Old Spice - Gender Stereotypes In Advertising

Old Spice - Gender Stereotypes In Advertising

Smell like a man, man - Gender Stereotypes in Advertising

“Hello, ladies,” the attractive gentleman says in his deep, soft-serve smooth voice. Introducing the commercial wearing nothing but a towel, the “Old Spice Man,” as he has come to be known (real name Isaiah Mustafa) greets women of the world and invites them to enjoy his many romantic offerings, all made possible by the use of his über-manly scented body wash. The first in a series of commercials, this video sets the tone for all its sequels: random, mildly humorous, and gender stereotypical. The Old Spice commercials reinforce male and female gender stereotypes; both by portraying the “ideal man” as a very masculine “provider” and by suggesting that women can “nurture” a man to be ideally masculine by purchasing the right body soaps.

A question that could first be raised about the sexist and stereotyped messages conveyed in these commercials is “do they count?” That is to say; because the ads are clearly overemphasizing gender stereotypes for the sake of humor, should they still be considered gender-discriminatory? From any feminist perspective, the answer must be “Yes, it does count.” These commercials are not satirical social criticism- though they appear to mock gender stereotypes by exaggerating them the effort is undermined by the basis on which the commercial itself was made (that is, to sell soap). The makers of these commercials want consumers to act in line with gender stereotypes: ladies, go buy your man this body wash to make him more like the ideal man. Men, buy this body wash to be the ideal man your woman wants.

Advertisers want you to believe you’re buying their product because they made a funny commercial, but why are you really buying Old Spice? Surely it was never a desire you had before. Old Spice does smell very good, but then so does Axe or Dove Men+Care. (Don’t you love that? Body wash for MEN? If ever there was a case of spotlighting…) Many advertisements aim at making us...