Advertising: Score Hair Cream advert and wider reading

 

Blog task: Score advert and wider reading

Media Factsheet - Score hair cream

 Advertising techniques changed greatly in the 1960s. Instead of relying on market research, advertising agencies focused more on the creative aspects of advertising. Humour, irony and dramatic visuals were a few new and innovative techniques that agencies incorporated in their advertising, as they believed it would 'win audiences over'. Advertising in the 1960s took on a more realistic look.  This change in advertising techniques is seen in the Score Hair Cream advert as it includes real people, minimal illustrations and dramatic visuals that would appeal to the audience. 

In post-war British advertising campaigns, representations of women enforce the idea that a woman's place is to be at home; completing house duties.
Setting - in an exotic jungle which evokes Britains colonial past.

Costume - Safari wear, worn by all characters to emphasise the location that the advertise set in. Women in the rt are seen to be wearing more revealing clothing than the man, probably to appeal to the men viewing this advert.

Props- The gun seen in the advert is used as a phallic symbol that exerts dominance from the man's behalf. 

Characters and positioning - the women are seen reaching up to the man who is positioned in the centre of the shot. This, along with the raised position of the man emphasises male dominance and presents women as inferior to men. In addition, the reaching women depict them as being lustful towards the man, insinuating that men will have the same effect over women when using the product.
An audience in 1967 would've responded quite positively to this advert as they would've found it humorous and comical. They would've had no objection to the blatant misogyny and patriarchal themes as it was considered as normal and acceptable. Contrary to this, an audience in 2019 would've responded negatively to this advert because of the poor representation of women.



Persuasive Techniques:

• Anchorage text 

The anchorage text is used to give meaning and context the image that it is linked to. In this case, the anchorage text is used to reassure men of their sexuality. This is especially important considering the demonisation of homosexuality in the time period that the advert was created.

• Slogan 

'Get what you've always wanted' Objectification of women along with the sexualisation to appeal to men. Also emphasises traditional gender roles.

• Product information 

incorporating the product within the advert creates brand identity 

Applying Feminist Theories:

Van Zoonen believes that the media plays a very important role in establishing gender roles and the dominance of patriarchal ideologies. Score Hair Cream is an example of a media text that formulates gender roles. The sexualisation of females and the depiction of males being dominant fulfils the idea that media texts play a strong role in depicting specific behaviours of genders. 

Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' is seen in this advert. Women in this advert are seen to be dressed quite promiscuously. Revealing clothes, well-done hair and makeup is used at appel to men and satisfy them- a marketing technique to encourage more men to purchase the product. 

David Gauntlett's theory is that Identity is becoming more fluid, there are generational differences and things change over time. This is seen in regards to the Score Hair Cream advert. Some men, during the 1960s, could've seen this advert and constructed their identity around it at an attempt to be more accepted by the society at the time. 

The representation of heterosexuality and the strong themes of masculinity in this advert could be used to dispose of any doubts to do with homosexuality. This is contextually important as the demonisation of homosexuality was quite dominant in this time period.

The setting featured in this advert reflects Britain's colonial past. The exotic background represents tropical sights all around the world. A white male is seen holding a gun, the advert presents this man as being a 'hero' which links to Britains colonial past as they believed  their actions were heroic 

Wider reading

The Drum: This Boy Can article

The writer suggests that we may face a 'growing boy crisis' because he thinks we are empowering the wrong sex. The writer believes that we disregard ceratin issues that boys face and allow them to deal with it on their own. 

The Lynx brand changed it's marketing to present a different representation of masculinity. They discovered that males are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a successful man in the modern world.

The campaigner Davide Brockway suggests advertisers 'totally reinvent gender constructs' as he fears that the male body image is going through similar things that females went through.


The changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products because there has been a change in who purchases products which ultimately changes who brands are targetting their products at and simultaneously changing how it does it also

Fernando Desouches states 'set the platform' before exploding the myth of masculinity because empowerment of men is largely unexplored so brands must take slow steps to learn their audience before attempting to redefine masculinity