Justin's Blog

Seriously though? A guy with a six-pack, trophy on shoulder, tattoos, and he keeps composure as the apocalyptic Mad Max marauders come to kill him. If you buy this cologne, I guess you might be as cool as this guy?

That is the impression that I feel Invictus is trying to leave when I see this ad. The only thing related to cologne is a randomly placed bottle of cologne that looks like, you guessed it, a trophy. Buy this cologne, and you will magically turn into a winner.

On a more serious note, Invictus’ marketing team is clearly trying to associate their product with a positive yet badass male gender identity. This ad screams the macho man stereotype.

Target has been known recently to expand their inclusivity to a variety of models and styles; however, this particular ad is marketed toward young females. The ad draws the consumer’s attention by using bright pink colors and language that labels their swimsuit selection as “feminine”, “fun”, and “unique”.

The ad also mentions that the this style of swimsuits are available for girls, making it obvious that this specific ad appeals to one gender. By using colors like bright pink, Target is actually reinforcing gender construction in young girls.

Covergirl is known for their beauty supplies and makeup, and it is no secret that they primarily advertise to women as their target audience. This advertisement is no exception.

In this Covergirl ad, they are promoting their mascara as a market leader based on the reasons they list to buy their products. The one reason that stuck out to me as a female gender stereotype is the line that says, “No ugly cry face tears.” In my opinion, this plays on the stereotype that women are more emotional and cry more often than men.

I can only think of one product that is comparable that would be primarily advertised to men. The product that comes to mind is eye-black. It is the black lines that football players paint on under their eyes. I would guess there has never been an ad for these products with a tagline that goes something like, “No ugly cry streaks if your team happens to lose the big game.”

This hero banner ad can be found here , on the Covergirl website.

Upon quick inspection, one quickly notices that the American Girl doll company seems to be doing a good job being inclusive with race, but a poor job being inclusive to gender. Their brand is clearly marketing their ad exclusively to the female gender.

This American Girl doll ad is filling the stereotype that dolls are only meant for girls. This ad does this in a few different ways. It is using the color pink, which is usually recognized as a feminine color. The most obvious sign of them all is in the name, American Girl dolls. The next obvious message that dolls are seen as only being for girls is in the tagline “A friend for every girl to grow with”.

This Mr. Clean super bowl ad portrays an animated Mr. Clean dancing with a woman as they use cleaning products to clean the house. He dances around with her in a sexualized fashion. At the end of the ad, text appears that says “You Gotta Love A Man Who Cleans”.

To me, the ad is insinuating that men who clean should be rewarded or seen as doing something out of the norm. I believe the ad is showing the stereotype that women are the cleaners of the average house hold and that men that clean are more attractive then men who do not clean. It suggests that if you are a man and clean, your wife will want to have sex with you.