Old Spice Odor Blocker Body Wash!!

Cosmetics- A Clinique Case Study by Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller make very interesting points about over masculinity and over femininity of cosmetic products by design and in advertisements. On page 269-270 they talk about how men are given more information in products because it is assumed they are less experienced with hygiene or toiltries related products. Language is very important in these types of designs and they do this to deferientiate "male" products away from "female" products.

In advertisments they use a males hand to masculinize the advertisment. The hand has hair around the wrist, the hand is large- which shows power and control, and it is another attempt to break down the taboos standing between men and toiletries (271).

Old Spice is a major toiletries company and the commercials they make now almost parody the concept of this seperation of male and female hygiene products. They attempt to hyper masculinize men and they do it overly so that it becomes a parody of commercials that try to subtly masculinize the product they are promotion. Take this Old Spice advertisement for instance:



They use a very muscular, and greased up, male to promote the Old Spice product. This, along with many other ads in this relatively recent campaign which also features a "ladies man" kind of guy that associates all men as overtly romantic and almost sexual. The ad featured here really does not need a large analysis because it almost does it for us. The creators knew they were parodying masculinity and it fits with what Kirkham and Weller were talking about.

Here is a video related with female advertisments:


As you can see it is very sexulaized and the ad is targeting women, which is strange. 99% of female body wash or shaving commercials also show a woman in the shower, almost completely naked using the product. They might do this to assume that they are embracing true femininity, but in reality I take these ads as commercials made for men. They use beautiful, naked women that caress their bodies and that appeals more to men than women, in most cases.

Overall, gender seperated products, as defined by Kirkham and Weller, is a major force in product design and in advertisment. We see some form of this almost in every commercial break, either a male or female hygiene product. For males it is generally overly masculinzed, and for women it is overly sexualized to the point where it is appealing more for men. Both of these things are not nessiarally bad, but they do not help allieviate some of the stereotypes of men and women in advertisments in general