#ManCrushMonday
Twenty years ago, hotmail was all of the rave. Today, children yawn at the sight of a 3D printer. Before children can even speak, they’re able to navigate through iPhone apps. Emojis and hashtags populate our emails, keyboards, and posts… All of this innovative technology has led to the prevalence of social media in western society. Snapchat and twitter have changed the meaning of communication. No longer must we flip through phonebooks to contact someone; facebook messenger and instagram direct message offer more efficient methods of contact. It seems that even with these innovations, a caveat remains. This prevalence of media influence in our society has resulted in an increase of body dissatisfaction. #ManCrushMonday? More like #MaleConfidenceMassacre.
It is fairly obvious that women have been and still are sexually objectified in the media. It has been a hot topic for feminists and with all of the talk has come awareness. Females have certainly been scrutinized by the media in this way for a very long time; but what about men? The sexual objectification of males has become more apparent in modern advertising. Muscular men with defined jawlines and chiseled abs represent the American ideal of a man.
With the intent of drawing in consumers and selling their products, marketing executives prey on the weaknesses of the consumers. For instance, if a male model with the “ideal body” is selling a product, it is more likely to be sold than if an average man is the model in the ad. Muscularity has become almost synonymous with the word masculinity in the United States. In order to be a “real man” with power, one has to exhibit an athletic physique. As this is what is considered manly in our culture, men who do not fit these standards of beauty are marked as inferior. With the average person being exposed to 250 ads a day, it is no surprise that the abundance of cosmetic products geared towards men has been increasing. Again, preying on men with low confidence, advertisers market products that enhance muscle mass or promote hair growth.
Products on the market depict men as primal and dominant beings. Take, for example, the famous Old Spice ad. The concept that Old Spice is building on is that men are seeking to resemble the man in the ad. He is muscular, on a white horse, and at a beach.