Gender clichés in cosmetic advertising
A muscular man, type modern Jesus with a ten-day beard, prepares for the announced end of the world in late 2012: He builds an ark, sprays body spray on the broad, naturally shaved, chest and waits for the approaching female crowds, which, attracted by the fragrance, on want to be saved from his ship. Archaic is hardly possible. The hero saves the world, the women are glad that he exists, this hero, and they do not have to save themselves. The advertising slogan announces: "2012 is the end of the world, make the most of it!" The creators of the "Ax 2012 Final Edition" deo commercial overstate the gender clichés in their campaign so much that it is likely to grin both men and women. And the marketing concept works: with the "Ax effect", the cosmetics group Unilever sold in 2012 alone about 23 million Deodosen, and the fan base is growing steadily. There is obviously a hero's desire. But why do we accept it as a macho and a female in a decade when women can take care of themselves and parental leave is considered a cool revaluation of the CV?
Dr. Björn Held, partner at the Hamburg marketing consultancy decode, explains: "The traditional roles are still valid in the cosmetic world: men want products that solve problems and make them vital and efficient." Women want to be pretty and feel good In terms of male brand communication, terms from sports and technology and superlatives such as maximum, supreme or turbo dominate, while women's shower lotions carry names that make people feel good, such as Nivea's 'Happy' or 'Harmony Time'. " The virile response also includes the masculine look. While the gender distribution in pink and light blue is increasingly frowned upon in the children's world, it is still anchored in cosmetics as color coding in our perception. "Successful men's products are mostly black, blue, silvery with a metallic look, the shapes are the most edgy, the feel rather rough - just as you would write the pithy heroic character in blockbuster cinema in the script," says Held. The current diesel fragrance for men is in a fist-shaped bottle, "Davidoff Champion" in a dumbbell with roughened holding surface, the Nivea shower gel has gotten over the football look on the occasion of the European Championship. Boxing, Exercising, Kicking - all popular men's sports.
Black against pink
The aforementioned Ax deodorant is jet-black packed and labeled with curved gold letters, a very heroic presentation. In contrast, the feminine product language is rosy and soulful, the design often looks like Princess Lillifee has just grown up. For women's hair Elvital has a "beauty care shampoo" whose candy pink glitter texture looks like a fusion of Hubba Bubba, jelly and stardust. "Daisy", a feminine scent of Marc Jacobs in a daisy bottle, sells like jam donuts on New Year's Eve. The cosmetics company L'Oréal wants to build an emotional bond with their consumers with slogans like "Think of you" or "Because I'm worth it".
Black against pink, fighting against feeling, male versus female. Clearly demarcated worlds: in one, the well-trained winner's trophy praises his competitors thanks to better care performance, while in the other, the good-humored beauty exchanges beauty secrets with her interviewees in order to look pretty and to feel comfortable in their community. But where is the origin for this delimitation wish?
Probably already in the nursery, Susan Pinker has found out, psychologist and author of the book "The Gender Paradox: About gifted girls, difficult guys and the true difference between men and women". Boys prefer games with winners and losers even in preschool age, they get bored without fights. Girls between the ages of four and five prefer social interaction while playing, sharing and having a good time together are paramount. Responsible for this is the testosterone, says Pinker. The masculinity hormone provides more aggressiveness, which is implemented by young boys in competition readiness. Martin Ruppmann, Managing Director of the Cosmetics Association (VKE), suspects that there are leftovers from times when "the men were still hunting." The men's environment still demands strength and fighting spirit today, and that is reflected in the products. " However, through the female emancipation of the woman over the past ten years, men have also come under considerable pressure of beauty."This is confirmed by the steadily rising sales figures in the men's care market," says Ruppmann.
Of male attractiveness and feminine beauty
In 2011, German men invested over 442 million in beautifying their hard shell. Rivalry means looking good today, a field that has long been reserved for women. But the guys are different with it. "Men do not speak like women of their beauty, they call it attractiveness, which implies multi-layeredness, character and charisma are included in the self-image", explains Otto Penz, Viennese sociologist and author of the book "Beauty as practice - on class- and gender-specific corporeality" , A shrewd move of the masculine comrades, because attractiveness does not go by as fast as beauty. Therefore, the term "anti-aging" is much rarer on men's products. "Vitality is in the foreground, fitness is more interesting than wrinkles," says Penz. The male care strategy thus works like this: Men want to win the race against time by means of high-tech care and believe that sleep can wait if they only miss the necessary energy kick with the right skin product. An extreme lifestyle with lots of work, a lot of party and little space for sleep is the desired life plan, the traces of which should be kept in check by efficient products with technical gimmicks.
Women are more holistic because they know long ago that the best cream can not replace a phase of relaxation: relax and cream is the motto. But the heroes do not (yet) listen to them, they rather work on the principle Trial and Error. Maybe it's also the loud hammering at the Ark Building that they can not hear us. Or the sound of the sea, which now sparks in the ears of the Davidoff man for 26 years - that's how long he makes a dive with his upper body free for "Cool Water". By the way, this did not look much different at the first time in 1988 than in the current campaign. The only difference: the now-defunct acting Beau Paul Walker loses in front of the Ocean Heads a car race - against a woman, mind you. Should there be a hint of emancipation here? Not really, because in the end, the fast beauty languishes on the hero, as he stripped off the T-shirt. And that looks like cliché, stereotype, just damn good.
So the question remains: Do we really want to change that? Just to emancipate one of the last macho strongholds? Is not it reassuring that the roles in beauty are clear? What's so bad about it when we feel a bit princess-like while perfume spraying? Should the man of our choice be deodorising like a world savior? As long as he brings out the trash afterwards and is ready to take parental leave, that's clear.
