Advertising: Score Hair Cream Case Study

Media Factsheet - Score hair cream

1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?

Advertising agencies in the 1960s relied less on market research and leaned more toward creative instinct in planning their campaigns. Steering clear of portrayals of elitism, authoritarianism, reverence for institutions and other traditional beliefs, ads attempted to win over consumers with humour, candour and, above all, irony. Copy was still used to offer an explanation of the product and to pitch to the consumer but the visuals took on a greater importance.The “new advertising” of the 1960s took its cue from the visual medium of TV and the popular posters of the day, which featured large visuals and minimal copy for a dazzling, dramatic effect. Print ads took on a realistic look, relying more on photography than illustration, and TV spots gained sophistication as new editing techniques were mastered. The score advert reflects this change as the print advert is a photograph with models on it, and perhaps Score does provide a bit of humour due to the phallic symbols and the fact that the women are carrying the man on a carrier. 

2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?

Post-war British advertising campaigns were characterised by effectively reinforcing the idea that a woman's place was in the home. Ironically, during the Second World War, propaganda posters had convinced women that their place was on farms and in factories while the men were fighting. Post-war and now surplus to requirement in the workplace, the advertising industry stepped in to provide a new 'propaganda' campaign one which made women feel useful in the domestic area. 

3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image? You may wish to link this to relevant contexts too.

In the Score hair cream advert, the women are dressed in very revealing clothes that represent 'jungle', 'hunter' clothing which reinforce the post-colonial values as well. The male in the advert is also seen wearing 'hunter' clothing and is seen grinning and holding a gun, which portrays a phallic symbol, reinforcing that masculinity and sexual dominance. In the background we also see a jungle setting through the leaves/ plants as well as the male in the advert is on a throne which again links to the colonialist values about a white western male fighting off primitives to save his own tribe and is seen as a 'hero'

4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?

The Score advert identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’ in this narrative. The image infers that he is ‘exulted’ as the hunter-protector of his ‘tribe’. The adoration and availability of the females are his reward for such masculine endeavours. This quite clearly has an appeal to the target audience of younger men who would identify with the male and aspire to share the same status as him. 

5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in the 2020s?

The 1967 male audience might read the narrative as ironic and humorous however it is unlikely that they would challenge the underlying ideology implicit within the advert. Females, although not the target audience, might read the gender representations in an oppositional way but at the same time accept its representation of a patriarchal society as normal or inevitable, Modern audiences (2020s) are more likely to respond in a different way and are more aware of the of its sexist narrative, is outdated and for some offensive. 

6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?

Score hair cream advert uses persuasive techniques by providing a packed shot of the actual hair cream so that customers know what the product actually looks like, Score also uses humour and irony which was a common advertising technique in the 1960s in order to win over customers. The anchorage text 'Get what you've always wanted' brings in a masculine audience especially younger males who would admire and identify with the male in the advert and aspire to share the same status as him which is having so many women admire him. The product information contains very masculine ideologies such as 'Made by men for men' which reinforces that hyper-masculinity. 

7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?

van Zoonen argues that gender is constructed through discourse and that it's meaning varies according to the cultural and historical context. The 'Score' advert constructs a representation of women that is typical of the late 1960s and accepted as 'normal'. The woman in the advert are similarly dressed to Jane Fonda in the film 'Barbarella' (released in the same year). Women in this era were largely represented as either domestic servants or sex objects and in the advert 'Score' they can be considered both servant and sex object. Like Laura Mulvey, van Zoonen argues that in mainstream media texts the visual and narrative codes are used to objectify the female body. 

8) How could David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?

David Gauntlett argues that both media producers and audiences play a role in constructing identities. The role of the producer in shaping ideas about masculinity is clear in the Score advert, which is undoubtedly similar to countless other media texts of that era. Surrounded by such representations, 1960s men would inevitably use these to shape their own identities and their sense of what it means to be a man in the mid-twentieth century.

9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?

The 1960s are thought of as a period of contestation and change, supported by iconic images of student revolt, anti-war protests and the 1967 summer of love. However, 1967 can be seen in actuality as a period of slow transformation in western cultures in terms of changing attitudes towards the role of men and women in society, something that the Score advert can be seen to negotiate. Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. For males growing up in the 1970s and 1980s being labelled “queer” was a direct challenge to one’s manhood. Male grooming adverts in these two decades predominantly represented the user as a ‘real man’, employing brand ambassadors like the footballer Kevin Keegan and boxer Henry Cooper to promote Brut deodorant and after-shave.

10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?

The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of the British Empire. Paul Gilroy argues that despite the passing of empire, the white western world still

exerts its dominance through cultural products. In Hollywood film, for example, the white male (usually American) plays the role of the hero, who inevitably saves the (dependent) world from disaster. The Score advert follows a similar narrative. The jungle setting, the gun, the throne all infer that the white western male has been successful in fighting off primitives or dangerous animals to save his own tribe.

Wider reading

The Drum: This Boy Can article

1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?

The writer suggests that we may be facing a 'growing boy crisis' as we could be empowering the wrong sex, women are woefully underrepresented in boardrooms with casual sexism and unconscious bias however the difference is that we are all familiar with the narrative around tackling these issues, thanks to groundbreaking campaigns. However, the writer believes we are much less equipped to talk about the issues affecting boys. There’s an unconscious bias that males should simply ‘man up’ and deal with any crisis of confidence themselves. The reality is that men commit suicide more than women, and are more likely to drop out of education and get involved in crime, drugs and binge-drinking. Moreover, as women are increasingly empowered, many men feel increasingly disempowered, accentuating these social problems.

2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?

The Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing as Lynx/Axe found when it undertook a large-scale research project into modern male identity, men are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a ‘successful’ man in 2016, and to relieve the unrelenting pressure on them to conform to suffocating, old paradigms. This insight led to the step-change ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign from the former bad-boy brand.

3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?

Campaigner David Brockway, who manages the Great Initiative’s Great Men project, urges the industry to be “more revolutionary”, particularly when it comes to male body image, which he says is at risk of following the negative path trodden by its female counterpart. “We’re seeing a huge rise in eating and body image disorders among young men. We can’t isolate the cause. Advertising plays its part. A 13-year-old boy of average build in one class recently told me seeing an ad made him feel fat. He didn’t mean a bit out of shape. He meant everything that goes with that feeling such as seeing himself as lazy, unaccomplished and incapable.” In order to prevent a full blown crisis of self-worth, Brockway advocates that advertisers “totally reinvent gender constructs” and dare to paint a world where boys like pink, don’t like going out and getting dirty, or aren’t career ambitious, for example.

4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?

“In the US men are running household budgets now. If brands don’t recognise this, they are going to lose out because they’re increasingly ignoring their potential biggest audience. We hear a lot about women’s voices needing to be heard, but in FMCG men are a strangely silent group.” As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing– but advertising is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal.

5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?

As touched on already, Lynx/Axe has attempted to get the conversation rolling with its U-turn ‘Find

Your Magic’ and, while admirable, it’s not the game-changing calibre of Always, Dove and Sport

England. To be fair on Fernando Desouches, Axe global brand development director, he knows that. And, as he says, you’ve got to “set the platform” before you explode the myth. “This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad] are attractive. Now we have our platform and our point of view, we can break the man-bullshit and show it doesn’t matter who you want to be, just express yourself and we will support that. “What being a man means, and what ‘success’ means, is changing and this change is for the good. The message hasn’t exploded yet but we will make it explode. We will democratise it.”