modern marketing towards males: a discussion for dudes

[invokethehojo]

I own a DVR, hence I don't watch commercials. If you set your DVR to record every show you want to watch, and start watching each hour long show 15 minutes in, you never have to watch commercials. I am very sure this was not the intention when marketing this device, but this is how I have been using mine since I got it two years ago.

Recently my wife and I had a baby, and since we have taken to watching whatever is on tv more often, mostly due to my sons schedule. In doing so I have actually been exposed to commercials, and I must say I noticed something rather unsettling. It seems like the vast majority of commercials specifically aimed towards men could be condensed into a single phrase: Trucks, breasts, beef, bacon.

Why is this bad you ask? I don't want to sound like I don't think products should be marketed towards men aggresively, I like trucks, breasts, beef and bacon. I just felt like this offended my male pride. Is this really how corporate america views us? And if this type of advertising is so widespread it must be working, so what does that say about us?

These commercials are hardly better than nonsensical montages of titanic trucks filled with hot chesty chicks slappin' another patty on your triple bacon cheese bacon burger with bacon. (I would rant longer but I don't want Patton Oswalt suing me.) My problem is that right now I think you could simply take all of those commercials off the air, replace them with the phrase, "Trucks, breasts, Beef, Bacon", followed by a picture of each, then followed by the product being advertised, and I doubt there would be much difference.

There isn't a message there, there isn't even a thin veil of persuasion, there is just the advertising companies staring at us like we're children, telling us that if we go to grandmas house we will get ice cream... apparently followed by us going, "Yay icecream!".

Doesn't that feel wrong somehow?

 

[Rhun]

Mmmm...trucks, breasts, beef, bacon.

I like to call it the Superfecta! Seriously though, I watch a lot of commercials. And I would say you are probably right. A large percentage of products marketed toward men consist of trucks, breasts, beef and bacon. I'm not insulted. It just shows that the marketing execs known me all too well.

 

[Starman]

I'm sure companies wouldn't be using these things in their advertising if they didn't work. They do a ton of research on advertising and what works. It's almost scary. Sure there will be some people who will roll their eyes and wonder what the appeal is. They will be outnumbered.

 

[Dioltach]

Here's a link to a bit from one of Dara O'Briain's shows, where he talks about advertising aimed at men:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwYh3Qb4rc]YouTube - Dara OBriain Talks Funny 2008 Part [2/9][/ame].

It's sad, but I'm afraid it's true. I was recently talking to some friends about how HBO tend to put lots of female nudity in the first few episodes of their series to hook the audience. Apparently we're that easy to manipulate.

 

[Janx]

and women can be boiled down to soap, children, fashion and feminine hygiene.

Sadly, I do recall an epsiode of something where people really were boliled down to soap, at least.

meh.

 

[Ahnehnois]

It seems worth noting in this forum that genre fiction has always been marketed successfully to men, despite the fact that it is in no way unsuitable for women. To be fair, there's plenty of gratutitous sexuality and explosions in fantasy and sci-fi, but the new Game of Thrones, for instance, is an example of the rare example of something that's marketed somewhat towards men without falling into the stereotypes described above (as was The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings, etc.). As far as general consumer products go, however, it's hard to disagree with the OP.

I'm sure companies wouldn't be using these things in their advertising if they didn't work. They do a ton of research on advertising and what works. It's almost scary. Sure there will be some people who will roll their eyes and wonder what the appeal is. They will be outnumbered.

True as that might be, I think men are much less responsive to advertising than women are. It's well documented that they (we) don't shop as much and when men do act as consumers, they are much harder to influence with advertising than women. Nor do men respond to public service advertisements as well as women do; men's health initiatives in particular are an uphill battle. I'd say lowbrow advertising is less a refined and effective business strategy than a desperate attempt to use the only tactics known to have any efficacy at all.

 

[Guest 85555]

I don't think you will like our "Trucks, Breasts, Beef and Bacon: The RPG" coming out in may.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Except for the fact that the RPG industry is aimed at men more than women as well. Women may like certain kinds of fantasy, but, more along the line of heroic romatic fantasy rather than go in kill stuff and take their treasure.

 

[Mallus]

[MENTION=62525]invokethehojo[/MENTION] - you forgot "beer". Never forget beer!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

titanic trucks filled with hot chesty chicks slappin' another patty on your triple bacon cheese bacon burger with bacon

You've just described the ad I just shot for an OTC nasal antihistamine...

Actually, I'd sub beer for bacon on your list- I see more ads featuring bacon in pet commercials. When bacon is used in a commercial aimed at people, it is usually a part of something- a huger, a breakfast plate, that kind of thing.