Score advert and wider reading

Media Factsheet - Score hair cream

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can download it here if you use your Greenford login details to access Google Drive.

Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

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

Women are represented as objects and the Score advert reflects this as the women in the image are shown as prizes for his new hair.

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

Women were represented as a domestic house wife who works to care for her husband.

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.

The man being surrounded by many women connotes patriarchy as he is placed on top but this also reinforces the traditional idea that men are allowed to cheat and have other women. This also links to Mulvey's male gaze theory that women are treated and represented as objects for male pleasures.

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

According to Propp's character theory, the man would be the hero as he is placed at the top and is being praised by others. His gun reinforces this idea as he is shown as the protector of others and his framing of him at the top shows how he is at the top of the hierarchy of power.

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

They may have desired the product to gain power like the man and many women may have been upset but didn't say anything due to the inequality. However, a 2020 audience, both male and female, may find this advert upsetting.

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?

 They use direct address to include the audience in the advert suggesting that they understand and provide the audiences wants and needs.

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

van Zoonen suggests gender is constructed through society which Score's advert shows as the women represented are depicted as the general needs in a women that men wanted, a object. 

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

Masculinity is not in crisis as we see the reinforcements of male stereotype sin this advert such as the phallic symbol being a gun as well as his position being at the top.

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)?

We can see how this man in the advert attracts many women which may link to decriminalisation of homosexuality as it may be supporting relationships which involve multiple partners.

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

The jungle setting as well as the gun prop relates to post colonialism as we see how this advert shows how Britain clings onto its past.

Wider reading

The Drum: This Boy Can article

Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:

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

We are not talking enough about male struggles and empowering the wrong sex.

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

Instead of the usual stereotypes like in the Score advert, they promote male, fluid identity.

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

"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?

Changes in family dynamics have led to different marketing tactics.

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?

"Now we have our platform and our point of view ... it doesn’t matter who you want to be and we will support that."