Self-oriented Masculinity

Abstract

This research chronicles the changes in the understudied and rapidly evolving male market segment using two related studies: (1) a content analysis of advertisements in fifty-one years of Sports Illustrated magazine and (2) an experiment involving age-based differences in consumer ad perceptions. Both investigate changing ad values and the ethnic diversity of ad models. Results indicate that the male market is becoming increasingly self-oriented in its values orientation as a result of broad societal changes and changing gender roles. Increasing use of black or African American models in key positions indicates a growing acceptance of minorities as representations of the ideal self among younger men, who express a preference for black or African American models. This finding speaks to the increasingly multicultural nature of society and the impact of minority celebrities on American culture. The results are indicative of the power of advertising in both reflecting and facilitating societal change.

Keywords

advertising male market societal change ethnicity gender culture macromarketing

Introduction

American men, as a cultural entity and market force, are undergoing rapid change. This metamorphosis is reflected in men’s increasing focus on their bodies (Alexander 2003; Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia 2000) and manifest in their shopping patterns (Salzman, Matathia, and O’Reilly 2006). Their approaches to specific product categories, including personal grooming and fashion products, have been undergoing particularly notable transformations. Although growth diminished with the global economic slowdown after 2007, the US market for men’s bath, shower, deodorant, and skin and hair products grew 36 percent between 2004 and 2009 (Euromonitor 2011a), while that for general beauty and personal care products grew only 8 percent (Euromonitor 2011b). The body spray product category alone grew by 62 percent among eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old males from 2004 to 2005 (Bosman 2005). Between 2003 and 2008, sales of men’s clothing grew by 16 percent (Euromonitor 2011c), while that for women’s clothing grew by half that amount (Euromonitor 2011d). In 2011, male apparel market growth continued to outpace that of women (NPD Group 2012). Whereas less than two decades ago, women purchased the majority of men’s clothes, today it is men who buy the majority of their own apparel (Fetto 2002; Rozhon 2003).

These statistics are manifestations of the changing views of American masculinity over the past 200 years. The early-American view of manhood as the aristocratic European landowner evolved to the self-made man of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, to the family man of the early to mid-twentieth century, to the increasingly self-involved swinging playboy of the 1950s, the hedonistic hippie of the 1960s, the introspective new man of the 1970s and 1980s, and to the metrosexual peacock of the mid-2000s (Kimmel 2006). These cultural changes resulted from a variety of social factors including industrialization, urbanization, two world wars, the impact of three waves of feminism, the gay and civil rights movements, and changing definitions of the family. This transformation points to a growing cultural trend toward what might be termed self-oriented masculinity, where the man’s focus is on himself rather than on others.

This change is related to the increasing diversity of the US population, civil rights gains by minorities since the 1950s, and the prominence of minority celebrities in American society. Black or African American celebrities exert global impact on popular culture and appear in a variety of media. This prominence ultimately has changed how men perceive minorities viewed in sports, media, and the arts as commercially viable representations of the ideal self for men of all races and ethnicities. When a man thinks of the man he would like to be—attractive, successful, strong, and talented—he increasingly looks to African American men irrespective of his race (see Kitwana 2006; Tate 2003).

This study sets out to answer three fundamental questions associated with the changing male market: (1) are male consumers becoming increasingly self-oriented? (2) is this change reflected differently in different age cohorts, suggesting a societal shift? and (3) is this change manifested via meanings and content in advertisements targeted at men? The research does this by examining advertising content over the past fifty years and by assessing men’s reactions to different versions of a sample ad.

Overall, this project contributes toward a better understanding of the impact of changes occurring at the intersection of society, marketing, and consumption with a focus on half of the population. Previous work has explored the impact of advertising on culture (Belk and Pollay 1985; Lantos 1987); gender differences in advertising (Goffman 1979; Klassen, Jasper, and Schwartz 1993); marketing, gender, and quality of life (Hill and Dhanda 1999); Asian (Taylor, Landreth, and Bang 2005) and gay male (Branchik 2007) imagery in advertising; African American interpretation of ad imagery (Bush, Smith, and Martin 1999); and content analyses of African American imagery in advertisements (Ainsworth 2006; Stevenson and Swayne 2011).

The female market segment, its evolution, and interaction with advertising have been well addressed in major studies in the literature. Studies have explored the female self as it is manifested in advertisements (Kates and Shaw-Garlock 1999; Stevens, Maclaran, and Brown 2003), the dichotomy in the segment related to female responses to agentic versus communal ad appeals (Widgery and McGaugh 1993), women’s responses to different female depictions in advertising (Jaffe and Berger 1994) including depictions evolving over time (Ferguson, Kreshel and Tinkham 1990), working women’s versus nonworking women’s responses to advertising (Widgery, Angur, and Nataraajan 1997), women’s reactions to attractive models in ads (Bower 2001; Bower and Landreth 2001), and the objectification of women in advertising (Zimmerman and Dahlberg 2008).

Despite the critical nature and rapid change of the male market segment, few studies to our knowledge have focused on the broader male market segment and its cultural evolution in and reaction to male depictions in advertising. Those that do address the topic (see Stearns 1998) bemoan the lack of research in the domain. With macromarketing’s position at the “nexus between marketing and society” (Schwarzkopf 2009, 8), an exploration into the evolving male segment provides academics with insights into the extent and timing of the increasingly self-focused pattern of this macro segment’s shopping and consumption and the patterns involved with this evolving orientation. Macromarketers can explore the symbiotic relationship between society and marketing as it relates to cultural change. Finally, it provides practitioners with information about their male buyers’ value systems giving them a tool for predicting the evolution of this key market.

Conceptual Underpinnings

This section provides conceptual and theoretical background on the meanings carried by products, the role advertising plays in communicating those meanings from seller to buyer, how male culture is becoming increasing self-oriented, the growing popularity of African American models in male-targeted advertising, and the role age plays in moderating males’ attitudes. It then proposes three hypotheses with seven subhypotheses.

Product Meanings

Products and services have meanings for those who consume them. This idea of possessions defining people can be traced back to the late nineteenth century (James 1890). This notion of meaning is fundamental to both buying and consuming. As Belk stated (1988, 139),

We cannot hope to understand consumer behavior without first gaining some understanding of the meanings that consumers attach to possessions . . . That we are what we have (e.g., Feirstein 1986; Rosenbaum 1972; Van Esterick 1986) is perhaps the most basic and powerful fact of consumer behavior.

In his Meaning Transfer model, McCracken (1986) describes how advertising has the power to communicate cultural meanings about products by imbuing consumer goods with such meanings. These meanings are then transferred from seller to buyer via consumption rituals. Consumed products become an extension of the self (Kleine, Kleine, and Kernan 1993) and partners in a series of consumer–brand relationships (Fournier 1998) as brands achieve personalities (Aaker 1997).

Advertising

As a vehicle used to communicate cultural meanings, advertising provides both an archival record and a normative guide for the consumer culture (Belk and Pollay 1985; Goffman 1979). Advertisements express societal values or “desirable goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives” (Schwartz and Sagiv 1995, 93). They form a part of a larger system called the “circuit of culture” (Hall 1997; Kates and Shaw-Garlock 1999), which involves the ongoing interaction between marketing and society. An analysis of the values expressed in advertisements can expose value systems at a macro level and track their changes over time (Rokeach and Ball-Rokeach 1989) and are important in understanding the society-to-marketing relationship (Redmond 2005). In this regard, Schwartz and Sagiv (1995) in their study of values found that values could be dichotomized into self-enhancement and self-transcendent dimensions or those that focus on the self versus those that focus on others. Our research uses values expressed in advertisements and models featured therein to track the changing male market. We aim to incorporate these distinct value systems in our study and its methodology.

Advertisements for fashion and grooming products are particularly appropriate for this analysis due to the personal aspect of their purchase, public nature of their consumption, and unique meanings these product categories hold for consumers (Murray 2002; Thompson and Haytko 1997). Analyzing advertisements for men’s fashion products can chronicle the changing meanings of goods in the eyes of the male market segment, therefore cultural changes, and analyze the current state of the male consumer.

It is important to note the relevance of advertising polysemy or “the existence of at least two distinct interpretations from the same advertising message across audiences, or across time and situations” (Puntoni, Schroeder, and Ritson 2010, 52). A given ad may communicate different meanings to different age cohorts.

Self-Oriented Masculinity

The evolution of masculinity in America has created a more narcissistic, self-oriented male consumer (Kimmel 2006; Rotundo 1983). As early as 1983, social commentator Barbara Ehreneich stated “The man who avoids women who are likely to become financial dependents, who is dedicated to his own pleasures [is now considered] ‘healthy’” (1983, 11). More recently, Rotundo (1993, 285) summed up the past 100 years of masculine evolution by saying that “the balance of bourgeois values has tipped from self-discipline to self-expression, from self-denial to self-enjoyment.” The extent of this ongoing evolution, however, is not necessarily universal among men of all ages.

The first set of this project’s hypotheses relates to the increasing self-orientation of the male consumer using the values expressed in a fifty-one-year series of advertisements targeting men. It further proposes that advertisements featuring solitary male models reflect more of a self-focus than those featuring a group.

Hypothesis 1: The US male market segment has become increasingly self-oriented in the past fifty-one years as portrayed via targeted marketing messages. Specifically,

Hypothesis 1A: The proportion of self-focused values to all values expressed in advertisements has increased significantly over time.

Hypothesis 1B: The proportion of other-focused values to all values expressed in advertisements has decreased significantly over time.

Hypothesis 1C: The frequency of solitary male models featured in advertisements has increased significantly over time.

Blacks Males and the Ideal Self

The second set of hypotheses relates to the increasing use and popularity of minority—specifically black or African American—male models in advertisements targeting men. Consumers like attractive models (Baker and Churchill 1977; Friedman and Friedman 1979; McCracken 1989). With the increasingly multicultural nature of society, there is an incumbent affinity for ethnic minority models in advertising. The blue-eyed, blond-haired model as the archetypal attractive male has given way to a variety of skin, hair, and eye color types. African Americans, in particular, have become top-ranked celebrities and key opinion and fashion leaders for male consumers. African American actors won the coveted Best Actor Academy Awards Oscars in 2001, 2004, and 2006 (Dirks 2011). African American athletes won the prized Heisman Trophy for outstanding university football athlete of the year in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2009, and 2010 (Heisman 2011). Perry (2004, 120) refers to the popular “consumption of black male bodies . . . the athlete, the thug, the kinetic entertainer” and the “hypermasculinist moment” (p. 124) of black hip-hop stars. Several recent works examine the disproportionate impact of urban black culture on the broader popular culture (see Heath and Potter 2004; Kitwana 2006; Tate 2003). As a result of this impact, black or African American sports and entertainment celebrities and fashion models represent the ideal self to a broad swath of the male market segment—successful, narcissistic, and attractive. As this self-oriented male consumer searches for his ideal, more and more embrace black models.

The position of models in an advertisement is critical (Goffman 1979). The model in the foreground of an ad is the first one the eye notices and is distinguished from among any group of models. The juxtaposition of black or African American versus white models in an advertisement, therefore, speaks to their relative cultural primacy.

Hypothesis 2: The male market has increasingly integrated ethnic minorities, in particular blacks or African Americans, as prominent aspirational figures for male consumers of all races; specifically,

Hypothesis 2A: The frequency of black or African American models featured in advertisements has increased significantly over time.

Hypothesis 2B: A greater number of black or African American males are seen in the foreground of the advertisements over time. In contrast, a greater number of white males are seen in the background of the advertisements.

Age and Values

In addition to examining how marketing communications toward the male market are changing over time, we investigate how male consumers evaluate different marketing messages. In this regard, we examine younger versus older males and their perceptions of advertisements expressing self versus other-focused values and featuring white versus black or African American models, resulting in our third set of hypotheses for this study. Some background and rationale follow.

As shown by past research, self, self-concept, or self-identity influences the way consumers evaluate marketing communication or brand messages. For example, Chang (2010) investigates how priming self-concept increases advertisement effectiveness. Bosnjak and Brand (2008) reveal that when imagery associated with a brand advertisement is congruent or identified with imagery associated with one’s undesired self, it decreases consumers’ consumption-related attitudes and intentions. Aydinoglu (2007) demonstrates how establishing a match between the type of appeal used in the advertisement and the audience self-esteem level improves consumer evaluations. Maldonado, Tansuhaj, and Muehling (2003) show that ads that activate identification with one’s social group identity have a more favorable impact on future brand and ad judgments. Finally, Chang (2003) examines how ads featuring congruent self-concepts generate more favorable ad and product evaluations, specifically, when participants are in positive affective states.

As stated above, the preponderance of self-focused (vs. other-focused) ads at the present (vs. past) time indicates that self-focus is the salient orientation among today’s male consumers. Thus, we assume that younger versus older males should have a greater degree of self-orientation. If they are exposed to ads that match their self-focused identity, they should express favorable evaluations of the brand and the advertisement, specifically, greater identification with the ad, source credibility, and consequent positive attitude toward the brand. In addition, embrace of black or African American models is likely to be stronger with younger male age cohorts, who should be more comfortable with multiculturalism, thus ascribing equal source credibility to male models irrespective of race; in contrast, older males should have a greater affinity for white male models.

The confluence of value and minority model affinity results in the following hypothesis that describes a three-way advertisement value by minority model presence by age interaction. First, self-focused ads, hypothesized before to be much more frequent at the present time, should create identity incongruence for older males, more so when featuring black or African American (vs. white) models thus leading to a lower degree of identification with the ad, less credibility for the source or model, and less favorable attitude toward the brand; the reverse should be true for younger adults. Second, other-focused ads, specifically those including white (vs. minority) male models, will create more identity congruency for older (vs. younger) adults and should lead to more favorable evaluations of white (vs. minority) male models by them.

Hypothesis 3: A three-way interaction exists between advertisement value, minority model presence, and age, specifically;

Hypothesis 3A: For self-focused ads, older versus younger males (i) have a more positive attitude toward the brand, (ii) ascribe higher source credibility, and (iii) indicate higher identification with the ads featuring a white versus a black or African American model.

Hypothesis 3B: For other-focused ads, older versus younger males (i) have a more positive attitude toward the brand, (ii) ascribe higher source credibility, and (iii) indicate higher model identification for ads featuring either a white or a black or African American model.

Method

This research undertakes two separate but related studies to validate the hypotheses stated above. Study 1 entails a content analysis of fifty-one years of advertisements in Sports Illustrated (SI) magazine and includes over 1,000 advertisements. Study 2 entails a two-by-two experiment involving a men’s fashion advertisement featuring a white or a black male model in the key position and self-focused or other-focused tag lines. Study 1 illustrates shifts in the male market over time and study 2 provides a snapshot of the market today. This section describes the methodologies of studies 1 and 2 in two separate sections.

Study 1

The authors undertook a content analysis of fifty-one years of advertisements in SI, a weekly magazine targeting a primarily male readership with a total paid subscription of over 3.2 million readers (Audit Bureau 2011), of which 77 percent are male (MNI 2012). SI’s selection resulted from its large readership, its non-fashion focus, and the availability of fashion and grooming product ads in its pages. Any fashion or grooming product ad in SI would be targeting the broad middle of the market rather than fashion leaders. Therefore, any inferences drawn would apply to a broad swath of the male market. Industry listings provided the specific product categories and subcategories. Advertisements analyzed were for male grooming products and fashion/apparel in five randomly selected issues per year from its inception in 1954 to 2004. Complete and continuous paper sets of the publication (including ads not available in electronic versions) were available in various archives only through 2004. In addition, this time period represents one-half a century. This number of issues represents about 10 percent of total SI issues.

Pollay (1984) and Leiss, Kline, and Jhally (1990) provided the list of values from which the authors adapted possible values expressed in each advertisement. Two categories of values express (1) other-focused and (2) self-focused orientations. Of the total twelve values, six are other-focused and six are self-focused. A summary of values assessed in this study and their definitions are provided in Table 1. Note that our approach to differentiating between other-focused and self-focused values is as follows: self-focused values are those that directly reflect the man’s focus on actual or ideal self, personal appearance, pleasure, or status or result from self-monitoring. Other-focused values are those that focus on groups and group or familial affiliations.

Table 1.

Values and Definitions.

Other-focused values
Value	Definition
Belonging Affiliation Nurturance Succorance	Affiliation To be accepted; liked by peers, colleagues, and community at large; to associate or gather with; to be social To join, unite, or otherwise bond in friendship, fellowship, companionship, cooperation, reciprocity To conform to social customs, have manners; social graces and decorum; tack and finesse
	Nurturance (protection) To give gifts, especially sympathy, help, love, charity, support, comfort, protection, nursing, consolation, or otherwise care for the weak, disabled, inexperienced, tired, young, elderly, and so on
	Succorance To receive expressions of love (except sexuality), gratitude, pats on the back; to feel deserving
Family	Nurturance within the family, having a home, being at home, family privacy, companionship of siblings, kinship, getting married
Modern (new)	What forward-thinking people use, contemporary, modern, new improved, progressive, advanced; introducing, announcing
Popular (common)	What most others use, commonplace, customary, well-known, conventional, regular, usual, ordinary, normal, standard, typical, universal, general, everyday
Technological	What sophisticated consumers use, engineered, fabricated, formulated, manufactured, constructed, processed; resulting from science, invention, discover, research; containing secret ingredients
Traditional	Reflective of a shared past, classic, historical, antique, old, legendary, time-honored, longstanding, venerable, nostalgic
Self-focused values
Healthy (fit)	Fitness, vim, vigor, vitality, strength, heartiness, to be active, athletic, robust, peppy, free from disease, illness, infection, or addiction
Leisure Relaxation Enjoyment	Relaxation—Rest, retire, retreat, loaf, contentment, be at ease, be laid-back, vacations, holidays, to observe Enjoyment—To have fun, laugh, be happy, celebrate; to enjoy games, parties, feasts, and festivities; to enjoy oneself.
Sexy Vain Eros	(Vain) Having a socially desirable appearance; being beautiful, pretty, handsome; being fashionable, well-groomed, tailored, graceful, glamorous (Eros) Erotic relations: holding hands, kissing, embracing between lovers, dating, romance Intense sensuality, feeling sexual, erotic behavior, lust, earthiness, indecency Attractiveness of clearly sexual nature Will help you find a mate or spouse or will improve your sex life
Status	Envy, social status or competitiveness, conceit, boasting, prestige, power, dominance, exhibitionism, pride of ownership, wealth, trendsetting, to seek compliments
Vicarious celebrity	This offering is used by a celebrity. You will be like him or her if you use it
Youthfulness	Being young or rejuvenated, childlike, immature, undeveloped, junior, adolescent, resistant to aging

Ultimately 1,031 advertisements were coded. Three coders, the first author, and two graduate research assistants recorded the presence, number, and apparent ethnicity of any models featured in each ad; positions of the various models by ethnicity; the presence of product image and/or body copy; product category; and up to three values expressed per ad.

The coders independently conducted five rounds of analysis of twenty-five sample advertisements each to become accustomed to the process, refine the value listing and coding form, and improve intercoder reliability. Consistent with Schneider and Schneider (1979), disagreements among the codes were resolved via discussion and consensus. Intercoder reliability (percentage of agreement) for the value type increased from .50 on the first round to .915 on the fifth round. This result exceeded Kassarjian’s (1977) .79 guideline.

Study 2

The authors conducted an online experiment on the qualtrics.com online survey site using a two-by-two factorial design incorporating four variants of an advertisement for menswear and an associated questionnaire. Data were simultaneously collected from undergraduate and graduate course sections at a northeastern US university, their family members, and from several fraternal, sports, and religious organizations. This approach was used in order to ensure a respondent pool from a broad range of ages. An e-reader device was offered to research subjects and was awarded to one in order to encourage participation.

An advertisement to be adapted for this study was selected from among all fashion and grooming product ads from all issues of SI magazine from 2008 to 2010. In addition to the product category limitation, criteria for selection included a clear main model character in the ad’s foreground and clean space on the ad sufficient for the addition of a noticeable tagline. An example of one version of the advertisement adapted for this study is provided in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Sample ad, study 2—black man in key position and self-focused tag line.

Ninety-six male respondents participated representing a broad range of ages from eighteen to over sixty-five years. Of those, 94 percent were white or Caucasian, 1 percent black or African American, 1 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian, and 1 percent other. In the Qualtrics online experiment site, respondents first viewed an ad featuring either a black male model or a white male model (only skin color and faces were changed) and containing either self-focused or other-focused tagline. This image was accompanied by a questionnaire containing several statements and adjective pairs related to the key dependent variables in a separate window.

Respondents were initially presented with a nine-point semantic differential scale to assess respondent’s assessment of the model’s attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise. Participants then responded to statements on a seven-point Likert-type scale assessing the extent of their identification with the model; the ad’s message and context; and their assessment of the model’s desirability. The questionnaire next assessed respondent’s attitude toward the ad, the fictitious brand being promoted, and the congruence between the ad’s message and their own value system. Before answering a variety of demographic questions, participants responded to two manipulation checks ascertaining their awareness of the model’s ethnicity and the key message of the ad.

Manipulation of male model type

Model type was manipulated by showing ads with white versus black or African American male models. Photoshop software was used to superimpose white or black faces on the model. As expected, 89 percent of the participants who were shown the ad with the black model said that the ad model was black or African American and 88 percent of the participants who were shown the ad with the white model said that the ad model was white or Caucasian.

Manipulation of advertisement value type

Value type was manipulated by changing the text in the ads. For the other-focused ad, the wording was: “It’s all about belonging. Join in. Be part of it. Belong.” For the self-focused ad the wording was, “It’s all about you. Look your best. Live your best. Be your best.”

Source credibility

Model attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise were assessed using Ohanian’s (1990) fifteen-item scale. The overall data mean was 53.13 with a range between 23 and 90; Cronbach’s α was .91 indicating adequate reliability.

Attitude toward the brand

Participants responded on a seven-point scale to the question “What is your overall attitude towards the brand?” (really dislike/really like, unfavorable/favorable, and negative/positive). The data mean was 4.43, with a range between 1 and 9; Cronbach’s α was .95.

Identification with the ad

Participants responded to four strongly disagree-to-strongly agree statements on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Statements included “I identify with the people in the ad,” “I relate to what this ad says,” “I relate to the people in this ad,” and “I can see myself living the life shown in the ad.” The data mean was 3.57 with a range between 1 and 7; Cronbach’s α was .87.

Results

Study 1

According to Hypothesis 1, the US market segment has become increasingly self-focused in the past fifty-one years as manifested in ad values. In order to provide support for this proposition, we ran analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and computed proportion tests whenever necessary. First, two separate one-way ANOVAs were run with time period as the independent variable and self-focused values as the dependent variable in ANOVA 1 and other-focused values in ANOVA 2. Note that, for the purposes of simplified analyses, the total number of years was first collapsed into two roughly-equivalent twenty-five/twenty-six-year time periods: 1954–1979 and 1980–2004; the latter time period hereafter refers to the most recent time period. These two time periods roughly parallel the maturation of the baby boomer age cohort followed by Generations X/Y. Self-focused values or other-focused values referred to the total number of all values appearing in an advertisement for a specific time period (min = 0; max = 3). Based on the ANOVAs, time period had a significant main effect on both self-focused values, F(df = 648) = 20.61, p < .001; .81 versus 1.1 for earlier versus later time period, and other-focused values, F(df = 648) = 86.68, p < .001; .97 versus .39 for earlier versus later time period). For follow-up analyses, proportions tests were used to assess the differences between the percentages of the relevant frequencies across two time periods (see Table 2). Specifically, the proportion of ads that did not at all imply any self-focused value decreased significantly during the latter time period (34 percent vs. 15 percent, p < .001; Hypothesis 1A); and the proportion of ads that did not at all imply any other-focused value increased significantly during the latter time period (30percent vs. 67 percent, p < .001; Hypothesis 1B). Also, supportive of the dominance of self-focused values, we saw a significant increase in the frequency of solitary male models featured in advertisements over time (62 percent vs. 72 percent, p < .01; Hypothesis 1C). A solitary male (vs. multiple models in an ad) implies independence, lack of need for others, and egocentrism. Thus, the data support our Hypothesis 1.

Table 2.

Study 1 Key Findings by Two Time Periods Type of Values and Models Portrayed in the Ads.

	1954–1979 (t1)	1980–2004 (t2)	Significance Level^b
Ads with no self-focused values	34%^a	15%	p < .001 (5.69^c)
Ads with no other-focused values	30%	67%	p < .001 (−9.47)
Ads with solitary male models	62%	72%	p < .01 (−2.55)
Ads with solitary black male models	1%	11%	p < .001 (−4.56)

^aThe percentage of ads.

^bThe proportions test was used to assess the differences between the percentages. The difference in proportions calculation is: $z_{1} = \frac{{\hat{p}}_{1} - {\hat{p}}_{2}}{\sqrt{\frac{{\hat{p}}_{1} (1 - {\hat{p}}_{1})}{n_{1}}} + \frac{{\hat{p}}_{2} (1 - {\hat{p}}_{2})}{n_{2}}}$ .

^cThe relevant z scores.

According to Hypothesis 2, the male market has increasingly encompassed minorities (vs. white males only), in particular blacks or African Americans. In order to find conclusive evidence for Hypothesis 2, as before, proportions tests were used to assess the differences between the percentages of the relevant frequencies across time periods. Note that, once again, the total number of years were first collapsed into the same two time periods and whenever necessary for further details collapsed into five decades (see Table 3). Once again, latter decades refer to the more recent decades. Our data showed that there was a significant increase of presence of African American models in advertisements over time for both types of time period classifications. First, there was a significant increase in the number of solitary black male models in advertisements for the latter time period between 1980 and 2004 (p < .001; Hypothesis 2A). Proportion tests conducted for each of the possible pairs of the five decade classifications (decades beginning in 1954 and ending in 2004) clarified that the major change came in the third (1974–1984) and the fourth (1984–1994) decades. This time period witnessed the ultimate effects of key historical events that impacted race relations in the United States: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s/early 1970s, and the impact of the race riots of the late 1960s. Before the early 1970s, African American models were extremely rare in appearance and prominence. The final decades of the twentieth century further coincide with the growing preeminence of African Americans as broadly acknowledged athletic and entertainment superstars. The z scores computed by the proportions test formula showed significant increase in frequencies in case of the first-to-fifth, second-to-fifth, third-to-fifth, first-to-fourth, and first-to-third decades (ps < .05) decades but not significant increase in case of third-to-fourth or fourth-to-fifth decade pairs.

Table 3.

Study 1 Key Findings by Five Decades Different Model Types Portrayed in the Ads.

	1954–1963 (t1)	1964–1973 (t2)	1974–1983 (t3)	1984–1993 (t4)	1993–2004 (t5)	Significant Differences^b
Ads with white males present	93%^a	94%	96%	94%	83%	z15^c (2.55), z25 (2.96), z35 (2.9), z45 (2.58)
Ads with black males present	2%	1%	4%	7%	16%	z15 (−4.15), z25 (−4.64), z35 (−2.75), z45 (−2.01), z24 (−2.08)
Ads with black males in the foreground position	0%	1%	2%	4%	9%	z15 (−3.47), z25 (−3.16), z35 (−2.08)

^aThe percentage of ads.

^cDifferences that are statistically significant between the percentages for time period t1 and t5 and the relevant z scores.

A similar pattern also showed that a significantly greater number of black males started appearing in the foreground position of the advertisements (ps < .05), specifically during the third and the fourth decades; providing further support to our second hypothesis.

Study 2

In order to analyze the data, indices were computed for source credibility, attitude toward the brand, and identification with the ad variables. Further, based on the age ranges given for response options in the questionnaire (18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, and 65 and above years), individuals were bracketed under two age segments used frequently in media demographic segmentation (Kim 2002): younger males (18–44 years old) and older males (45 and above years). Fifty-two of the ninety-six participants belonged to the younger adult group.

According to Hypothesis 3, we should find a three-way advertisement value by minority model affinity by age interaction. In order to test this, a two (self- vs. other-focused value) by two (white vs. black male model type) by two (older vs. young adults) multivariate ANOVA was run with the three dependent variables, namely, source credibility, attitude toward the brand, and identification with the ad. As expected, results show a significant three-way advertisement value by minority model affinity by age interaction, F(3, 86) = 3.7, p = .01. Individual ANOVA results are as follows.

Attitude toward the brand

A two (self vs. other-focused value) by two (white vs. black male model type) by two (older vs. young adults) ANOVA was run with attitude toward the brand as the dependent variable. A significant minority model affinity by age interaction, F(df = 88) = 5.45, p < .05, was qualified by a three-way marginally significant advertisement value by minority model affinity by age interaction, F(df = 88) = 2.87, p < .1. Follow-up t tests showed that in case of self-focused ads conditions, older adults had marginally more positive attitudes for the white (vs. black) male model ads, t(df = 18) = 1.68, p = .1; 5.56 vs. 4.24, while younger adults had significantly more positive attitudes for the black (vs. white) male model ads, (t(df = 22) = 2.07, p = .05; 5.17 vs. 3.89. This supports our Hypothesis 3A.

However, no significant differences in attitude were found in the case of other-focused value ad conditions irrespective of the model type (Hypothesis 3B is not supported). A possible explanation for this lack of support is that younger males view the other-focused value ad as irrelevant and therefore resist any cognitive activity associated with these ads immediately by dismissing the ads. On the other hand, older males feel cognitive dissonance between their affinity for the other-focused value and the presence of a minority model. This confusion therefore leads to uncertain interpretation of the ad.

Source credibility

A two (self vs. other-focused value) by two (white vs. black male model type) by two (older vs. young adults) ANOVA was run with source credibility as the dependent variable. A significant advertisement value by minority model affinity interaction, F(df = 88) = 7.69, p < .01, was qualified by a three-way advertisement value by minority model affinity by age interaction, F(df = 88) = 3.98, p < .05. Once again, follow-up t tests showed similar pattern of means; specifically, in the case of self-focused ads conditions, older adults considered the source significantly more credible for the white (vs. black) male model ads, t(df =18) = 3.77, p < .01; 65.5 vs. 45.7, while no differences in credibility scores for younger adults, 48.33 vs. 46.17, p > .7; although means were in the right direction. This supports our Hypothesis 3A. However, no significant differences were revealed in source credibility scores in case of other-focused value ad conditions irrespective of the model type (p > .1; Hypothesis 3B is not supported).

Identification with the ad

A two (self vs. other-focused value) by two (white vs. black male model type) by two (older vs. young adults) ANOVA was run with identification with the ad as the dependent variable. The data showed a significant three-way advertisement value by minority model affinity by age interaction, F(df = 88) = 6.37, p = .01. Once more, follow-up t tests showed a similar pattern of means; specifically, in case of self-focused ads conditions, older adults had marginally more positive attitudes for the white (vs. black) male model ads, t(df = 18) = 1.62, p = .1; 4.2 vs. 3.04, while younger adults had significantly more positive attitudes for the black (vs. white) male model ads, t(df = 22) = 1.93, p = .07; 4.83 vs. 3.67. This supports our Hypothesis 3A. However, there were no significant differences in attitude in case of other-focused value ad conditions irrespective of the model type (Hypothesis 3b is not supported).

Discussion and Implications

This research has chronicled the increasingly self-oriented nature of the male market resulting from societal and cultural change via two related studies: (1) a content analysis of the values expressed and ethnic model composition in over 1,000 advertisements for men’s fashion and grooming products from fifty-one years of SI magazine and (2) an experiment involving males and their attitudes toward values expressed in advertisements and toward the use of ethnic minority models. The first study hypothesized that over a fifty-one-year period, the values expressed in ads would reflect the changing male market’s values. The data show that over time, the proportion of other-focused values has declined while the proportion of self-focused values has increased, supporting the hypotheses and confirming the growing reality of what we term self-oriented masculinity.

This first study further proposed that the increasing use of minority models would reflect cultural changes taking place in the male market segment with respect to acceptance of ethnic diversity and the societal position of African American models and celebrities as representations of the ideal self to men of all races. The generally growing number of black or African American models in the ads confirms the hypotheses. However, the use of minority models did not increase significantly between the decades 1974–1983 and 1984–1993. A possible explanation for this anomaly is that advertisers embraced African American models in the early to mid-1970s to such an extent that by the 1984–1993 period, black or African American models—indeed multicultural models in general—were commonplace and ingrained into the advertiser’s psyche. Therefore, it is not surprising that the frequency between decade pairs remained steady.

The second study hypothesized a relationship between age, affinity for minority male model images in advertising, and values expressed in those ads. This study found that males between the ages eighteen and forty-four held more positive attitudes toward self-focused ads irrespective of model ethnic background. In contrast, men aged forty-five and older expressed a positive attitude only toward self-focused ads that featured a white model. This indicates both the discomfort of older males with minority models and the embrace by the young male age cohort of minority models. Not only do younger males expect to see multicultural ad models, they embrace them as attractive, aspirational figures. In fact, young men expressed a preference for the black or African American model over the white model. This is a reflection of the increasing multicultural nature of American society and the prominence of young minority males—in particular black or African American males—as opinion leaders and sports and entertainment celebrities. Although beyond the scope of this study, it may be that racism in society exists in varying degrees across different male age cohorts.

The data indicate a link between the concept of self-focused masculinity and the preference among younger men for black or African American models. Literature on white male affinity for black male culture through such phenomena as hip-hop and celebrity worship (McCutcheon, Lange, and Houran 2002) addresses the perception on the part of white males of black males as hedonistic, narcissistic, strong, and rebellious. Such descriptors imply the self-orientation assessed in this research.

An interesting finding was the lack of age-based difference in other-focused ads featuring white versus black or African American models. One possible explanation is that the other-focused messaging did not appeal to younger men who therefore only engaged in limited cognitive activity in processing the ad and that the same ads confounded older males, who while embracing the other-focused messaging rejected the black or African American imagery. On the other hand, this lack of support may simply indicate that all men are becoming increasingly self-focused, including the age demographic encompassing aging baby boomers. Overall results confirm the importance of advertising in both setting and reflecting the broader culture and society.

The many interactions among societal change and changes in the broader marketing system have been explored in the macromarketing literature (see, e.g., Laczniak and Murphy 2006; Redmond 2005). Being ever pragmatic, advertisers are unlikely to present advertising messages or images for which society was not prepared. Thus, the change in values expressed in the ads examined—from mostly other-focused to mostly self-focused—probably resulted from a variety of societal changes. However, data from the first study indicate a sudden and marked increase in black or African American models in ads beginning about 1970. This was at a time when a Gallup poll indicated that about two-thirds of white Americans would move if a “great number” of blacks moved into their neighborhood (Council of Economics Advisers 2009, 68). One might then say that advertisers were ahead of the male market and broader society when it came to the use of ethnic minority models.

The research has five key implications for macromarketing: (1) within the cultural context of growing self-oriented masculinity, marketers can both drive this societal shift and reflect it via advertising; (2) men increasingly embrace minority imagery, not merely accept it, seeing minority models as aspirational figures and representations of the ideal self; (3) young men of all ethnic backgrounds, in particular, are leading this trend, signaling a societal transformation; (4) advertisers would do well to constantly monitor, if not anticipate, ongoing and rapid societal changes in devising their advertising content; and finally (5) marketing may play a role in accomplishing social goals, such as the diminishing racism.

Conclusions

This article has shown that advertising does indeed have much to tell academics and practitioners about society and culture and about the changing male market segment specifically. It contributes to the understanding of the interaction of the male market segment—an understudied segment representing almost one-half of the US population—and society via the consumption of advertisements. It thus chronicles the interplay between societal change and marketing practice.

The research provides the foundation for future investigations using trends in advertisements over time as indicators of changing culture and consumption patterns as well as by assessing current opinion combined with age-based analyses to understand how the male market has arrived at its current state. Opportunities for further research are abundant. A study might examine advertisers’ role in encouraging societal acceptance of multiculturalism via their early use of ethnic minority models. In addition, correlating the increasing use of ethnic minority models to actual historical events, such as legislative actions, court decisions, or public opinion polls, could further confirm the changes in society and hence their impact on the male market. Research could also assess these sorts of age- and time-based market segment changes in the female market. Men have a unique history as a result of a variety of factors, including the changing role of women. Interesting and informative research could attempt to link changes in female consumer values to the changing role of women in society. Similar studies should investigate these topics in countries outside the United States.

The data also suggested increasing use of celebrity models over the years. McCracken (1986), whose Meaning Transfer model provided one conceptual underpinning for this study, has written about the role of celebrities in transferring cultural meanings (see McCracken 1989). Situational influences of celebrity endorsers have been explored (Batra and Homer 2004). Future studies could focus on celebrity models and their role in changing/reflecting the male market, generational differences, cultural identities, or ethnicities. Finally, fashion and grooming products were selected for this research due to their personal selection and public consumption. New studies could address product categories such as automobiles and liquor, product categories that hold special significance to men in terms of product choice, consumption, status, and self-concept.

This project has some limitations. Results from the first study may be impacted by the changing demographics of SI’s readership. According to demographic data provided by Time, Inc., SI’s publisher, the median age of an SI reader increased from 34.6 years in 1990 (the first year for which data are available) to 38.0 years by the end of 2004. Today that median age is thirty-nine (MNI 2012). The aging readership may exhibit different preferences and tastes that would be reflected in values in ads targeting them. Further, the findings are derived from an analysis involving one magazine. A similar study using a broad representation of male-targeted publications could reveal different results. Finally, incomplete availability of sets of SI (including ads not available in digital versions) post-2004 limited the analysis to the period ending in that year. Access to complete SI sets through the present day would provide a more current picture of the male market.

In conclusion, men are a distinct macro-segment of the US market, different from women and from American society as a whole. Some social commentators argue that men are becoming more like women in their lives and shopping patterns (Ehrenreich 1989). While the time when male consumers will be indistinguishable from women in their shopping patterns or self-concepts seems quite a distance off, researchers should continue to chronicle the changes that are taking place in this understudied segment representing almost one-half of the marketplace.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Jennifer LaClair and J. Logan Brady for their invaluable assistance.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was partially funded by a Quinnipiac University Summer Research Grant.

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