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Jabari Miles
Professor Corri Ditch
English 113A
02 November 2015
Dont Let The Muscles Fool You
In todays civilization, the media has a major impact on how gender performance
is judged and influenced in society. The media uses things like commercials, models, and
advertisements to shape the representation of gender roles in society. For example, Old
Spice uses their advertisement starring Terry Cruz as a representation of hyper
masculinity to show how men are expected to be dominant in society. Most men will feel
obligated to look or perform the masculine activities like Crews because his body is over
exaggerated in Old Spices commercial. This progression may lead to numerous men
feeling insecure and unconfident in themselves and society believing that all men are
hyper masculine, when in reality, some men act feminine naturally, but these Old Spice
commercial may trigger some men to also become hyper masculine.
In this advertisement, Old Spice displays Terry Crews standing in a bathroom
with Old Spice deodorant in his hand, while his other hand is placed on his waist with no
shirt on. Terry Crews is shown flexing his muscles while yelling throughout the entire
commercial about the qualities Old Spice possesses. During the ad, Crews isnt wearing a
shirt purposely so that he can show off his muscles to then audience. He also isnt
wearing any pants, but shows only his boxers. Crews also frequently states over and over
again about how Old Spice gives you power. To start to ad, Old Spice shows a different
product advertisement with a women persuading the audience, but all of a sudden Terry

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Crews breaks in the middle of the commercial and screams about how the product
doesnt have as much power as Old Spice.
In Sut Jhallys The Codes of Gender: Identity & Performance in Popular Culture,
Jhally says that gender identity is not natural and that in Western culture, gender is
typically thought of as either masculine or feminine. Gender performance is based on
expectations of society and these expectations are largely influenced by media, especially
advertising. Everyday, men and women are affected by advertisements that influence the
way they see their own appearance. Commercials that have role models like Terry Crews
give most men a certain mindset that they need to get bigger, and give some women
beliefs that they arent as powerful or tough as males.
This advertisement is communicating that men are supposed to be dominant and
tough. Terry Crews has his shirt off to show off his muscles, which communicates that
men should be just as powerful. Also, that whenever men use Old Spice, they should feel
just as manly as Crews. As we move through our lives, society demands different
gender performances from us and rewards, tolerates, or punishes us differently for
conformity to, or digression from, social norms (Devor). A majority of men would feel
that they are too weak or not as powerful when they see the huge Terry Crews on the Old
Spice commercial. Moreover, I think Old Spice is saying that to be manly or
powerful, men should use Old Spice because they will look and act just like Terry
Crews. As I said before, Terry Crews states over and over again about how Old Spice
gives you power, and I believe that this will lead most men to believe that they dont
have power in themselves if they dont use Old Spice. I also stated before that Old
Spice shows a different product advertisement with a women persuading the audience,

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Terry Crews ruins the commercial by screams about how the product doesnt have as
much power as Old Spice. I think this can have a huge affect on women because they
would think that they are weak or not as dominant compared to men.
This visual text is doing this so that they will draw appeal to people who want to
smell good and look muscular. Old Spice is mainly trying to attract men from this
advertisement because the more men who get attracted from this product, the more
money the company gets. Everything comes back to business because a majority of
people in America only cares about money more than the impact their advertisement has
on males and females. I also believe that Old Spice is trying to attract men because Old
Spice supposes that they will have most men believing that their product will allow men
to feel masculine. Societys portrayal of men is that all men must be masculine, so Old
Spice made this advertisement specifically for men.
In Aaron Devors Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender,
Devor states how gender role characteristics display the ideology arguments underlying
the dominant gender perception in society. In society, masculine characteristics are used
to identify persons as male. Masculinity is displayed as being dominant or aggressive
deals with egoistic dominance. The perception of dominant genders in society provoke
many men to feel that they are obligated to have characteristics such as power, toughness,
and strength. Various men are then afraid to show their true personalities because they do
not want to be judged by society. If males act any lesser than societys expectations,
many will feel that they will be excluded. These portrayals from society can lead to
masculines desire for power, which can lead to aggression.

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The body is marked by gender, by class, by nationality, ethnicity, by custom
(Orbach); society should not define what the body should look like. Gender identities act
as cognitive filtering devices that command people to listen to and learn gender role
behaviors that are proper to their statuses. Nobody, especially as a civilization, should put
an expectation on a person or group. Numerous males will try to act like someone they
are not because they believe they will be rewarded by society. In reality, these men are
wasting their time to try to impress people around them. No human should worry about
society or the public because they are irrelevant. The more men and women that listen to
the public, the more people become afraid to live their true gender against society.
Losing Bodies by Susie Orbach argues about how commercial pressures disseminated
through the media are reconstructing bodies. Commercials, like Old Spices
advertisement, are giving a majority of men certain pictures in their heads that make them
want to be like the models or celebrities displayed. Males in society generally just want to
buy certain products because they need them in their daily life, but now, these same
males want to buy the products that have men and women in shape or good-looking
because they want to be just like them. This is ironic because almost all of the models in
commercials are being photo shopped and edited to look like someone they are not.
Nobody should give men false images in their heads of people they will never be,
especially if these people are edited or photo shopped.
Orbachs also discusses on how the media shapes gender through hyper
masculinity. The body is marked by gender, by class, by nationality, ethnicity, by custom.
Bodies soon become the calling card of identity and belonging, while supplying
gargantuan profits to the industries that breed body hatred. It is sickening to know that the

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media and people of business make these commercials or advertisements just so that they
can earn money. Several men are being affected everyday by these commercials by
changing who they really are. Men are changing their body image, looks, and mindsets
on how they live their life. As long as technology improves, money will be the only thing
on business peoples minds. It is vital that men do not try to imitate role models and
celebrities. Overtime, many guys will eventually believe in their minds that they are
obligated to have a certain body or image society puts on them.
Leslie Baker-Kimmons and Pancho McFarland discuss their article The Rap On
Chicano And Black Masculinity: A Content Analysis Of Gender Images In Rap Lyrics that
Hip-hop provides an arena in which Blacks and Chicanos exchange culture, ideas, and
intimacies and create new identities and cultural practices. The types of lyrics these artists
have display a hyper masculine mood. Rapping these lyrics can both challenge and affirm
the dominant constructs of male power and privilege. A person listening to these types of
lyrics on the radio or iTunes can make a person think that since a rapper wrote the lyrics,
everything thing he says is true. Just like the rappers, individuals who look at Old Spices
commercials can believe everything Terry Crews says is true.
Some may say that hyper masculinity encourages some men to work out more or
improve their body shape. Other may even say that hyper masculinity is beneficial
because everyone wants to be like them. In my opinion I think hyper masculinity is still
a bad influence on men in society because most men will feel obligated to look or
perform the masculine activities of men they werent born to look like. There are still a
majority of males who lose confidence and become extremely insecure about their
appearances when they see commercials like Old Spices. Although some men value Old

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Spice commercials for their products or encouragement, I believe Old Spice should limit
the over exaggerated use of masculinity in their advertisements.
In todays world, the media uses things like commercials, models, and
advertisements to shape the representation of gender roles in society. For example, Old
Spice uses Terry Cruz as a representation of hyper masculinity to display how males are
expected to be dominant in society. The use of hyper masculinity can lead to numerous
men feeling insecure, unconfident, and apprehensive. Males and females were born with
biological characteristics that define them as the person they are, it is not up to the media
to affect the way individuals think of themselves.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Society Meanings of Gender.
Composing Gender: A Bedford Spotlight Reader (2014): 35-45. Print.
Orbach, Susie. Losing Bodies. Composing Gender: A Bedford Spotlight Reader (2014):
244-251. Print.
Baker-Kimmons, Leslie and Pancho McFarland. "Race, Gender & Class." The Rap On
Chicano And Black Masculinity: A Content Analysis Of Gender Images In Rap
Lyrics 18.1/2 (2011): 331-44. ProQuest. Web.
Dickey, Lore M. and Jhally Sut. "Contemporary Sexuality." The Codes of Gender:
Identity Performance in Popular Culture 45.12 (2011): 9. ProQuest. Web.