Score advert and wider reading

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

Themes such as the sexualisation of women were used more ironically and the Score advert shows this by exaggerating the fact that women will want you if you use their hair cream

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

Originally, they represented women staying at home. Afterwards, they changed to women finding their place in the domestic workforce.

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 can link this to relevant contexts too.

Costume - They are wearing jungle outfits, representing the British empire in Africa

Props - The man has a gun, which represents a phallic symbol

Settings - They are in a jungle, representing British colonies in Africa

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. Even though many decades separate the Score and Lynx commercials, their message – despite changes in social attitudes - is remarkably similar. There is clearly much truth in the mantra that sex sells. Indeed, it could be argued that the advertising techniques of fifty years ago are fundamentally similar to today – if more explicit.

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

A 1960s audience may have found the advert humourous, whereas a 2020s audience may be offended

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 slogan "get what you've always wanted" implies that all men want women and this hair cream will help them do just that

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

Judith Butler would say that this advert reinforces traditional gender roles as it is about a man attracting as many women as he can

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

Men could look at the advert and convince themselves that attracting women is a serious priority for them

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)?

It shows a representation of straight sexuality

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

The people in the advert are dressed in jungle-adventurer clothing reflecting the British empire in Africa

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 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"?

“We’re seeing a huge rise in eating and body image disorders among young men. We can’t isolate the cause. Advertising plays its part. A 13-year-old boy of average build in one class recently told me seeing an ad made him feel fat. He didn’t mean a bit out of shape. He meant everything that goes with that feeling such as seeing himself as lazy, unaccomplished and incapable.”

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

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?

“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.”