The pragmatic-semiotic construction of male identities in contemporary advertising of male grooming products

Abstract

This article aims to unveil how male identities are constructed in a corpus of male toiletry TV ads through a pragmatic and multimodal analysis of a set of implicit assumptions conveyed about the male participants in the ads. The validity of these assumptions is first empirically tested with a group of 10 male informants and then those implied meanings are bundled into thematic cores for their qualitative and quantitative description. Findings reveal that these ads still rely on stereotypical constructs and traditional discourses of what it takes to be a man. For example, men are invited to consume grooming products but reminded to do it the men’s way. Men are also reminded of their sexual power to seduce and attract women with the aid of the product. Likewise, by portraying male ad personae in traditional manly activities while emphasizing their toughness and body strength, or their resourcefulness when faced with challenging situations, the ads portray a rather skewed view of contemporary men, which fails to take into account the myriad roles a modern man can play in contemporary societies.

Analisis Multimodal pada Teks Iklan untuk Mengidentifikasi Aspek Ketulusan Iklan

“…Pola informasi yang disajikan perusahaan adalah pola deduksi dari fakta, data, dan minat konsumen tentang sesuatu produk, sedangkan konsumen menginginkan informasi yang rinci dan jujur tentang produk itu. Selain itu, perusahaan juga tidak jarang mereduksi informasi, bahkan informasi utama tentang kelebihan dan kekurangan produk yang diiklankan (Ain et al, 2023;Del Saz-Rubio, 2019). Di sisi lain, konsumen akan langsung memiliki interpretasi dan ekspektasi terhadap sebuah produk dari konten iklan yang dipublikasikan yang terkadang tidak sesuai dengan kenyataan.…”

“…Aspek sosiopragmatik menitikberatkan pada bagaimana bahasa digunakan dalam masyarakat. Kesadaran konsumen terhadap ketulusan tertentu memiliki pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap aset merek seperti pengakuan terhadap merek, niat beli, dan loyalitas terhadap merek (Bolognesi & Lievers, 2020;Del Saz-Rubio, 2019). Di sisi lain, dalam bidang psikologi, ketulusan diartikan sebagai nilai, keyakinan, pikiran, dan perasaan individu sesuai dengan diri yang sebenarnya dan jujur pada dirinya sendiri.…”

Utilising Mood Boards as an Image Elicitation Tool in Qualitative Research

“…Ronny also establishes clear body aspirations via his engagement with UFC 1 stating ‘oh my god imagine if I could look like that’. This demonstrated that media images play a role in how the men articulate their emotions related to body envy and how they establish aspirations for their own bodies (Saz and Rubio, 2019). That is, men are exposed to hegemonic archetypes of male bodies that are used to evaluate their own bodies.…”

The construction and meaning of EasyJet airline 2016 advertisements

“…There have been several studies that examine advertising using a semiotic approach, among other are Firdaus (2018), Yücel (2019), Ardhianto and Son (2019), Wong (2019), andDel Saz-Rubio (2019). Focusing on French advertisements, Syahdini (2019) studied the connotation in a video advertisement by L'Oreal Paris; while Fatma (2021) analyzed various images in telephone operators' advertisements in Tunisia, and Yasmine (2021) focused on the existence of hidden meanings in the advertisements of the most widely used products during the Covid-19 pandemic in France.…”