Black male

Advertising and the cultural politics of masculinity

Bibliographic Data

ID5773500
AuthorsPeter Jackson (0000-0002-6002-8166)
Year1994
Volume1
Issue1
Pages49-59
Publication date1994-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender Place & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-369X • E-ISSN: 1360-0524
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09663699408721200
OpenAlexW1971052907
LanguageEN
Citations received70
References cited15

During the 1980s, men's bodies began to appear with increasing frequency in television, cinema and billboard advertising. The advertisers' preferred image of masculinity has generally been young, white, able-bodied and staunchly heterosexual. This paper explores a partial exception to these generalisations: Ogilvy & Mather's highly successful relaunch of the soft drink, Lucozade. By using selected images of black male bodies and their popular associations with sporting and sexual prowess, Lucozade was able to shake off its long-established associations with sickness and convalescence, becoming a popular 'in-health' drink with a revitalised and revitalising image. The paper places contemporary representations of black men in British advertising in relation to wider changes in attitudes towards gender, sexuality and 'race', arguing that the success of the Lucozade campaign depended not so much on general associations between sport and 'race', manliness and muscularity, as on the reader's (socially constructed) knowledge of the particular personalities represented. This assumed knowledge effectively suppresses the more threatening aspects of a stereotypically anonymous and rapacious black male sexuality, provoking desire without evoking dread

Icon · Popular culture · White (mutation · Cinema and Media Studies · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Sports, Gender, and Society

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