, Sr. Exec. VP." into "whimsical,
lighthearted, unpredictable... laid back, easy to get along with, relaxed,
smooth-sailin' Hank."  The double-message here is insidious:  Mr. Merriweather
is expected to take up his cool, calculating, emotionless persona in order to
become the "Sr. Exec. VP." and then he is told he must buy his way out of it
in order to be acceptable to his fellow human beings.

We almost have a full-fledged Rambo here, equipped even with toy guns.  Now
all we need is a dash of right-wing patriotism.  Advertising supplies this as
well.  Whether it be the flag-shrouded woman selling speakers or George
Washington selling television sets, patriotic imagery is definately in.

Some ads exploit right-wing paranoia as an eye-catching gimick.  One ad is
headlined "RUSSIA WINS?" and goes on to explain that Soviet athletes are
supposedly benefiting from an electrical muscle stimulator which is being
advertised.  Another ad, for cigars, is headlined "You don't need Castro's
permission to enjoy the unique Havana flavor!"

Patriotism and violence are as intertwined in advertising as they are in real
life.  The Franklin Mint advertises a statuette of a bald eagle, "the living
symbol of our nation's freedom."  This living symbol bears little resemblance
to the eagle on the United States Great Seal which bears an olive branch in
one claw.  In this advertisement, the eagle has its sharp talons extended and
appears to be coming in for the kill.

Nymphs and Satyrs

Advertising consistantly shows women as teasing, passive objects of pursuit
who pick and choose amongst the pursuing men on the basis of the wisdom of
their purchases.  Many ads portray a woman as the center of attention who is
surrounded by pursuing (leering) men.  Warren Farrell refers to this as "Male
Message 1:  She's a Genetic Celebrity; I'm a Genetic Groupie":

         Billions of dollars' worth of subliminal advertising is
         flashed into the prepubescent boy's unconscious, before his
         "age of consent," subliminally building his desire for the
         fourteen-to-twenty-nine-year-old model-type woman --
         literally advertising her.  This creates in his young mind
         the seeds of a fantasy stronger and more powerful than any
         other.  A primary fantasy.  We employ every means of
         technological sophistication to plant this in his
         unconscious.  So that by the time he is fourteen, any girl in
         his class who looks anything like her feels to him like a
         movie star, a genetic celebrity next to whom he, a
         fourteen-year-old, pimple-faced, bumbling adolescent, feels
         as nervous as a groupie.{4}

There are plenty of products out there for the insecure man.  From hairpieces
to impotency "cures" to lifts to books.  "Do you get tongue-tied around
attractive women?....  Most men think they'll have to undergo a major
personality overhaul to be successful with women."

While men are being portrayed as unworthy and incompetant, both advertising
and popular fiction portray women as teases.  Women gain "love" by flirting
and by getting in trouble and being "saved" by men.  Men gain "love" by
performing and by trying to interpret the double messages put out by women.

In an ad for Zena jeans in Seventeen magazine{5}, the blue-jeaned protagonist
reminisces "There I was, on top of Mt. Snow, trying desperately to avoid a
mogul, when I found myself plowing right into this hunk from New Haven."  In
another ad from Seventeen, entitled "Love is always full of surprises," a
woman has fallen on the ice and a man is there to help her up.

The message of these ads is that the woman gets love by getting in trouble and
the man gets love by rescuing her.  The pratfall is the female version of
initiating a relationship.  Men are expected to initiate everything from the
first date to sex to deciding where to go to dinner; Women are offered advice
in magazines to engineer "accidental" meetings.{6}  This approach is
occasionally celebrated in the news -- when it works:

              Joseph Ross was a ten-ager when he dove into the$murky
         Charles River to rescue Maura Handren, 7, after she tumbled
         in while accompanying him and a friend on a fishing outing.
              Ross, now 29, took the plunge again Sunday, when he and
         Maura, now 22, were married.
              "Thats when Maura fell for Joey," said the bride's
         brother, Stephen, of the rescue.{7}

Sex, in the popular women's press, is a power tool that is conditionally
"given" to men.  Cosmopolitan advises readers to "Make Love The Old Fashioned
Way.  Make Him Earn It!"{8}  Nuance perfume provides a tool for the
double-message tease by saying that "Nuance always says Yes.  But you can
always say No."{9}

An ad for Brut cologne again shows women saying "No" but meaning "Yes" and
shows the man trying to push the boundaries of what he feels to be a double
message:

         "Aren't our reservations for dinner at eight?" she said,
         fingers running through his hair.
         "I have reservations about our reservations," he replied
         devilishly.

And a dial-a-porn ad in Playboy is entitled simply "}aybe I Will and Maybe I
Won't."  Warren Farrell argues that ads like these are essentially rape
lessons:

         Judges are called male chauvinists if they suggest a woman
         gives mixed messages.  Yet Seventeen, Teen, and Glamour are
         paid for by over four million girls and women (or their
         parents) each month -- females learning to make their nuances
         say yes while their words say no....  When twelve-year-old
         girls are taught to make their nuance say yes while their
         words say no; when violence is sexy; when the boys who get
         the most attractive girls' approval are the ones trying
         hardest to break through the barriers erected most
         successfully by the most attractive girls in the name of
         morality and reputation; when "rape!" carries an exclamation
         point because it increases the sales of Danielle Steel
         novels; when New Woman advises on the power of seduction and
         Cosmo on the power of making him earn it; when
         eleven-year-olds call Playing with vire a sweet romance...
         when all these are part of our everyday socialization, is it
         any wonder that a large UCLA study found that 54 percent of
         boys and 42 percent of girls felt it was okay to force a girl
         to have sex under certain circumstances?{10}

Money = Success = Sex

Many of the products adverised are explicitly for the man on the rise
financially.  Whether for "Hank" who sacrificed his personality for his
salary, or for the average Playboy reader who supposedly has $75 extra to
spend on a porcelain Mr. Spock, conspicuous consumption has always been the
hallmark of a successful capitalist, and advertisements depend on this
benchmark of success.

Witness the ad for Wild Turkey:  "Drink Wild Turkey now, and you won't have to
change bourbons when you become a millionaire."  The good man is the rich man;
the rich man drinks Wild Turkey.  Drinking anything else is surely a sign of
poor self-esteem.

And what is all of this money for?  Well, besides Star Trek dolls,
personality, and Wild Turkey, you can buy women, love and sex.

After all, "Love often comes with strings attached."  This, from an
advertisement for Crown Royal.  The ad shows a woman's hand reaching for the
strings of the cloth bag covering a gift of Crown Royal liquor.  Another ad
reads "Remind him that you can't play unless you have the proper attire."  The
proper attire is a diamond bracelet.  The message is clear:  Love is
conditional and it depends on the quality of the financial contribution from
the man.

The diamond industry is especially adept at playing on the guilt of men.  "Is
2 month's salary too much to spend for something that lasts forever?" one ad
asks.  "She came into my life like a storm," the ad reads, "She deserved a
diamond that rocked her world."  The message:  Emotional input from the woman
should be met by expensive gifts by the man.

Incidently, if a man wants to buy even the least expensive diamond in these
ads with two month's salary, he should be making more than $100,000 per year.
In an analysis of nineteen months' of Ms. magazine full-page ads, there were
absolutely none for gifts women could give men.{11}

Advertisements sell women to men with implied sex, but also sell sex in a more
generic way.  Often the language of the ad copy is phallus fetishistic or
sexually suggestive:

         [The Pioneer Car Stereos'] sleek, futuristic styling and
         high-tech controls fit right in with today's American
         dashboards.  And thanks to Pioneer's exclusive shaftless
         design, shorter mounting depth and flush edge-to-edge fit,
         they won't stick out of your dash -- or even worse, leave a
         hole in it.

         Arouse Your System.  Immerse yourself in the incomparable
         sound of Pioneer car speakers.  Speakers engineered to take
         full advantage of the unique demands of a car's interior:
         acoustically-optimized smooth high frequencies.  Full, tight,
         authoritative bass...  Sound so0pure, so lifelike, it excites
         your senses>..  There's simply no better way to get it all
         out of your system.

Phalluses play a role in other ads as well.  In another Pioneer ad, for
instance, George Washington stands by a television.  On the television is a
picture of America's favorite phallus, the Washington Monument.  The ad copy
starts, "Big-screen television just reached a new height."  An ad for cigars
pictures an erect cigar with the promise to choose the size "up to 8.5 inches
long" (a full 2.5 inches longer than the average erect penis).

Often in advertising, the promised women become either virtually equal to or
virtually inseparable from the product.  In the first of the aforementioned
Pioneer ads, the advertised car stereo is installed within the skull of the
woman model.  In an ad for Franzia Wine Cooler, one man laments to another,
"Good nose, full bodied, sophisticated...  I don't know whether to drink it or
date it."  A series of ads for Edge shaving gel included sublimninal women in
the shaving cream.  A less obnoxious ad is featured in the appendix, but this
ad shows a woman's face superimposed on a waterfall, a surfer shooting through
the tube of a wave, and the sun coming over mountains which coincidentally
seem to resemble the pose of a reclining female sunbather.  "Not your ordinary
shave."

"Keep up the good work, Daddy, and maybe you'll be promoted to Mommy."

A men's advocacy group called Men's Rights Inc. has been presenting awards for
the best and worst portrayals of men in advertising.  A newspaper article
covering the latest awards is entitled "What sits around the house and is
totally useless?  Men in ads."{2}

First off, men can't cook.  At least not0at jack Daniel's "Mrs. Bobo's
Boarding House" where a mixed crowd of men and women are sitting down to eat
"Lynne Tolley's baked turkey; Mary Ruth Hall's scalloped oysters; Diane
Dickey's tipsy sweet potatoes; Mary Kathryn Holt's boiled custard and coconut
cake."

Ads in which men are portrayed as domestically inept -- whether it be in
choosing laundry detergent, breakfast cereal, or whatever -- are commonplace,
but even more common are ads which ignore men's role in parenting.

Observe the ads found in ONE issue of Parents magazine:

         Ivory Snow packs in up to $100 in savings a mother can love.

         Doesn't your baby deserve the soft touch of Q-tips?  ...The
         softer, safer swab mothers have0trusted for over 60 years.

         When an ansa Easy-To-Know Bottle is too hot, it visually
         tells you.  The plastic turns white.  That makes Mom's life a
         little easier, and keeps baby's meal from being robbed of
         valuable nutrients.

         Toys "R" Us:  Mom, you're gonna love our low prices!

         Diaper Rash.  Little Tim woke up in0tears.  Now it's time for
         soft lullabies, Mommy's hugs and Aveeno.

         When you're a Beech-Nut Mother(TM), you know you're feeding
         your baby the very best.

         When it comes to keeping kids looking$their brightest, Vivid
         moms know best.

         When moms said they wanted an ultra-sensitive listening
         system that was totally portable as well, we were all ears.

It may be called Parents magazine, but to the advertisers, and to those who
read these advertisements, it may as well be0Mothers magazine.  The cover
shows two mothers and no fathers.  In ads which pictured both children and
adults, 16 of the 18 adults were women.

Fred Hayward of Men's Rights Inc. says that "among the thousands of pages that
feminists have written about sexism in language, it is never mentioned that
mothers give birth and breastfeed, but parents change diapers and raise
children.  We live in an age of male bashing.  We're being blamed for
everything that goes wrong."{2}

Male-bashing

Thanks to feminist advances, advertisers now tend to walk on eggshells when
presenting women in advertising.  Of course the ridiculous airbrushed model of
perfection remains, but we see no more$blatant "fly Me Girls."  Men in ads,
however, are actually being portrayed worse today than ever before.

Why is this?  Partially because advertisers are afraid of confronting the
political might of the feminist movement.  Thus, they pick on an easier
target.  Fred Hayward, as spokesperson for$the$Media Watch survey of Men's
Rights Inc., says "whenever there was a jerk, 100 percent of the time, it was
a male.  One hundred percent of the ignorant people -- the ones who panicked,
the ones who lost some sort of contest, who smelled bad or sweated a lot."{2}

Sexism is tolerated against men, but not against women.  Bill Cosby's Jell-O
commercials had the line "Moms love it 'cause it's made with milk."  Fred
Hayward asks if Bill Cosby would have done his E.F. Hutton commercials if they
had had a voiceover which stated "Dads love it because it earns money for your
family."

Male-bashing is almost seen as liberating.  Advertisers seem to be playing a
game of catch-up:  Let's see if we can mistreat men as badly as we used to
mistreat women -- then we'll be even.  Thus, the ad for Stay-Put Shoulder
Pads:  "They're like a good man:  a little bold, a little square, around when
you need them, and they stay put...  They never lose their shape.  Which is
more than you can say for most men."

FOOTNOTES

1  "The 1988 Information Please Alminac" 41st ed. Houghton Mifflin Company
	Boston, 1987
2  Telegram-Tribune "What sits around the house and is totally useless?  Men
	in ads" (AP) February 3, 1989, P. A-8
3  Forrest, Thomas R. "Such a Handsome Face:  Advertising Male Cosmetics" from
	Feminist Frontiers II:  Rethinking Sex, Gender, and Society ed. Laurel
	Richardson & Verta Taylor, Random House, New York 1989, p. 85.
4  Farrell, Warren Why Men Are the Way They Are Berkley Books, New York 1988,
	p. 110.
5  ibid, p. 46
6  ibid, p. 81
7  San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune "River rescue lands bride -- 15 years
	later" (AP)
8  Farrell, Warren op cit. p. 86
9  ibid, p. 88
10 ibid, p. 89
11 ibid, p. 27
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
NOW's feminist critique of the Swedish Bikini Team genre of beer commercials:
"The commercials are aimed only at a certain kind of male - that disruptive
animal kind of male that is no asset to this society." -- Kathy Wilson
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