Who knows how long it will be until the role of man dominating woman will be reversed. Personally, I would not mind. Compared to back then, advertisements of today are not as obvious about gender assumptions or stereotypes. Today’s advertisements are much more delicate with what they produce. Under Armour produced an ad that was not all that delicate.
Under Armour uses sex and the dominance of male over female as their main point in this advertisement. In this advertisement there is a muscular man standing in his Under Armour underwear with an attractive nude female lying on the bed. It is clear what Under Armour was trying to evoke with this advertisement. They are trying to address the comfort and versatility of the underwear. These underwear’s are comfortable enough for bed and exercise.
After looking past the advertiser’s bland rhetoric and illustration, I analyze the advertisement and find rhetorical tools as well as in depth stereotyping. The words in the advertisement are the first thing that catches my attention. “For the benefit of mankind”, suggest the superiority of men in our society. It also suggests how men generally benefit from things. Lastly, the text shows that women are there to benefit men. The text depicts that women in general are here to serve men. This text is certainly appealing to men. Men are selfish just like this advertisement says so. It is benefiting MANkind. The text could appeal to everyone if it were worded different. Maybe something like, “benefitting everyone”, or something along those lines.
The text, in correlation with the picture, justifies how my analysis of the text depicts the idea that women are there to serve man. The illustration shows an obvious juxtaposition. There are two obvious groups in this advertisement, men and women. They are separated by their height levels. The man is standing and is upfront, while the woman is at a much lower level lying down. This shows the males superiority as well as the woman offering herself to the man.
From the advertisement we know that Under Armour is a performance apparel company. After realizing this, we know that the advertiser is implying that you can perform better in bed if you have that performance underwear. It is through sex that we see gender constructed. Through sex, we see a male as the dominant figure and the woman as the one in need of the male.
It can appear that this advertisement is solely aiming towards men, but I can make the case that it can be appealing to women. This advertisement appeals to women who want their man to be that Under Armour model. It appeals to the woman who wants her man to PERFORM better in bed. It appeals to the woman who wants her man to look better, just like the muscular man in the advertisement.
Looks like I know what to add to my Christmas list.
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