Men in Advertisements

“By a system of “cross-censorship,” the same codes of masculine identity that the subject introjects into his own case he projects outward onto all other males as a continuous injunction to maintain the codes. Deviation or failure to obey that constant injunction risks instant and severe penalties. This censorship already points to ways in which the masculine masquerade is directed not only towards women but towards other males. […] The male is not only bearer of the male gaze but is also object of that gaze.” -- Bryson, “Géricault and “Masculinity”” (p. 231).

In many articles, men are portrayed as the subjects with the gaze and women as the objects. While this is absolutely true and women are usually unnecessarily sexualised by the media, Bryson argues that both men and women are also objects of their own gender’s gaze. It is a well-known problem that even in advertisements featuring women that are directed towards women (for example, clothing advertisements in glossy magazines), there is a severe lack in diversity and representation for women who do not necessarily meet today’s ideals of what is considered beautiful and feminine. This toxic representation of women with only a very limited variation in body types (and the equally toxic response of ‘real women have curves’) has been covered in the media countless times, but unfortunately with few results.

That this problem is also present for men is something that has only recently started to get more attention. Men in advertisements geared towards men, selling products such as underwear, feature predominantly muscular, lean and toned men with sufficient stuffing in said underwear. When Justin Bieber’s advertisement for Calvin Klein was compared to the pre-photoshopped version, it became clear that the beauty standards for men are not only very limited to specific body types, but just like female models, men in advertisements are photoshopped to near unattainable standards.

Last summer, group of men with various body types decided to question and challenge these ideals by each choosing a Calvin Klein underwear advertisement and recreating these exact photos. Isaac decided to recreate Justin Bieber’s advertisement:

Isaac says: "My perception of male underwear models is that they’re men who happen to look really good when not wearing clothes. That’s not me. I’ve always had body image issues, no matter what my weight was. I’ll never forget when I was 8 and my mom lifted up my shirt in front of a mirror and slapped my stomach, making it jiggle. This was when I started being self-conscious of my belly. This photo shoot only highlighted those feelings.

I understand that Calvin Klein is selling a fantasy with their ads. I mean, they certainly aren’t selling to me. I thought it’d be nice to try to represent for the bigger guys.”

Click here for the full article and the rest of the pictures.