Score hair cream CSP

 1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960's and how does the Score advert reflect this change?

-Advertising agencies in the 1960's relied less on market research and leaned more toward creative instinct in planning their campaigns. The “new advertising” of the 1960's took its cue from the visual medium of TV and the popular posters of the day, which featured large visuals and minimal copy for a dazzling, dramatic effect. Print ads took on a realistic look, relying more on photography than illustration, and TV spots gained sophistication as new editing techniques were mastered.

2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?

-In the UK, advertising in the post-war period was characterised by campaigns that very effectively reinforced that idea that a woman’s place was in the home. Ironically, during the Second World War, propaganda posters had convinced women that their place was on farms and in factories while the men were away fighting.

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.

-The girls in he advert are dressed in away where they are showing a lot of skin and this is to sexualise them and objectify them, as a way to pleasure male gaze. Also the ladies faces are made heavily of make up up and their hair is also perfectly styled, this is to show the consumers of the advert that women should also stay presentable. The mans facial expression is seen as satisfied as he feels a sense of achievement in his position, this is him being above all the ladies, which shows he is superior to them,

4) What does the fact-sheet 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. And for this the females are his reward for such masculine endeavors. Also the idea of women being sexually available and falling at the feet of a man.

5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in the 2020's?

-In the 1970's, the advert would be widely praised and accepted because women were seen as inferior to men and women had not gained even a tiny bit of equality as the equal pay act had also not happened. Where as in the 2020's the advert  would has been bashed and not accountable as it clearly is trying to infer that women are beneath men, which is not what the society of this age agree with. Nowadays people all around the would accept the fact that females are on the same level as men and also deserve the same pay as men.

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?

-The advert uses persuasive techniques through the anchorage(Roland Barths) where it seems to target men by promising them an easier grooming experience and the opportunity to use the product as a way to attract more females to them and make them more attracted to them as they seem more masculine.

7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?

-Van Zoonen's theory of feminism is shown with how the girls are following culture when playing the role of a women where they are seen as weak and objectified by the male. 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. The advert also reinforces western beauty standers to the point of the girls being heavily made up.

8) How could David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?

-David Gauntlett argues that both media producers and audiences play a role in constructing identities. How the society takes the advert is based on them as a person and whether can either take the positive things such as the fact that they girls are strong, which can be seen by their biceps and the fact that they have utility belts. On the other hand person can take the negative side where the women are presented as inferior to the man.

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)?

-Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality it was to promote masculinity in males and being heterosexual in society. For males growing up in the 1970's and 1980's being labelled “queer” was a direct challenge to one’s manhood. Male grooming adverts in these two decades predominantly represented the user as a ‘real man'. The advert is strongly against homosexuality.

10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?

-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'"?

-Women are being empowered,which the writer believes shouldn't be happening because it makes men less 'man up' and as women are increasingly empowered, many men feel increasingly dis-empowered.

2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?

-As Lynx/Axe 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"?

-Brockway advocates that advertisers “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, for example.

4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?

-Brands are seeking “a true understanding of their target consumer; who they really are, their beliefs, their attitudes, where they are now, where they want to be in future.

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?

-He says that “This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad] are attractive. Now we have our platform and our point of view, we can break the man-bullshit and show it doesn’t matter who you want to be, just express yourself and we will support that. “What being a man means, and what ‘success’ means, is changing and this change is for the good. The message hasn’t exploded yet but we will make it explode. We will democratise it.”