A new study has discovered what should have been obvious all along – not every man is the sports-loving, beer-drinking, oblivious lout that ads often portray. Its authors suggest using such caricatures ignores a significant portion of male consumers.
The Modern Man, conducted by Microsoft Canada and Omnicom Group, surveyed 1,650 men and 650 women between the ages of 16 to 65 across Canada on what it means to be a man. According to the results, all demographics remarked on “a shift in the traditional male identity” wherein attitudes towards family, health and shopping are actually quite different than the values that many ads directed towards men depict.
“The Modern Man study shows us that marketers need to move away from status quo, female-focused campaigns, and utilize an audience that is just as engaged in forming connections with brands,” said Brandon Grosvenor, Microsoft Canada’s vice-president of advertising, in a statement. “Organizations who fail to do this successfully will be increasingly left behind.”
By The Numbers
The study found that 66% of men said they were interested in cooking, 68% expressed an interest in nutrition, and 2 out of 3 men said a balanced and nutritious diet was important.
In the grooming space, over half of the study’s men said looking good is important, and 41% paid regular attention to grooming and personal care (but only 22% said they keep up to date with the latest fashion/style trends).
Children and family, health and relationships are also listed as men’s top priorities. So why, then, are so many ads and messages in these markets aimed at women – or dressed up in such a way to make grooming or cleaning appealing to “manly” men?
In short: marketers are out of touch.
“What we found from this study is that the very definition of what it means to ‘be a man’ is evolving,” said Caroline Moul, vice-president of digital and emerging media at Omnicom agency PHD, in the study. “The lines between traditional gender stereotypes are becoming more parallel than ever.”
Indeed, the study also claims that more men are sharing responsibility with women when it comes to activities such as laundry, dishwashing, house cleaning and food preparation (though exactly how often those tasks are split in practice isn’t mentioned). And men are taking more responsibility when it comes to purchasing decisions, too – 86% of said they took complete or some responsibility in buying clothes, while 75% said they helped with the groceries.
And yet, a disproportionate number of ads in these spaces still target women – which, from stereotyping perspective, is just as bad as having none targeted towards men. The report suggests using “gender neutral imagery for household item packaging and communications.” But maybe there’s a better takeaway here: that, rather than shift advertising’s focus from women to men, we could also just accept that both sexes are capable of complex, varied and sometimes overlapping interests that don’t always fit into traditional gendered binaries, and adjust our marketing messaging accordingly. That would be nice.
