On TV the other day I saw a commercial that I could not help but notice the loud masculinity stereotypes. It is the commercial for Men’s Dial Body Soap. The commercial opens up with men playing tubas and singing that they are “manly manly men”. What does that mean exactly and why do they classify themselves as that? This question is never answered in the commercial. Next a man walks into the spotlight describing the Body Soap while cars are crashing all around him. He is wearing a nice suit and tie, but he has a racecar helmet on his head. Dirt is flying up all around him. The guys playing the tubas flash again on the screen and this time they are yelling “Destroy, Defeat, Defend!” The phrase has doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the soap, unless they were referring to defending against germs. The reason they used those specific words was to stress the fact that they are “manly men”. They are trying to emphasize the idea the real men destroy things, as well as defeat and defend. The next line that the main man says is “Man up your man suit with full body odor protection that smells real nice”. What is the definition of the phrase “man up”? What are they trying to apply that a man should be? The final screen shows the words “Protection from Manstink”. There is no question that this commercial and product is geared towards males.
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