Advertising: Score hair cream CSP

 Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can download it here if you use your Greenford login details to access Google Drive.

Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
There was a heavy increase in the idea of objectifying women for the male gaze and desire. This is shown through different examples of things such as suggestive clothing, poses and actions. The score advert shows this by showing numerous suggestively clothed women surrounding a man.

2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
Women in post war British advertisements where typically portrayed with the idea that they belong at home doing housework or outdoor work while the men went to fight. 
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image? You may wish to link this to relevant contexts too.
In the image there is a clear representation of male hyper-fixation through the use of a gun and also the use of suggestively posed and clothed women also feeding that male fixation and ideology of superiority.
4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?
The Score advert identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’ in this narrative.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in the 2020s?
Due to the beliefs and views of society, in 1967 the public would overall approve of the advert as it fits perfectly with all the current stereotypes, however the 2020s is a completely different matter as the ideoligies have changed drastically, highlighting this advert as potentially degrading and sexist.
6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?
It draws in men with the promise of having an easier time with grooming and being the man they are supposed to be while the name of the product 'score' connotes scoring points or the winning of something like the attention of all the females around you. 
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Gender is constructed through discourse and that its meaning varies according to the cultural and historical context.. Women in this era were largely represented as either domestic servants or sex objects, and in Score they might be considered both servant and sex object. Much like Laura Mulvey, van Zoonen argues that in mainstream media texts the visual and narrative codes are used to objectify the female body.
8) How could David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?
David Gauntlet argues that both media producers and audiences play a role in constructing identities. The role of the producer in shaping ideas about masculinity is clear in the Score advert, which is undoubtedly similar to countless other media texts of that era. Surrounded by such representations, 1960s men would inevitably use these to shape their own identities and their sense of what it means to be a man in the mid-twentieth century. Similarly, women would have a clear sense about their place in the world, despite many of the social changes that were leading to greater equality both socially and sexually.
9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?
Through the use of provocatively dressed women, its safe to assume that this advert was tailored specifically for the heterosexual community as in the 1960s being a homosexual was heavily frowned upon.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of the British Empire. Paul Gilroy argues that despite the passing of empire, the white western world still exerts its dominance through cultural products. The jungle setting, the gun, the throne all infer that the white western male has been successful in fighting off primitives or dangerous animals to save his own tribe.

Wider reading

The Drum: This Boy Can article

Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:

1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
We are much less equipped to talk about the issues affecting boys. There’s an unconscious bias that males should simply ‘man up’ and deal with any crisis of confidence themselves. After all, men (certainly white, middle-class, Western men) are better paid, have more opportunities and are not inhumanely oppressed in some parts of the world. Yet, the reality is that men commit suicide more than women, and are more likely to drop out of education and get involved in crime, drugs and binge-drinking. Moreover, as women are increasingly empowered, many men feel increasingly disempowered, accentuating these social problems.
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?

As Lynx/Axe found when it undertook a large-scale research project into modern male identity, men are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a ‘successful’ man in 2016, and to relieve the unrelenting pressure on them to conform to suffocating, old paradigms. This insight led to the step-change ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign from the former bad-boy brand.
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
“Totally reinvent gender constructs” and "dare to paint a world where boys like pink, don’t like going out and getting dirty, or aren’t career ambitious"
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
For brands nervous of saying the wrong thing, Whincup suggests experimenting with social media as it allows flexibility and for more targeted messages. Additionally, if it doesn’t work, it can be removed. One example is the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), which raises awareness of male suicide. 
5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?

Fernando Desouches, Axe global brand development director, he knows that. And, as he says, you’ve got to “set the platform” before you explode the myth. “This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad] are attractive.