GRSJ 300 Culture Jam Assignment

Original Advertisement

Wieden and Kennedy, Feb. 2010, https://www.wk.com/work/old-spice-smell-like-a-man-man.

Analysis of Original Advertisement

Above is an advertisement for Old Spice grooming products. Old Spice’s advertisements are problematic, as they emphasize numerous aspects of hegemonic masculinity in their attempts to persuade men to purchase their products. In reality, there is no real reason for grooming products to be gendered in the first place. Old Spice is reinforcing the false widespread idea that regular grooming and practicing personal hygiene are normally feminine. In this particular advertisement, a muscular man is pictured shirtless, sitting on a horse on the beach, holding what appears to be a bottle of Old Spice body wash. Every single aspect of this photo that I have mentioned encompasses hegemonic masculinity and masculine stereotypes. It reinforces that a “real man” should aspire to follow these stereotypes. Rather than pushing boundaries and encouraging people to push past the gendered norms that have been set in society, Old Spice chooses to embrace them.

The model that Old Spice has chosen for this advertisement represents the “ideal” male physique. The model appears to be tall, with chiseled abs and large, toned biceps. This is a physique that many men desire to have. By putting this model in the advertisement, it implies that this is the type of man that uses Old Spice products, and if one wants to be like him, they should purchase Old Spice. It is likely that the model is pictured on the beach partially in order to give him a valid excuse to be pictured shirtless, so that his muscles can be on display. The model is also seated on horseback. Due to Western films and other aspects of pop-culture, cowboys, who often ride horses, have become cultural icons of masculinity. An example of this is American Actor Clint Eastwood, who has played the role of a cowboy many times. Overall, this Old Spice advertisement encompasses and reinforces hegemonic masculinity and negative male stereotypes.

Jammed Version of Advertisement

Explanation of Jamming Philosophy

In a society that still discriminates towards men whom are not stereotypically masculine, it would be a large step forward to incorporate less “masculine” men into their advertisements. I chose to alter the wording of this advertisement to emphasize the overarching problematic theme that I found. For my culture jam, I chose to replace the words “a man, man” with “hegemonic masculinity.” Through their advertisement, Old Spice was hoping to convince men to purchase their grooming products, as they are more “manly”. I felt as if they failed to do so, and instead may have convinced a large male demographic not to purchase their products, because the advertisement is emasculating for most men, as the majority of the world’s male population does not look like this model. I chose to replace the part of the text with the words “hegemonic masculinity” to emphasize the fact that this advertisement is promote toxic and non-inclusive aspects of society.

My original idea was to photo-shop multiple self-identifying men into the advertisement, in order to represent a larger, non-stereotypical demographic. I chose to simply change the wording because I wanted to emphasize the fact that the man that Old Spice chose to include in their advertisement represents only the hegemonic form of masculinity. I felt that photo-shopping men with less hegemonic appearances would only distract from the message itself.

My alteration is meant to demonstrate that the form of masculinity that Old Spice represents with this advertisement is toxic and too general. Masculinity is a larger issue in society, as many men feel pressured to embody certain personality traits and appearances that they may not actually enjoy or agree with. This Old Spice advertisement reinforces this problem. Grooming products do not need to be gendered, and especially not in such an aggressive way.

Bibliography

Wieden and Kennedy, Feb. 2010, https://www.wk.com/work/old-spice-smell-like-a-man-man.