Here's a paper I wrote for my Research and Qualitative lecture, argues a less discussed POV in that it discusses the sexualization/eroticizing of men in the ad series but I'm sure some of the sources are relavent.
ADVERTISEMENTS-
CONTENT ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT
ACS
301
Essay
Do
axe and similar products (tag, lynx etc) advertisement campaigns discriminate
against minorities? Showing more Caucasians than any other ethnic group?
Similarly the question must be asked “are males objectified in a similar way to
females, in these advertisements?” These ad campaigns have been scrutinized, in
so many different ways, especially covering the impact of the sexualization of
the females, but rarely target questions regarding race. The topic of the
objectification and eroticizing of the male has been completely overlooked;
this is my justification for studying this topic.
These
questions, due to having been previously unexplored, must be answered by
research itself. The method I chose to use involved YouTube, the popular video
sharing website. Using YouTube I viewed the top 5 most popular (by viewership)
axe advertisements, and evaluated them on a number of basis. I looked at the
following questions in each advertisement; How many times did the female gaze
at the male? Does the male flex/display himself? Is the proximity of the male
to the female “intimate”(less than 3 feet)? Is the clothing of the male
“sexually charged (SC) or average menswear (AM)”? How many Caucasians versus
non Caucasians are featured in each advertisement? These questions are all
directed to answer one of two questions, either are the axe ad’s in fact
racist? As well as are men objectified in the advertisements in a sexual
nature? By viewing these ads’s and
taking notes on their content I was able to answer all of the above questions.
What
I found in doing this research was striking; I did not expect the results I
found to the degree that I found them. The examples of racism in these
advertisements were blatant with the Caucasians outnumbering all other races by
a significant number in each and every advertisement. There are three advertisements where the
racism is particularly quite blatant. The ad’s entitled “School Girls”
“Learning English” and “The axe spot.” For example “School girls” features a
classroom full of Caucasian females, with a Caucasian teacher. There is
absolutely no diversity in this classroom whatsoever. “Learning English”, could
be viewed, in and of itself a racist advertisement as it’s ‘humor point’
focuses on immigrants struggles learning English. However even this
advertisement with its immigration focus has a sixteen to two (16-2) ratio of
Caucasians to non-Caucasians. Finally the worst case of racism in the axe
series is seen in “The axe spot” This advertisement features throngs of women
(roughly 300) running over an island to get to a sole male in the center. The
aspects of this on the objectification of the male will be discussed later on,
but what is most striking in this advertisement is that with all of these women
running, countless women that there is only one single non-white in the entire
advertisement. If this is not a blatant example of racism in advertising,
nothing is. The objectification of the male in these ad’s is something relatively
unexplored. Resulting from my research I discovered that in fact the male is
objectified in a way, that is often more personal and singled out than the
women. In the advertisement entitled “magician” the male is put under intense
pressure and scrutiny by attractive women, being objectified in and of himself.
He is clad in sexually charged clothing wearing a very loose fitting white
linen shirt, that is half unbuttoned. He is gazed at a total of 14 times by the
women, as well having them enter his intimate personal space. The male in “Girl
Fight” is especially sexualized in that he puts on a soccer jersey (sexually
charged clothing) and then takes it off for the women to smell. He is shown
here flexing and being eroticized. This is all trumped by the “Axe spot”
advertisement where the male is featured in primal poses, making primal body
motions while spraying himself in axe, topless, flexing. With 300 women running
screaming at him, he is the one being sexualized, most strongly, individually.
These advertisements, as shown through my findings are
clearly racist, and objectify/eroticize the male. The eroticization of the male
has been discussed by Rohlinger, she makes a point that directly correlates
with the “axe spot” advertisement stating that “For men, the notion of
masculinity, the cultural definition of manhood, serves as the primary building
block of sexuality.” “Masculinity requires both the avoidance and repudiation of
all behaviors associated with feminity.” (Rohlinger, 2002 pg 62) These two
quotes justify my explanation that the male in this series of ad’s, putting on
axe body spray like a primate making overly large masculine gestures is being
eroticized. Eroticized to the male ideal, with the idea that he is not taking
part in the feminine act of perfuming oneself, picture this in contrast with
the stereotypical lightweight, soft motions seen in female perfume
advertisements. “Men and women in advertisements engaged in different touch and
gaze behavior…the feminine touch, for example, is a convention that utilizes
self touch in a way that depicts the female body as delicate and precious.
Unlike male models, who manipulate, grasp, or shape objects or products…Male
models engage in active touch behavior” (Rohlinger, 2002 pg 67) As well
Rohlinger discusses that the male will be depicted, typically in one of four
ways; “the erotic male, the hero, man at work, and the consumer.” (Rohlinger,
2002 pg 69) This is illustrated in the advertisements themselves as each male
depicted fits into one of these four categories, the best example of this is
the “axe spot” in which the male is both depicted as a hero, and a erotic male.
The blatant racism that is visible in axe ad’s is shocking given the purchasing
power of the multicultural community, with it varying in statistical analysis
between 25 percent (Korzenny, 2008) or 33 percent (Albert and Jacobs, 2008)
Albert and Jacobs even estimate that it will climb to as high as 50 percent by
2050. The findings of my research found axe to be an incredibly racist company.
The reasoning behind these findings is not economic as I first thought
possible. With a third of the purchasing power one would expect at least a
quarter of representation, instead ad’s have over 300 women and only one of
them is anything other than Caucasian. The closest reasoning behind this,
beyond that of simple racism is discussed in Albert and Jacobs article on the
watching habits of different ethnic groups. With the discussion of the five
segments of TV viewers it is found that Caucasians are in fact the most
receptive to advertisements being the most active (in terms of attentiveness
and memory of program/commercials watched) watchers at 21.4% compared with 14%
of African Americans. (Albert and Jacobs, 2008 pg 241) One could make the
argument that the advertisements were simply targeting the most receptive
group.
The topic of the objectification and eroticization of the
male is a new field, relatively unresearched. With homosexuality becoming more acceptable
among the general community, as well as the growing number of metrosexuals
(style conscious straight men) it is not surprising that there is a growing
number of advertisements highlighting the sexual side of masculinity. As well
with the “liberated women, who made and spent their own earnings” (Rohlinger,
2002 pg61) playing a larger and larger role in the purchasing power, it is no
surprise that men are starting to be objectified much like women. The
element of racism in the axe ad’s is surprising due to the purchasing power of
the multicultural populous. It is certainly undeniable though when the ads
feature a handful of women from ethnic backgrounds, and only Caucasian men and
hundreds of Caucasian women. Surprisingly blatant though, however there is no
real policy change necessary in any of these cases, the market will naturally
cause these two elements to change over time to some extent. The sexualization
of men is likely to increase, as it becomes more socially acceptable and the
purchasing power of women continues to increase, as well as the purchasing
power of the growing openly gay community. The issue of racism in advertising
will likely always be present, until a consumer demand forces change, which simply
will happen over time. One would not expect to find that the racism was so
paramount however, I found the data stunning.
CJ
Advertisements (row):
“Girl
Fight” -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6rAQHa1gmc
“Learning
English” -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ds_HXfc4VE
“Magician”
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7hGkeuv01c
“School
Girls” -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gi2fBeN2oA
“The Axe Spot” -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU
