Talking to the

new, ‘weaker’ sexPeter Totman, Jigsaw Research

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!”

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!”

Need to listen carefully to hear

this voice

My Heroes (private)

My Heroes (public)

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

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”

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?”

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)”

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”

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)

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)

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?”

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

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?

• 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