While I spend most of my time examining manvertising in American media, it is definitely not just an American phenomenon. Just like the UK had the “lad” movement in the 1990s, in which men deliberately reverted to being “bad” and doing “bad” things as a way of taking back masculinity (which led, inadvertently, to the creation of magazines like Maxim, which started in the UK before moving to the US), Canada also has a history of emphasizing a specific and rigid set of imagery to describe how “real” men act. Beer commercials, just like in the US, might be the best place to observe these practices. Perhaps even more than in the US, these ads connect masculinity to national identity, and what it means to be a “Real Canadian Man.”
Moosehead ads, perhaps more than any other Canadian examples, and most definitely more than any contemporary American commercials, have latched onto homophobia as a marketing technique. It’s startling to think that the account managers at Moosehead don’t realize that, in fact, men can and definitely do all these things. These are also prototypical examples of the male gaze, and how women’s bodies become the property of male desire, seemingly existing only to function as male fantasies. Not surprisingly, those fantasies are really just lesbianism (for male pleasure, of course) and the possession of two women by one man.
Ads after the jump.
Molson employs a more traditional manvertising approach, with exaggerated masculinity and “humor.”
This Molson campaign is particularly interesting for how it defines Canadian masculinity — but still manages to do so in opposition to a vague femininity. There are elements throughout these of exclusion, in which women don’t get to play in the Dugout, and the entire campaign is definitely built around the premise of a Secret Club.
Labatt beer might be the most unapologetic, however, about the role and function of beer in creating masculinity by strict gender delineation. Their latest campaign, on heavy rotation right now during football games, is one of the most blatant examples I have ever seen of constructing gender difference and behavior.
Here’s some links to it, since embedding isn’t working:
In this one, they drop that motif entirely and even play with the notion of Canadian identity. I find this ad to be remarkably refreshing, not just for the way it eliminates the misogyny and sexual objectification, but also for how it pokes fun at the exaggerated humor of manvertising.
This one, part of a different campaign, takes a different, disturbing tactic: tricking women into a humiliating, degrading, sexualized performance, and then lying about the outcome. It’s difficult, frankly, to understand how this ad ever made it past the idea stage.
This one goes back to the homophobic approach seen most obviously in the Moosehead ads.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
