Score hair cream CSP

Score hair cream close study product

 Media Factsheet - Score hair cream

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? 

Advertising agencies in the 1960s relied less on market research and leaned more toward creative instinct in planning their campaigns. “Eschewing portrayals of elitism, authoritarianism, reverence for institutions and other traditional beliefs, ads attempted to win over consumers with humour, candour and, above all, irony.” Copy was still used to offer an explanation of the product - and to pitch to the consumer - but the visuals took on a greater importance. The “new advertising” of the 1960s 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?

Women as objectified or portrayed as domestic servants, but sexism in 1960s advertising was on a much greater scale – and continued this way for many years after. As Breena Fain argues (tintup. com) with adverts speaking to a woman’s inability to open a bottle of ketchup, it’s shocking any purchases were made in the 1960s until you consider that women earned far less than men. It is clearly the male breadwinner who was the target audience for these advertisements.

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 reference to mise en scene, the clothing shows signifiance. All of the females have short shirts and skirts which reinforces the ideal western beauty, which could refer to Mulvey's male gaze, and represents women in a sexualised way. However the women are shown to have biceps and have a tool belt around their waist, maybe subverting the traditional roles. The man has a grin on his face, as though he feels successful in the position he holds and as he is sitting above the women, it shows that he is more dominant. This links to the traditional sterotypes as men predominantly have more power than women. The topic relates to Britain's colonial past, and the scene is a rain forest.

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. The image infers that he is ‘exulted’ as the hunter-protector of his ‘tribe’. The adoration – and availability – of the females are his reward for such masculine endeavours. This has a clear appeal to the target audience of (younger) males who would identify with the male and aspire to share the same status bestowed on him. The idea of women being sexually available and falling at the feet of a man is echoed in the long running series of Lynx deodorant commercials that ran for the greater part of the early twentieth century.

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

Since it was a more common patriarchal society in 1967 and the idea of men dominating women would have received strong support, I believe that the audience would have reacted positively to this. Some audience may be shocked at the fact that the women are holding up the man, also presenting the women as strong(them having biceps and tool strap around the waist, subverting gender roles?). However, I believe that the audience's reaction to this advertisement would be conflicted if it were released and aired in 2020. This is due to the fact that gender norms have been reshaped and subverted in order to treat men and women equally. If women were to view this advertisement, they would take offence at the idea that men have all the power over them at a time when things have improved.

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 advertisement uses persuasive techniques through the anchorage, where it appears to be aimed at men and offers them the chance to live up to the idealised version of masculinity and have a simpler time grooming themselves. The name of the product refers to success or accomplishment, implying that men who use it will be more attractive or popular, especially with women. Furthermore, the product's usage of a red flag as a symbol of passion and dominance may appeal to male customers' needs to take charge and demand attention in social situations.

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

• Liesbet van Zoonen argues that ‘gender’ is constructed through discourse and that its meaning varies according to the cultural and historical context. The Score advert constructs a representation of women that is typical of the late 1960s - and accepted as ‘normal’. 
• bell hook's contemporary perspective identifies a kind of double or triple oppression of women who are also black and/or working class. She also advocates that feminism should be seen as the struggle to end patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination (and that men need to participate in this process). Indeed hooks uses term ‘white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy’ to describe all the oppressive factors in our society. This might aptly describe the image presented in the Score advert.
• Judith Butler believes both the male and the female in the Score advert are performing the roles of the (masculine) man and the (feminine) woman in accordance with their biological sex. The advert also serves to reinforce the binary opposite gender roles ascribed by society.

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. 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)?

According to Paul Burston writing in The Guardian (27th July 2017), “It’s a commonly held misconception that the 1967 act legalised male homosexuality. It didn’t. It partially decriminalised it under certain conditions. In the years that followed, gay sexuality was policed more aggressively than before and the number of men arrested for breaching those conditions actually rose considerably.” Incredibly, several police constabularies actively took advantage of loop holes in the Sexual Offences act of 1967 to prosecute homosexual men engaging in consensual sex in their own homes. Research by Peter Tatchell confirms this: in 1966 some 420 men were convicted of the gay crime of gross indecency. By 1974, that number had soared by more than 300% to over 1,700 convictions.

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. In Hollywood film for example, the white male (usually American) plays the role of the hero, who inevitably saves the (dependent) world from disaster. The Score advert follows a similar narrative. 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'"?

A growing global ‘boy crisis’ suggests that we could be, in fact, empowering the wrong sex. 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.

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. One of the sectors most impacted by this insight is FMCG because the weekly shop is one of the household traditions where gender roles are most challenged; the person who wins the bread and the person who buys the bread isn’t down to gender these days.

3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?

Campaigner David Brockway, who manages the Great Initiative’s Great Men project, urges the industry to be “more revolutionary”, particularly when it comes to male body image, which he says is at risk of following the negative path trodden by its female counterpart. In order to prevent a full blown crisis of self-worth, 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?

As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing – but advertising

is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal.

Joey Whincup, insight director at Creative Race, agrees that success comes down to better research

and she’s witnessing a slow but growing shift towards targeting consumers on more than the usual

‘ABC1 male’ demographics. Quite a few brands still segment like this, but others 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. “These brands are not just governed by the jobs men

do or their age”.

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?

To be fair on 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. 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.” The passion in the Argentinian’s voice is tangible; this is a man on a mission. He’s already forged partnerships with several NGOs, from CALM to Promundo to The Representation Project, and says more developments are on the horizon.