An episode of a boxing podcast that I recently listened to was sponsored by a ‘manscaping’ company. The two presenters were chatting about how great this male grooming tool was… lightweight, quick to recharge and in no danger of “nicking the delicate skin down there.”
I’ll be honest, I had a giggle to myself.
Adverts on boxing media usually relate to gambling or Sky Sports so I wasn’t expecting to hear two middle aged pundits discussing their body hair, before updating me on the heavyweight action from the weekend.
How times have changed, or have they?
Marketing Hat On
Let’s start with the obvious. Boxing remains a male dominated sport with a male dominated following, so of course it’s logical to advertise products aimed at men on this podcast.
What caught my attention with the manscaping ad was the giant shift away from the toxic masculinity of the not-so-distant past, where ‘real men’ weren’t supposed to care about their appearance beyond a quick shower and a skoosh of aftershave. Of course, I’ve certainly seen plenty of adverts for shaving products, deodorant, and skincare for men but ‘below the waist landscaping’ is a whole new ball game.
Are there lots of adverts like this that I’m oblivious to? As a woman I’m obviously not the target market for this product so digital marketers won’t be targeting my feed. And I don’t read the sports pages of traditional media so I wouldn’t see it there either. So, I asked some male friends and colleagues whose expression said it all. Manscaping adverts would be a surprise, and a source of banter for them too. Does that mean the advert has worked? Getting people talking is a good place to start but what about sales? I’d love to know.
I’d also love to create the copy for a campaign like this, imagine the brainstorming session!
So, is it a sharp move on the marketer’s part or are the results a little fuzzy? I’ll be tuning into the Pound for Pound podcast again so let’s see how smoothly this turns out.
Have A Word
The second marketing campaign that has caught my eye also targets men but sadly it’s nothing to laugh or joke about. Created by Ogilvy and commissioned by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the ‘Have A Word’ campaign aims to ‘challenge the sexist attitudes and inappropriate behaviours exhibited by some men in order to tackle the epidemic of misogyny and violence against women and girls.’
‘Research by UN Women UK indicated that 71 per cent of all women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space with this number rising sharply to 86 per cent among 18-24 year olds.”
The campaign is supported by premier league football and rugby clubs who will promote it at major sporting events in the coming months. The message ‘have a word with yourself, and then your mates’ will be promoted throughout the stadiums, including written on mirrors in the toilets. The campaign website provides guidance on how to safely have those conversations, acknowledging that it isn’t always easy to speak up.
I’ve never in my life seen an advert that firmly placed the responsibility for those conversations onto men. Have you?
The issue of violent and controlling behaviour towards women is as old as time. So clearly it’s more than a shift in conversation that needs to happen but this advert is powerful and change starts with small steps.
Education, poverty, prison sentences, alcohol, and drugs… there are lots of factors and reasons why violence against women (and the children impacted by it too) continues to be a huge issue in our society.
I am not qualified to add further comment but the whole point of this section of my blog is to give you things to ponder. So please watch the video and visit the links below if you’d like to learn more.
Scottish Govt Policy on Violence Against Women and Girls
Scottish Women’s Aid website – 24 hr free helping call 0800 027 1234
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