Advertising: assessment

Advertising: assessment

We have now come to the end of the Advertising and Marketing unit.

Normally, we would be doing an assessment in class in exam conditions but these are clearly not normal times! Instead, we are going to set you a blog essay that you can take as long as you wish to complete. This means you have access to ALL the information, theories, quotes and CSPs so everyone should do extremely well.

Advertising assessment: tasks

Revision

We know that some of these Advertising CSPs will come up in your Paper 1 exam next year. Therefore, it's vital we have good quality revision material to return to over the next 15 months at various end of year exams and assessments.

Look over your blogs and create revision cards or knowledge organisers for each of the Advertising and Marketing CSPs:

• Score Hair Cream advert
• Maybelline That Boss Life advert

Here's an example template you can use for a Knowledge Organiser for this topic. You'll need to log in to your school Google account to view it. Alternatively, you may prefer simply to make flash cards for the theories and CSPs we have covered in this unit.

Assessment

David Gauntlett has argued against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis’. To what extent do you believe masculinity is 'in crisis'?

In your response you should refer to your Advertising and Marketing Close Study Products: the Score hair cream advert (1967) and the Maybelline ‘That Boss Life’ YouTube advert (2017).

I'm also against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis', and instead believe it is simply evolving and changing as the media becomes more reflective of liberal and progressive views. I don't think that men don't have roles in society anymore, but instead their roles are becoming more equal to women. Gauntlett commented on how, although not completely abolished by any means, gender roles such as the emotionless macho man and submissive house wife aren't as common in the media (which is reflective of a changing society.) He found new representations of masculinity when looking at men's lifestyle magazines, showcasing that the role of men in society is evolving similar to how women's has. Interpreting the evolution of gender equality and the deconstruction of men's dominance over women as masculinity being 'in crisis' may not be completely wrong, however it is stemmed from the fear of feminism and progressive thinking.

The Maybelline Boss Life advert from 2017 is an important landmark for the beauty industry, as it marks the first time Maybelline has partnered with a man as the star of a campaign. Manny is also a person of colour and openly gay, showcasing how much representation and acceptance has evolved in the media. Masculinity is now being looked at as fluid and many male make-up artists are having more dominant presences on the internet as social influencers. I think that, because of this, masculinity can be interpreted as 'in crisis' as men embrace more feminine expression, however it can also be seen as just evolving to become more fluid and equal with femininity.

Contrastingly, the Score hair cream advert from 1967 can be seen as a relic from the past in regards to representations of gender. The dominant male of the advert is held above a harem of women, scantily clad and desperately grasping towards him, reinforcing the gender patriarchy and the ideal representation of masculinity in the 60s. He wields a gun; a phallic symbol that symbolises power and dominance over other men and the women below him.  The women in the ad are subject to the male gaze and showcase Butler's ideas on the media reinforcing gender roles for both men and women.

However, Manny and Shayla are presented completely as equals in the Maybelline advert; The man and woman in the advert aren't framed any differently and Shayla isn't any more objectified compared to Manny. This goes against the typical represntation of the gender patriarchy in media that Van Zoonen studied, implying that the only real aspect of masculinity that is 'in crisis' is men's dominance over women. Due to this, I would argue against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis' as men are evolving with women in their representations in media, instead of somehow being overtaken women.

In the score cream advert, the slogan "Get what you've always wanted" implies that men who use this will get scantily clad women, reinforcing a sexist narrative in order to appeal to a 1967 male audience familiar with this traditional representation of gender and masculinity. The Anchorage text uses the persuasive technique of inadequacy marketing, reinforcing men about their sexuality and masculinity with phrases like "made by the men" and "masculine scent." Due to 1967 being the year to decriminalise homosexuality, the advert may be in response to the fear that society is changing and created to reinforce the heteronormative narrative. This implies that the fear of masculinity changing or somehow dying has been present since 1967 at least, perhaps implying that masculinity has always been 'in crisis' as society has evolved to become more accepting and fair.

In conclusion, there are increasingly more diverse and fluid representations of gender in society compared to 50 years ago, which is perfectly highlighted with the differences between the Score hair cream advert from 1967 and the Maybelline Boss Life youtube advert from 2017. Therefore, I believe that masculinity isn't so much in crisis but more just evolving with the times, which some may interpret as a crisis.



[20 marks]