Download - Peter Totman
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Talking to the
new, ‘weaker’ sexPeter Totman, Jigsaw Research
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Men quietly
welcome
shift in gender
rolesGlimpses of a more:
• Balanced life
• Emotional freedom
• Range and nuance
“It is less compulsory to care about
what (World Cup) group England are
in these days… but just slightly
less!”
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But that night in Turin
wasn’t all it was cracked
up to be
• Acceptability of tears conditional – Gazza
cried for the team!
• Gender expectations still run deep
• Enforced overtly by male friendship group,
implicitly by culture
• Consequences of transgression not trivial
“My mate is an air hostess…well air ‘host’
actually. To avoid us taking the piss he tells
us that he took the job because as all the
other guys would be gay… he could really
clean up!”
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Need to listen carefully to hear
this voice
My Heroes (private)
My Heroes (public)
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So there has been a lot of talk in
adland…
So do men actually
care about how they
are portrayed in
advertising?
• NO
• YES
• Not Saying
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NO:“It’s not pretty but
we just take it on the
chin”
• Typical portrayal - Infantile husband
made to look useless by all-capable
wife with ‘rolling eyes’
• Context : (White) men are the
powerful group – they can take it
“It is boring and relentless and lazy…
but a little pathetic to actually care”
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Yes:
A one-dimensional species !
It’s the life-limiting narrowness of the stereotypes,
not the ‘insults’ that demoralise:
• (Just) “One of the guys”
• Limited/resentful role in family life
• Of limited emotional range – “rather simple
creatures really” – COMEDY ONLY WAY TO
GET THEIR ATTENTION it seems
• No real contact - Ads just feeding back the
‘front’ men feed the world!
“What would an alien think of men if all they saw was
advertising?”
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Not Saying:Which of these big beasts was most critical about male
stereotyping ?
• Women more likely to complain
about derogatory men images
than men?
• “Male Laryngitis” diagnosed in
Australia
• Men don’t complain
because “we will simply be
told we are in the wrong
(again)”
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Not Saying: Real men don’t whine…
• Men take the piss
• They laugh
• They fight
• THEY DON’T WHINE
• They will NOT go mad on social media
• They are a SAFE TARGET
“You don’t want to come over all
Fathers for Justice super hero shit”
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But some brands want a relationship
rather than just a fall guy
Address the macho
codes directly and
humorously
Adopting an unapologetic,
serious tone Talk with psychological
truth about their lives
(HP Sauce)
(Ladbrokes)(UBS)
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Normalise untraditional roles BUT “Don’t patronise us
like we are another set of
victims”
But some brands want a relationship
rather than just a fall guy (2)
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Patting ourselves on the back:
How researchers build relationships
• Assume depth. Don’t make a big deal of it
• Cut through to the complex individual beneath surface:
• “What are you hoping to do with the rest of your life?”
• “I don’t know about you but I sometimes feel pulled in
different directions?”
• “There are days when you want to take on the world,
others when you just want to curl up in bed, right?”
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Not so fast: Do we really do ad development research like this?
• Groups of men who don’t know each other
• Battling for status/acceptance
• Then we expect them to tell us how they really
FEEL
• Imaginative questioning helps but a few depth
interviews would help too
• Or research will simply serve the feedback loop –
ads will simply reflect the ‘group view’ and not
make genuine contact
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Liberate the Creative
departments• Risk aversion in a world of Social Media
• Clients/planners/suits/researchers all telling creatives to BE
CAREFUL!
• Portrayal of women is the sensitive area – and therefore the
joke/edge has to be ‘on’ men
• Male ad guys especially sensitive to accusations of sexism in
their work
• Creatives yearn for more freedom to write for male
audiences - So why not free up men to talk to men as men?
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• Men are not the weaker sex – no need for
championing/celebrating/supporting
• ‘Male Laryngitis’ will continue – no risk of social
media backlash
• But talking to them differently is a brand
opportunity (not a CSR one):
• Circumvent the feedback loop – and talk directly
to individual men
• Comedy is enjoyed but does it cut through?
• Capitalise on men’s (very) latent desire to
further loosen the gender straightjacket
Don’t celebrate us, talk to us