Comments on: A Beauty Regime for the “New Man”

By: Satirizing Advertising for Men’s Personal Hygiene Products » Sociological Images

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:31:25 +0000

[...] for fun, check out our posts on a beauty regime for the “new man,” Burger King shower accessories, Brut deodorant is “still brutally male,” men [...]

By: Andrea Learned

Andrea Learned — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:51:15 +0000

This is almost like seeing “marketing to women” in negative space. There’s this image of the man, the ridiculous terms and this idea that anyone might care THAT much about every layer of their skin, for example. It seems like such a disconnect from reality. For a lot of women, that same page targeted at them simply wouldn’t resonate either. In both cases, I’d say it reflects editors or advertisers that have not really talked lately with the women or men they are pitching. It is true that men are starting to think about skincare a bit – but this will not be the way to get them to buy.

By: GenderEnder

GenderEnder — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:57:17 +0000

Gender is not sex, sex is not gender. The enormity of what is gendered today, and all the expected behavior based on whether one’s genitals are concave or convex is NOT hard-wired into brains and genetic codes. Non-superficial sex differences simply boils down to hormonal differences, which are not nearly as big as you might think. A bit more aggression relative to maternal instinct (simplified, I know) does not divide humanity into opposite wholes. Gender serves to take the differences offered by biology, exaggerate them spectacularly, and toss on completely irrelevant memes to the sexes, embedding themselves like parasites to be mistaken as native tissue, positive feedback loops preserving and perpetuating. When hard physical labor is necessary for sustenance, gender roles can serve some utilitarian purpose. In a society where work is mental and the body is mainly for appearances only, gender only serves to drive a wedge through humankind and artificially homogenize the created halves.

By: Otto

Otto — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:13:31 +0000

Too bad the ad is totally ineffective. Unless they’re marketing to gay men, in which case, well done.

Gender lines exist for a reason, and that reason is that there are differences between how men and women see the world. Pretending that those differences don’t exist is simply ignorant.

By: Ties

Ties — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:13:51 +0000

The way I see it they have pushed enough artificial want unto men that finally advertisement agency feels comfortable enough to not bother anymore. As in not ‘given up’ but more ‘mission complete’. So the ad is both refreshing and sad in my opinion.

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:08:42 +0000

The cosmetic companies have been trying to get men to buy their goop for a while now. This ad is interesting in its approach tho, its like they have finally given up on trying to portray their products as manly.

By: Dawn.

Dawn. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:49:22 +0000

Although I appreciate the lack of desperate masculine posturing, like with the products linked at the end of this article, I generally agree with Alex.

I am a big fan of moisturizers, and I believe everyone, no matter what gender, should take care of their skin. But that’s just common sense. Most beauty regimens hailed in mainstream magazines are simply reinforcing harmful beauty myths in the name of maximizing profits.

I also don’t appreciate the “New Man” title. Thanks for letting us know men are allowed to care about the health of their skin without trying to convince us that it’s way manly, magazine. You are so enlightened and progressive. Except not really at all.

By: Alex W

Alex W — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:22:52 +0000

My first thought was close to abitha’s. Rather than praising this company for presenting skin care as something not gender specific, all I can think is that they are just trying to tap into a new demographic. Also, I don’t think it’s better that now both men and women can distain the nature of time and their own bodies and can fetishize youth to an expensive and unhealthy degree.

By: Bagelsan

Bagelsan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:35:05 +0000

I always laugh when articles/products like this say they’ll “re-energize” you — if I had to spend an hour on my skin and makeup each morning I’d say “Eff this” and just go back to bed afterwards, all tuckered out from all that “buffing” and “transforming” and “correcting.” :p

By: Quib

Quib — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:27:14 +0000

I think my favorite (though I don’t see it here) is “hydrators” instead of moisturizers.
Shower gel for women “moisturizes” while shave gel for men “hydrates”.

By: Elena

Elena — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:36:04 +0000

And it’s not like decent women of those times used visible makeup, either.

By: Bagelsan

Bagelsan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:00:31 +0000

Women are gosh-darn perverts! :D *is one*

By: Chlorine

Chlorine — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:48:02 +0000

And what’s the problem with blurring, or perhaps even entirely doing away with, gender roles? For as often as I hear how men are “visual” and women are not… You go head over to DeviantArt and see what the girls there are swooning over and THEN tell me that women aren’t just as visual as men.

By: abitha

abitha — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:08:38 +0000

I can’t decide whether to be glad that we have sufficient gender equality that this page of male beauty products isn’t completely ludicrous (although it’s still unusual enough to be noteworthy) – or sad that image-obsessed consumerism is increasingly embedding its nasty little claws in men as well as women. I for one remain unconvinced that *anyone* really needs an £80 microdermoabrasion treatment!

By: Ben Zvan

Ben Zvan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:58:56 +0000

Just looking at the titles on the page shown in the image, I’d say that ‘maximizeer,’ ‘revved-up,’ and ‘smooth operator’ are all intended to masculinize the products shown.