It's all about the money. Folks interested in selling you their wares try to strike up an identity for a targeted consumer to relate to. Yes, sometimes it's tongue-in-cheek such as the many retrosexual references in beer commercials. But then men are in their "retrosexual" mode when drinking beer and watching sports, no? With men smashing men, cheerleaders on the sidelines, and ethanol involved, guys are in the business of getting in touch with their inner bad boy.
But some of these ads are downright insulting, and some of the TV shows so silly that frankly I'm glad I spend almost all my free time either with family or in the gym. It makes you think that the average person out there is a complete moron. Or maybe advertisers are missing the mark?
Another case in point... R J Tilly Plumbing and Heating here had a series of ads where a guy was a buffoon trying to plan kitchen or bathroom remodeling, and the woman saved the day with the phone number of R J Tilly. Maybe... Maybe there's a market of man-hating women out there with plumbing issues. (Ooo, we could go a ways with that one...
) But really... I have kitchen remodeling in the near future, and that company isn't getting my money. Let's just say they don't speak to me. Maybe they don't. Maybe they really do want to take advantage of people who don't know better. Whatever, it's their loss of a major market segment.This article today on AOL was something I found both funny and interesting.
Big mistake. Guys generally can't be "shamed" into spending their money.A couple of years ago, you couldn't escape the metrosexual. He was everywhere, with his Paul Smith pinstripes, $100 haircuts and chemical tan. This character became so much a part of the zeitgeist that some regular guys began wondering if they were metrosexual. He seemed hip and urban. Women, it was said, loved him because he smelled good and knew gabardine from twill. And if a man wasn't a metrosexual, he risked being tagged as the metro's alter ego: the retrosexual, a guy's guy who wouldn't be caught dead wearing chartreuse.
Drum roll, please...In the Age of the Metrosexual, mission shopping (know what I want, know where to get it) was out. A visit to Barneys (BNNY) or Nordstrom (JWN) became an indulgence in style. On cable, ratings soared as the Fab Five of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy repurposed the style-challenged as hip and urbane. Condé Nast Publications jumped in with Cargo, a shopping magazine (of all things) for men. From the image factories of Madison Avenue came a slew of ads aimed at the new, preening male shopper. And the folks in white lab coats got busy cooking up lotions and potions with names like Nivea for Men Revitalizing Eye Relief Q10.
Now Madison Ave has turned on the metrosexual. Why?
Duh!!!Because he's half the man he was cracked up to be. Not only is this archetype too feminine for most men, he's also pretty rare -- maybe one- fifth of the U.S. male population, according to a recent study by Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc.
Idiots! Where is the money, and how do you get men to part with it?As for the retrosexual, star of the sophomoric beer ad, he's not that common either. Put all the metros and retros together, and they probably add up to fewer than two in every five men, says Leo Burnett.
So who is the elusive man in the middle of the two extremes? Truth is, marketers are only beginning to understand the secrets of the male shopper. It stands to reason that just as women break down into subsectors, so do men. By targeting just the metro and the retro, Mad Ave has been ignoring half the male population.
Amen!The challenge will be reaching these men and moving beyond the heavy focus on the extremes. "Men are portrayed in a buffoonish, sophomoric way or as sensitive, feminized men," says Erv Frederick, who heads the Miller Lite brand. "The bulk are somewhere in the middle, and those are men who haven't been spoken to." No lie. According to Leo Burnett, 79% of American men say they can barely recognize themselves in advertisements.
Indeed. But I guess in the end it was all about trying to get guys to buy crap they don't want to buy anyhow, and feeling good about themselves. But even that concept misses the mark. It makes you wonder what kind of people come up with these inane ideas. (I have ideas...)As the South Park creators knew instinctively, the metro was ripe for satire and snickers. For many straight men, the handle has gay overtones. For macho dudes, it spells s-i-s-s-y. And even guys comfortable with their inner female are loath to call themselves metrosexual.
More here.
Revealed! Secrets of the Male Shopper
- Bill
