Representation of New Zealand masculinity in beer advertising - Essay Example

Beer and alcohol have played a historical role in defining the New Zealand masculinity. New Zealand culture is saturated with interest in the nature of masculinity. The tradition about New Zealand manhood was shaped by writers and media has been quick to capture and translate them into advertisements. Their ideas are rich with images of masculinity. Why has masculinity been given so much importance in New Zealand and how has the media used this to promote beer campaigns in New Zealand? During peace times rugby was one of the sporting events in which the Kiwis took pride. Rugby gave a feeling of masculinity and enhanced manhood to the Kiwis in the early years. When Edmund Hillary along with tensing reached the world’s highest peak, it was taken as an expression of New Zealand’s Anglo-Saxon manhood. He depicted colonial honesty. This Kiwi hero had a warm and caring heart who dedicated his life to the concern and welfare of the people of the Himalayas. Peter Snell, a gold medalist at the Rome Olympics became the personification of Kiwi manhood. He too had immense muscular strength and was extremely modest. These were connected with masculinity but along with these, the culture of beer and alcohol added to the image of manhood. The New Zealand man had an image of being strong, resilient, and modest. He could hold his own drink, yarn with his mates, and eventually settle down as a family man. Hence, beer, alcohol, muscles, murder, adventurous activities, were all associated with masculinity. What added to the image was that after all this, such a man was even a successful family man. These ‘good keen men’ of Barry Crump won secret admiration from the male counterparts. As family bond strengthened in New Zealand, men started identifying themselves with the traditional heroes and the male culture. Crude language was appreciated and associated with masculinity as when Hillary commented, ‘we knocked the bastard off’, or Peter Jones described himself as ‘buggered’ after the rugby match, it brought them laurels. Heroes like above were considered as ‘good keen men’. Convicts like George Wilder received national admiration for escaping from the prison. There was public acceptance of such elements in men. These were taken as hallmarks of manhood and masculinity. The media in New Zealand took advantage of this image of masculinity and based all their campaigns on it. Media used the landscape as imagery to further enhance the masculinity. It signals the gendered place-identity. Four important factors gave a boost to beer campaigns based on local identity. To increase competition and there by sales, was important as beer consumption had been declining. There was a shift in marketing strategy to sell directly to consumers than through distributors. Licensing was relaxed which opened up opportunities to expand the market share. This too called for intensive campaigns. Then, in 1992, brand advertising for alcohol on television was permitted with certain restrictions. Speight’s beer gave local autonomy to the branches. Number of university and college students increased dramatically and the pub sub-culture had already started. In this new deregulated market, the lion Nathan brand was faced with stiff competition. They wanted to strengthen their regional identification of their brand. Hence, the regional offices stepped up beer promotion by adopting the local culture as the backdrop. One of Speights beer advertisement with two outback men wearing outback clothes and cowboy style hats shows the ruggedness in men, who are ready to face life on a horseback. Men on horse back is to represent the male ego which reigns supreme over animals. The snow covered mountains represent purity. The man in front of the restaurant whose wife is taking away two -thirds of the business, leaves him with the bar portion of the business. He gets the sharper end even if it is the shorter end of the building. This sharpness again is the masculinity enhanced by the Speights beer which has been left to him. The old man on the horse back confirms and adds to his masculine image by saying that it is good on him that he has been left with the bar. The older men are often shown in campaigns as imparting wisdom to the younger generation. Beer has always been considered as the drink of the hard man. Even though the consumption of beer dropped to some extent, beer continued to be associated with masculinity. It corroborates with the image that Barry Crump attempted to build of the strong male characters. Since rugby had been associated with masculinity for a long time, when the Otago rugby provincial team won the national championship, loyalty to the team among fans was seen as loyalty to beer. The Southern Man campaign is very meticulously designed. A lot of attention is given even to a brief TV commercial. The choice of actors for such commercials depends upon the focus research group. Landscape and place in New Zealand advertising is selected which would enhance the masculine image of the product. Initially a Bluff oysterman in oilskins was represented in beer advertisements but it was soon replaced with focus on a single landscape and a single form of work – mustering sheep. The idea behind the landscape selection and the activity of men is to convey the message of ‘unspoiled’ nature and ‘real’ man. All these are meant to reinforce the brand image; they carry the message of being rugged, honest, simple. Such visions or photographic images of men at work are displayed on posters, at the pubs and even on the sides of delivery trucks. Images with men accompanied by dogs and horses, herding sheep on a golden hillside are very common. Man, dog and horse is very commonly used. While all these images try to bring out the masculinity, the heroic image is offset by a dry, self-mocking sense of humor. There is an ironic humor in these advertisements, according to Robin Law. Both male and female readers enjoy these advertisements. The humor is more apparent in the television commercials and not so much in the posters and outdoor media. One commercial shows a local setting, with a young man and an older man resting at dusk by a lake. Both have the distinctive local accent and use the local phrases. The young man announces that a young city girl who he has been seeing for a while wants him to move up to Auckland, can offer him all material comforts but she does not drink Speight’s beer. This advertisement not only won awards but made a great impact on the viewers. It touches the masculinity and the male ego. It shows that beer extends masculinity to man and he is incomplete without it. There have been idealized representations of masculinity in New Zealand. They draw from themes that are used for advertising beer in the western countries. They always show men at hard physical outdoor work, olden men passing on wisdom to the younger generation, and even heterosexuality. Many commercials show how man can dominate over the animal world. That is why the use of dogs, horses, sheep in all their campaigns. Robin Law tries giving emphasis on the place, which adds to the image of the representation of masculinity. Rural background, natural landscape draws on the cultural tradition. Most importantly, in New Zealand, being rural is masculine (showing rugged, simple and honest) and urban is effeminate (polished, delicate, glamour). High Country landscapes again are meant to give an impression of purity and hardness. This conforms to the snow capped peaks as shown in the Speight’s ads where the wife leaves the man with the bar. All media images show steep angle of the horizon, colored with the blue and gold of the sky. In the pubs, the image is bisected into two planes of color, which are meant to echo the orange and blue of the beer can. These resonate with the blue and yellow provincial and university colors. The beer campaigns draw heavily on unspoiled nature, with stripped male bodies, most often accompanied by dogs and horses. This tries to represent that masculinity remains unaffected by modern gadgets and it evokes nostalgia for simpler times. The train in a commercial depicts the drain of resources. The men are shown as resisting this by switching signals. Their actions seems bold but futile. Such anachronisms and the economically marginal site convey the anxieties of the viewers about their place in the world. The anxiety to move northwards after completing their tertiary education is a dilemma. The beer ads tend to resolve this dilemma by showing that consuming Speight’s beer one can remain true to oneself. Such ads not only represent an environment but also create an environment. Thus, we find that media represented masculinity in various forms. Beer is associated with masculinity; being simple but rugged is also associated with masculinity. Not only the landscape, but even the clothing, environment, all commensurate with masculinity. Even the colors chosen speak of the colors of the beer can. Truly, the media has put heart and soul to associate every bit of the advertisement to the masculinity in which the New Zealand men take great pride from times immemorial. Read More