What Persuades Men

It is interesting to note that in my research it appears that advertising may seem fifty-fifty between men ad women, however, it is women who do most of the shopping. Women purchase over 85% of all products. They also influence the buying decisions of 95% of all goods and services. Surprisingly, women purchase over 50% of all products classified as "male products." (http://bpsoutdoor.com/articles/gender.htm)

Males tend to be very specific when they go shopping buying what they need and then leaving. Men don't pay attention to detail more often than not it is women who care for details of the house, family and themselves. Advertisers know this and hit men in their most primal instincts, pretty girls and big things that make them feel macho. Advertisers do so because they know that men are more resistant to advertisements so the impact of advertising must be more intense to arouse their attention.

Men are now being aggressively advertised to as women have been. In doing so men are seeing the image on 'man' that they must live up to. This ideal man is emblazoned in GQ and Maxim usually with a very attractive girl. The man is muscular, hairless, well dressed and usually has an aura of power that surrounds him.

Advertisers are employing the same techniques they have applied to the female ads and in doing so we can see an emergence in products and sales reaching across the male population in areas such as skin care and fashionable accessories.
"But the marital aids the modern male buys do not manage to disguise his dissatisfaction with his love life…his real affections are reserved for the idealized, immortal image of himself that is reflected back at him in the million brilliant mirrors of magazines, newspapers, advertising…TV, cinema and video….shampoos, soaps, etc, - that remind our mortal man of his imperfection by bringing him back to his own humdrum reflection and thus feeding his longing for the idealized form."(Simpson ,1994, P 97)

This emerging desire that one is not enough in the public and individual eye is prevailing in male aesthetic culture through the use of unattainable looking models for the average Joe. As well, advertisers will use symbols of power, prestige and an overall attractive image to entice the male customer.

Lisa Ramdial
Student,
Communication Studies Program, Social Science Division,
York University, Toronto