Advertising Essay
The Urban Cowboy Ever flip through a men's magazine such as Gentlemen's Quarterly or Maxim and wonder if their advertisements are the same as a women's fashion magazine? Do their ads focus on health, fashion and beauty as much as a women's magazine? The ads today relate to every type of man whether you are a family man, a playboy, gentlemen, an average Joe, a playful youth, a metro sexual or a man's man such as the cowboy. Many men have never been exposed to more than the basic clothing and grooming products. The trick is to let them know the new genre of products is beneficial to their image. This can be done through targeted informational ads in magazines, television ads during sports events, newsletters, magazine editorials, and online web sites for products. By placing an importance on physical appearance, advertisers today have molded the standard American male into the "Urban Cowboy". Advertisers today use many modes to attract and keep the male audience. Selling products to males that are normally associated to women, advertisers today use masculine symbols, language and imagery, and sex to sell their products. Traditionally men are not supposed to care about their appearance and looks, but with these television shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and these men's magazine continuing to grow in their popularity, the male role has changed quite a bit moving from being a power force to a combined gender role with the masculine and feminine modes (Barthel 172), For example in the magazine GQ there is an ad for Jones of New York. It is a full page glossy ad with a handsome man wearing a very sleek, sophisticated sharp black suit. Right next to the man there is a gorgeous woman in a beautiful bright green dress standing beside him. This ad appeals to the man by saying that is you buy a suit from Jones of New York that you too can have this beautiful woman by your side. Not only they are using the masculine symbol of success and wealth,
Cited: Barthel, Diane. "A Gentlemen and a Consumer." Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on
Popular Culture for Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martine 's, 2003. 171-181
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