WMST 205
9/22/2018
Blog #1
Prompt 1
The cultural artifact that I choose for my blog post is a
picture of the most interesting man in the world in a dos equis beer
advertisement. In the photo it is obvious that dos equis is promoting their
different beers, the green (lager) and brown (amber) bottles. Although in the
picture the beers are just on the table, it is what’s around the beers that is
sending the message. The world’s most interesting man, who is perceived as
masculine and successful since he’s wearing a suit and is surrounded by two
beautiful women. The advertisement is sending the message that if you drink dos
equis beer you too will be like the world’s most interesting man.
Prompt 2
My cultural artifact states which gender is the center of
attention which in this case is the man. He is presented as the dominate man in
the photo. His nice suit and beard are definite signs of masculinity. Wearing a
suit, a lot of times symbolize success so being a successful older gentleman clearly
defines he is the masculine in the photo. The women in the photo are
represented as “eye candy”. They are eye candy because of their beautiful
looks, nice dresses, and expensive jewelry they have on. By the looks of the
photo, the women are hanging on to his every word. They are so attracted and
into the man which reinforces the idea that women are just around to please the
man. Another way it reinforces the traditional ideas of femininity is their
posture. Both of the women are tilted towards the man as he is the point of
reference.
Prompt 3
I feel this specific requirement of gender in pop culture
has impacted me in my own gender identity. It has impacted me because it has reinforced
the idea that drinking beer and having beautiful women around is “manly”. It
makes you seem this way to the outside world, in my case my friends and family
members. The advertisement presents the image that a good-looking man drinking
beer gets girls attracted to him.
Prompt 4
The cultural artifact that I choose is an advertisement photo
of dos equis. The social world that the dos equis advertisement exists and acts
in is for beer drinkers around the world specifically in the United States. The
creators/ producers of the advertisement are the dos equis brand and their marketing
team. The intended audience/ receivers are straight men who like to drink beer.
I completely agree! Its crazy that theres so many ads that present a relationship with men and women that aren't related to the product at all. So many of them imply that if you wear this, drink that, or buy whatever, then you'll attract beautiful women. I wonder if that fantasy actually gets men to buy the products.
ReplyDeleteWe have consitently seen in advertisements that a man srrounded by multiple females can be interpreted as successful, because he can get around with ladies. However, we have hardly seen any advertisement with a female and multiple males; she would be considered as a sl*t. In fact, advertisements expect women to be pretty; that's the sign of success for women.
ReplyDeleteIt's very obvious the man in this ad is meant to be the center of attention. Not only is he placed right in the middle of two women, but all of his face is shown while only part of the two women's faces are shown. It's interesting that beer commercials aren't normally targeted to women even though women drink beer as well. It may just be that the people who run these companies are used to old advertising techniques that show women as nothing more than eye candy.
ReplyDeleteI think you have covered the most important message being passed on by the ad. Although, I can't help but notice a few things about the man behind Dos Equis Advertisment. He is older which implies being wise and his clothes express success. However, he is also Caucasian and I believe it is somewhat disconcerting that Dos Equis has not made an attempt to include other races as the character. It is obvious that they took that into consideration with the women showing only 2 and each being different skin color. It makes you wonder if these companies really think their advertisement thoroughly trying to pick out any ideas that could be seen as odd by the viewer. I mean, calling a white older male in the middle of two ladies the "most successful man in the world" really draws the attention to what the company believes society view as successful man.
ReplyDeleteHey, Justin. I completely agree with your whole blog, I for one have seen many commercials with this one man and this beer. and in all of them he is surrounded by women and has that beer with him. I agree that they portray him as the most powerful man, in a suit, with beer, and surrounded by beautiful women. I also agree with the fact that you said that they woman are. portrayed as eye candy because they are just sitting here watching him drink this beer. really enjoyed your blog!
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting and I agree with you. It's kind of crazy to me how many subliminal messages go into a simple beer ad. It's super annoying that this man is seen as masculine because he has multiple women by his side, but unfortunately this is reinforcing traditional gender roles. He is the center of attention mainly because of the women. I don't understand how these values began in society but your blog analyzes it perfectly!
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you analyzed this dos equis advertisement. I thought it was interesting when you wrote about the girls that are leaning in and seem so focused on the guy, i didn't notice that when I first saw the advertisement. This blog made me realize that even though our society has come a long way from its traditional gender role beliefs, we still have work to do. It's interesting to see how companies have gotten so good at advertising their products, this picture could really get guys to drink their beer because they want to be like the guy in the picture. The company wanted to promote their products to huge market of men that like to drink beer and talk to women with this picture. Great ideas!
ReplyDelete