Cele Otnes, a professor of advertising and of business administration who studies how marketing and advertising shapes consumption, says that men who compare themselves to the hyper-masculine or over-exaggerated male stereotypes in advertising and popular culture experience a range of emotions, including feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile partying and promiscuity are often depicted in advertising, some men find these images to be negative portrayals of their gender and are, in fact, turned off by them,\u201d said Otnes, the Investors in Business Education Professor of Marketing at Illinois. \u201cSo it\u2019s important to recognize that some men may react negatively or be adversely impacted by such images.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the research, which was co-written by Linda Tuncay Zayer, of Loyola University, Chicago, six themes emerge from the analysis that reveal how men respond to ad depictions of ideal masculinity. Half of the themes \u2013 skepticism, avoidance and indifference \u2013 are negative, while the others \u2013 enhancement, striving and chasing \u2013 skew positive, with men seeing advertising as more of a motivational tool to enhance a certain aspect of themselves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Although much research has examined the negative impact of advertising depictions on women and children, very little is known about the impact on men, Otnes says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe research is a first step toward developing an in-depth understanding of the responses and meanings appropriated to masculinity by Generation X consumers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n It also holds implications for advertisers and marketers, who can use the contributions from the research to \u201cemploy masculine themes in advertising more effectively and ethically,\u201d Otnes says.<\/p>\n \u201cAs much as academics and some practitioners have called for responsibility in media messages targeting women and girls, attention also should be paid to men and boys,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n According to Otnes, men\u2019s responses to ads, as well as their consumer behaviors in general, are issues that are especially relevant in today\u2019s marketplace. The main shopper in 32 percent of U.S. households is male, according to a study by Nielsen and the NPD Group, which is why it is more important than ever for advertisers and marketers to \u201cfind ways to appeal effectively to the male segment, and to do so in an ethical manner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople build up certain offensive and defensive strategies when they look at ads<\/strong>,\u201d Otnes said. \u201cIf they feel threatened by an ad, it may actually bleed over into the way they feel about that product<\/strong>. So if a man is turned off by how males are portrayed in an advertisement, he\u2019ll say, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be that guy\u2019 \u201d \u2013 and that\u2019s the end of his relationship with that brand. So teasing out what\u2019s offensive from a sociological or cultural perspective is important.\u201d<\/p>\n The male market demographic is \u201cway, way more fragmented\u201d than once believed, Otnes says.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of ads directed at males are still dominated by \u2018The Player,\u2019 \u2018The Beer Drinker\u2019 or \u2018The Buddy,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cBut those stereotypes don\u2019t actually fit the vast majority of males. Advertisers and marketers need to broaden the spectrum, and create campaigns centered on more of the actual roles that men play \u2013 \u2018The Dad,\u2019 \u2018The Husband\u2019 and \u2018The Handyman.\u2019 Those types of ads weren\u2019t easy to find at the time we were doing our research.\u201d<\/p>\n The study was published in the book Gender, Culture, and Consumer Behavior<\/em>, co-edited by Otnes and Zayer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Illinois press release: The male response to depictions of ideal masculinity in advertising is typically negative, which has implications for advertisers and marketers targeting the increasingly… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[153,96,364,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5277,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5201\/revisions\/5277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/FashionableMan.jpg\" "\\"ideal")
The male response to depictions of ideal masculinity in advertising is typically negative<\/strong>, which has implications for advertisers and marketers targeting the increasingly fragmented consumer demographic, according to research from a University of Illinois marketing expert.<\/p>\n