The media product that I have chosen is the recent Gillette advert, 'We Believe: The Best Men Can Be'. It is an advert about defeating toxic masculinity and men becoming better people, however it received a lot of backlash via social media, from people claiming that it is an 'attack on men'.
The target audience are men between the ages of 20 and 50, as the advert is very generalising and appears to target men in general, rather than a specific age bracket. This is conveyed through the wide range of ages that are represented in this video- from very young boys to much older men. Also, using Maslow's audience classification model, I think that this advertisement appeals mainly towards the mainstream, as Gillette is a popular, well-known brand. However, it could also be seen to appeal to the succeeder, due to the constant message of the advert to be better and striving to be the best you can possibly be.
Moreover, someone who takes the preferred reading of a media text is someone who aligns with the ideologies that they are pushing. The preferred reading of this advertisement is that men should strive to do better, signified through the initial rhetorical question, 'Is this the best a man get?'. The aim of the advertisement is to inspire and empower men to be the best version of themselves, rather than settling for less. This ideology is portrayed through the lines at the end, 'it's only by challenging ourselves to do more, that we can get closer to our best' this is also heavily reinforced throughout the clips shown in the advert, showing bullying and sexual harassment against women. This is to highlight these issues and draw attention to the fact that men can and should, do more to be better people because at the moment it clearly isn't good enough.
However, a lot of viewers took an oppositional reading, shown through a massive backlash on social media and currently the video has 1.4 million dislikes on YouTube, in comparison to almost 800 thousand likes. Someone who takes the oppositional reading does not align with the ideologies of the company or advert. Therefore, they will believe that men do not need to be better and the 'blame' should not be held upon them. They view the clips showing fighting, bullying and objectifying women as an 'attack' on men rather than an opportunity to make changes and be better. Furthermore, a person who takes the oppositional reading is most likely to be anti-feminist, as the majority of the clips represent the objectification or degrading of women, showing how they are often undermined by men in the workplace and just in everyday life. The cultural experience that someone has, will affect how they read the advertisement and impacts on whether they take a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading. For example, someone growing up in an anti-feminist or male-dominated household is much more likely to dislike the advert and take an oppositional reading, rather than someone who is surrounded by feminist people or someone that has a lot of strong, independent women in their life.
Another factor that contributes to the reading that someone takes of a media text is their situated culture. Where they consume a text and who we are with, impacts on how we read it. For example, someone who is anti-feminist, watching the advert with someone who is feminist could then take a negotiated reading rather than an oppositional, because watching with an individual who takes the preferred reading could allow them to see it from another perspective and although may not take on those opinions, can then see the intended message of the advertisement.
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