Masculinity According to Superbowl Ads

Let’s face it, sometimes the Superbowl advertisements are more entertaining than the game itself (although this year was nice enough to give us an entertaining game with a shocking finish). And nearly every single ad still seems to be marketed towards men, even though the audience has been split nearly 50/50 even back in 2012.

These ads provide us with a very interesting look into how men and masculinity are portrayed in the media during one of the year’s most popular television events. Unfortunately, even today we still see big name companies resorting to tired tropes of what it means to “be a man.”

Early on in the game, we’re presented with an ad from Chevy, showing a group of women claiming that a man standing next to a truck is sexier and more desirable than that same man standing next to a sedan.

Guinness: An Encouraging Portrayal of Masculinity

When you think of beer commercials, there are probably a few stereotypical themes that come to mind, most of which reinforce a narrow definition of what it means to be a successful man in our culture. Guinness, however, recently came out with a new commercial for their beer, which, contrary to many typical beer commercials, is actually promoting a more genuine and healthy display of masculinity.

In their new ad, we see a group of guys playing a competitive game of wheelchair basketball (yes, the sports/competition theme is still present). But we soon see the game end, and all but one of the guys gets up out of their chair while making their way out of the gym. Cut to a shot of the guys at a bar while the voice-over states that, “The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character.” They were aware of the needs of one of their friends and took extra effort in order to include everyone in their game.

Redefining Masculinity

What does it mean to be masculine? Unfortunately for us, our society seems to have a rather damaging and limited definition of masculinity. In American culture, men are deemed masculine when they are in control, showing their physical dominance (over both women and other men), being aggressive and violent, assertive, never taking no for an answer. One of the most important aspects of being a “real man” is also the complete rejection of anything that could be deemed feminine. For some reason, one of the biggest insults to masculinity is to be considered feminine or to posses any traits that might be considered womanly.

What we often don’t realize, however, is just how damaging this definition of masculinity is to not only the men in our society, but to women as well. Men will often turn to violence against each other in order to prove who is more of a man. In order to assert their masculinity, it is common for some men to abuse and even resort to sexual violence against the women in their lives. A key trait of masculinity in our culture is the emphasis placed on being sexual. A “real man” would be able to get any woman he wants, and your degree of manliness is often determined by how many women you have been with.

As a society, we tend to simply take things as they are. We do not realize that masculinity and femininity are simply social constructs; we as a society have defined these terms and given value to these definitions. What is important to realize is that the way that masculinity and femininity are constructed are not the same in different parts of the world or even the same place in different time periods. Those of us living in the United States have a different meaning of masculinity than people living in Denmark, or Spain, or India, or wherever else you go. Even within the United States, masculinity has a different meaning now than it did 100 years ago.

My hope is that together as a society we can start to move past stereotypical definitions of masculinity and broaden the definition to include a more meaningful range of values. For example, it is extremely important in my opinion for a man to be loving towards his family and friends, to share the responsibility of caring for the house and children, to be open about his emotions, to try and solve a problem with words and diplomacy instead of violence. These traits are currently not accepted under the current definition of masculinity in our culture. If we revolutionize the construction of gender and gender roles in our society, I guarantee you that we will see an extraordinary improvement of relations between men and women.

How do you define masculinity (or femininity for that matter)?