i recently had an altercation on a social networking website - you can guess which one - about this advertisement:
some people assumed that i was offended by it, but in fact i was more disturbed than offended: disturbed by the way otherwise intelligent people could be manipulated, as that's what advertising is - often very clever manipulation
it seems to appeal to women in the same way Nuts magazine and the like appeal to some men: and it seems to me that women who fall for the appeal of the man in it are basically the same type who whoop and slaver in the front row of a Chippendales performance. what surprises me is that the woman i fell out with would be one of the first to condemn mags like Nuts and Loaded but is somehow unaware of how she's fallen for the same 'sex sells' trick, just with her as the target audience. she'd posted it on her wall and when i challenged her about the sexist attitude within it - sexism in women towards men - she defended it on the grounds that it was a parody of sorts. that's one reason why it's so clever and effective: it packages a poison pill of attitudes to sexuality and body image in a pretty sugar coating
and then there's the use of images, which are cleverly juxtaposed with the text in order to sweeten the pill. it's a fact that images are much more effective than speech or text when it comes to getting a message across: a picture tells a thousand words, as the saying goes, and those words can be deceiptful and manipulative in just as high a degree as a cleverly constructed text. the difference in this case is that while text and speech can be reflected upon and dissected easily by most, a video image is delivered within a timeline which enables some clever manipulation via juxtaposition and less obvious signals. in this case, a body ideal is sneaked in beneath the critical faculties by the use of some very clever video effects which, on their own, would be very appealing, if it not for the fact that the point of this whole thing is to sell Old Spice (which i happen to like very much, by the way...and always have, ever since i used to nick a splash of my dad's when i was young).
the attitude within it, designed to get under the radar of otherwise sensible people's critical faculties, is pretty much overtly stated in the first part: be dissatisfied with yourself and/or your husband. the irony of the narrative and imagery mask this by making it look as if it's not projecting a certain kind of image. it's very clever. the marketing and advertising companies don't employ psychologists at high rates of pay for nothing!
am i the only person around here who can see the problem? we've got generations of women who know and understand how damaging the projection of similar female images can be to especially girls and young women. am i the only one who can see that the marketing of cosmetics and suchlike to men is taking a similar path? as the Story of Stuff creator Annie Leonard puts it so well: "Advertising basically says 'You Suck'" and how better to create that deep dissatisfaction with one's own body image than to bombard people with sexually appealing images of something unattainable? i'm 52 and grew up in a world where marketing wasn't anywhere as clever as it is today. these days, many people actually find ads entertaining (and it's no surprise, as there's often more money spent on the 30 second ad than on an hour's TV). maybe one day, they'll get people to enjoy the taste of arsenic on their cornflakes?
eating disorders are on the increase amongst men and boys. anyone who has had eating disorders at close hand knows what suffering and pain they cause and my heart goes out to anyone who suffers from one, either themselves or in their loved ones. i'm not saying that this kind of imagery is the sole or even the prime cause of such problems, but it's part of the picture and the problem too. dissatisfaction with one's own body is probably the most common factor in eating disorders
the woman who posted this on her wall wouldn't approve of something which used similar female imagery, even if it's wrapped in something which is supposedly humorous. she seems to have fallen for it anyway. i find that as depressing as when i hear of young women getting into porn and lapdancing believing that it' an expression of their own empowerment. commodification of sex, which surely is one of the greatest and most beautiful expressions of love and tenderness (and which can also be a great healer) disturbs me deeply: and that, to me, is what this is about too. i find this unhealthy on so many levels
i know that this is only a simple and hurried look at something which is more complex: hopefully we can continue the discussion and i can become wiser along the way
btw: i'm far from being prude, as anyone who knows me well will tell you. i feel that sex is most at home within a sphere of intimacy...
