Advertising's most fundamental function is to sell products, but in order to do so, advertising must also shape the values and norms of the culture. One of the most obvious ways advertising shapes social norms and cultural values is through the representations of gender and sexuality. Few products other than adult toys, condoms, and others of an overtly sexual nature offer as much potential to shape, play with, and manipulate gender and sexuality than undergarments. In an advertisement for its line of men's underwear, the company Under Armour promotes an ordinary product by claiming that it has an erotic appeal. The fine print of the advertisement states mainly that the underwear is comfortable and can keep the wearer "cool and dry," but the image speaks more about the way the underwear will confer grand sexual prowess and status on the males who wear it. Although the Under Armour advertisement is powerful and effective, it highlights some of the problematic features of consumer culture including fetishism and chauvinism.
The Under Armour advertisement depicts a male model wearing a pair of otherwise nondescript black underpants. Appearing as a full-page advertisement in a magazine, the image showcases the physique of the man wearing the underwear. His is an idealized male body akin to ancient Greek statues in which each muscle is finely chiseled and honed. The man is broad shouldered and stands stiffly, at attention in an almost military fashion but given the presence of a woman on the bed behind him, the viewer feels as if we have interrupted a private moment. The look on the man's face appears to be something like, "What are you doing here?" Behind him, in the background of the image but no less important, is a woman wearing a silky gown that happens to blend in with the satin pillowcases. The continuity of the woman's garments and the pillowcases suggest that she is simply part of the furniture; the woman is something to be sat on and used. She exists, as the title of the ad boldly asserts, "for the benefit of mankind."
The woman also sits in a provocative pose with one thigh exposed and a gaze that looks straight into the camera. A brick wall implies that the couple is in a sleek urban loft, and the grey minimalist color scheme has a stereotypical American male aesthetic. Given that urban lofts are expensive to live in, the advertisement also bears a potent subtext related to the way sexually attractive men have social status and can use their sexuality in tandem with financial power. Sex, money, and power are intimately connected. The Under Armour advertisement therefore exposes pre-existing gender norms regarding aesthetics and lifestyle.
Moreover, the advertisement exhibits the power and potency of heterosexuality and reinforces gender roles because the man is visibly imposing and looming large over the woman he has just bedded. The title of the ad is "For the Benefit of Mankind," clearly showing that it is "mankind" and not "womankind" that benefits from heteronormativity. The main goal in sexually-charged advertising is, as it is with most "for the benefit of mankind"-style pornography, "power over another, either by the physical dominance or preferred status of men or what is seen as the exploitative power of female beauty and female sexuality," (Kilbourne, "Two Ways," 459). This is why the designers of the advertisement deftly position the huge male figure front and center and demonstratively dominating the woman who blends in with his sheets. He has conquered her via the power of his amazing new underwear.
One of the most striking features of the Under Armour advertisement is the way sexuality is linked with underwear. The company clearly wants to market its product as one that consumers will link with male virility, as opposed to other qualities such as comfort or durability. Ironically, the text printed below the image fails to mention eroticism or sexuality at all. The text printed below the image focuses on the pragmatic traits of the undergarment, such as the "lightweight" fabric that keeps one "cool and dry," when at the gym, and which is stretchy and "breathable." Nothing in the printed text suggests sexuality, and the company Under Armour is much more noted for their athletic wear than their underwear. This particular advertisement shows how marketing "fetishizes products, imbues them with an erotic charge," (Kilbourne, "Two Ways," 459). The company clearly wants to attract a consumer who goes to the gym in order to buff up and look good in order to attract members of the opposite sex. Under...
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