Grooming Men: Consumer Culture and the Constitution of Masculine Identities
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Grooming Men: Consumer Culture and the Constitution of Masculine Identities Mary Watkins PhD Thesis May 2017 The thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Portsmouth. Declaration Whilst registered as a candidate for the above degree, I have not been registered for any other research award. The results and conclusions embodied in this thesis are the work of the named candidate and have not been submitted for any other academic award. Word count: 75,511 Abstract Consumer culture expanded considerably throughout the twentieth-century. Consumer commodities, goods and services became ever more significant in the everyday lives of those living in the Western world. Consumer and marketing industries have invested considerable resources into sites of information that have cultivated a relationship between consumer commodities and identity with consumer brands and products positioned as signifiers of owners’ identities, used to reflect individuals’ tastes, preferences, sexual orientation, class, income, ethnicity and gender. Drawing on Zygmunt Bauman’s extensive body of work as a framework for analysis this thesis examines how a shift from a production- led to a consumer-driven culture has impacted on the identity of modern men, an identity that was until the late twentieth-century more closely associated with employment and production than consumption. By focusing on men’s relationship with and involvement in consumer markets, particularly the male grooming product market, this thesis makes an empirical contribution to the men and masculinity academic field, examining new ways of understanding male identity, masculinity and the male gender role. This focus is achieved through a modified grounded- theory approach which draws data from document analysis, a focus group, an online questionnaire and an online discussion forum. The findings show an increasing fluidity in the ways in which male identity, masculinity and the male gender role are represented in media content. These representations have stimulated and reflected modern men’s greater identification with and embodiment of a growing number of liquid identities and a blurring of gender roles. I argue that whilst male identity is still shaped by men’s involvement in production consumer commodities are increasingly significant, with men’s interest and engagement in consumer markets, particularly the male grooming product market, facilitating the cultivation of short lived identities which constitute new ways of understanding and being a man in the twenty-first century. Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Professor Barry Smart who nurtured and sustained my interest in the subject area of male grooming for eight years. I am gratefully indebted to his very valuable comments on this thesis. My thanks also go to my second supervisor Professor Kay Peggs who developed my ideas and provided countless hours of encouragement. To Georgina, my inspiration for starting and staying on this journey, I could not have finished it without your example, thank you. Finally to Tiggy, for bringing such light into my life. Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements List of figures i Source location of images used in figures iii List of tables xi Glossary of abbreviations xii 1. Introduction 1 2. Consumption and the transformation of modern social life: Bauman’s thesis 12 3. Being a man: Identity and work 27 4. Consumer culture: Grooming the male consumer 39 5. Men’s media: Selling new identities to new men 59 6. Identities in liquid modernity: The fluidity of modern masculinities 78 7. Methods and data 98 8. Marketing, consuming and grooming to critical male consumers 126 9. Consuming symbols of masculine identity and lifestyle 151 10. The changing face of modern men 177 11. Conclusions: Consuming futures 196 Bibliography 205 Appendices Appendix One – Glossary 242 Table of Contents Appendix Two – Magazine Profile 247 Appendix Three – Grooming Brand Profile 251 Appendix Four – Statement of Ethical Compliance from FHSS Ethics Committee 258 Appendix Five - Ethical Matters (I) - Information Sheet Focus Group 262 Appendix Six - Ethical Matters (Ii) - Information Sheet Online Questionnaire 264 Appendix Seven – Online Questionnaire 266 Appendix Eight – Online Forum Profiling Questionnaire 277 Appendix Nine – Logos Included in Profiling Questionnaire 278 Appendix Ten – Online Discussion Forum Threads and Questions 279 Appendix Eleven - Summary of Online Discussion Forum Sample 281 List of Figures Figure Chapter Number Page Figure Description Number Number 3.1 Chapter Three 33 1941 ‘Women of Britain’ poster encouraging women’s participation in work 3.2 Chapter Three 34 Economic recession 1980 4.1 Chapter Four 41 Butlin's poster 1950s 4.2 Chapter Four 51 Major variables for the consumption of men's cosmetics in Canada and France 4.3 Chapter Four 56 Dove product range 5.1 Chapter Five 61 H.I.S jeans 5.2 Chapter Five 63 i-D front cover September 1986 issue 5.3 Chapter Five 68 Men's Health front cover April 2015 issue 5.4 Chapter Five 73 Examples of male grooming product advertisments that focus audiences’ attention on men’s appearance by sexualising women 5.5 Chapter Five 74 Examples of male grooming product advertisements that focus exclusively on men’s appearance 5.6 Chapter Five 75 Gods of Football Australian rugby player Nick Youngquest 6.1 Chapter Six 83 Still images from Lynx Find Your Magic television campaign 6.2 Chapter Six 87 Representations of men 6.3 Chapter Six 88 Joop! Homme 6.4 Chapter Six 88 Hugo Boss 6.5 Chapter Six 92 Images of David Beckham’s changing appearance 6.6 Chapter Six 94 Body Beckham 7.1 Chapter Seven 102 Research methods diagram 8.1 Chapter Eight 130 Tiger Woods Gillette 8.2 Chapter Eight 137 ‘The One’ Dolce & Gabbana 9.1 Chapter Nine 155 Selection of images from GQ Collections fashion feature September 2010 9.2 Chapter Nine 156 Still image from the television advertisement for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler i List of Figures Figure Chapter Number Page Figure Description Number Number 9.3 Chapter Nine 158 Examples of print advertisements for Lynx from 2010 and 2011 9.4 Chapter Nine 163 Joop! Homme 9.5 Chapter Nine 165 Example of a print advertisement for Bulldog 10.1 Chapter Ten 180 Dolce & Gabbana Fall/Winter 2010 menswear advertising campaign 10.2 Chapter Ten 181 Kellogg’s Cornflakes 1961 10.3 Chapter Ten 183 Selection of print advertisements for Dolce & Gabbana menswear A2.1 Appendix Two 247 GQ front cover September 2010 issue A2.2 Appendix Two 248 Nuts front cover 10th – 16th September 2010 issue A2.3 Appendix Two 250 FourFourTwo front cover September 2010 issue A3.1 Appendix Three 251 Gillette brand logo A3.2 Appendix Three 252 L’Oreal Paris Men Expert brand logo A3.3 Appendix Three 254 Lynx brand logo A3.4 Appendix Three 256 Lynx Apollo / Gingerbread Man advertisement 1998 ii Source Location of Images Used in Figures Figure Figure Description Source Number 3.1 1941 ‘Women of Britain’ poster http://worldwar2headquarters.com/HTM L/posters/british/factories.html accessed 23/05/2014 3.2 Economic recession 1980 http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/14/a rticle-1181833-04F15E84000005DC- 495_468x321.jpg accessed 07/11/2015 4.1 Butlin's poster 1950s http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/31/a rticle-2094633-0F137F3000000578- 209_306x423.jpg accessed 30/11/2014 4.2 Dove product range http://www.dove.in/en/Assets/Images/pr oduct/dove-products.png accessed 20/09/2015 5.1 H.I.S. Jeans https://s-media-cache- ak0.pinimg.com/564x/2e/29/bc/2e29bcf8 938b8b667d733a963b7a566f.jpg accessed 14/12/2016 5.2 i-D front cover September 1986 https://testpressing.files.wordpress.com/ issue 2009/12/id-mag-issue-40-sep-1986- cover.jpg accessed 01/03/2013 5.3 Men's Health front cover April 2015 http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/03/05/2 issue 654671800000578-2980373-image-a- 89_1425522590971.jpg accessed 01/06/2015 5.4 Examples of male grooming product Davidoff Cool Water advertisments that focus audiences’ attention on men’s appearance by http://1.bp.blogspot.com/- sexualising women Gnq4MrltUVA/VFEiUAZQwFI/AAAAAAA Ahq4/Du23LKMjT3E/s1600/Dav%2BCo ol%2BWtr%2BNight%2BDive%2BAds.jp g Gucci Guilty http://www.celebrityendorsementads.co m/perfumes/fragrances/gucci/gucci- iii Source Location of Images Used in Figures Figure Figure Description Source Number guilty-pour-homme/images/gucci-guilty- pour-homme-perfumes.jpg Lynx Billions http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006 /lynx-billions-of-bikinis/ Axe https://genderstereotypesff.files.wordpre ss.com/2014/11/axe2.jpg Nivea Men http://sites.psu.edu/yuhsuan/wp- content/uploads/sites/38415/2016/02/m ale-ad.jpg Gillette ProGlide Styler http://static4.businessinsider.com/image /5151acdb69bedd873d000000-2162- 3000-400-/fashion_scans_remastered- kate_upton-gillette-advertisement- scanned_by_vampirehorde-hq-1.jpg All accessed 31/03/2017 5.5 Examples of male grooming product Joop! Wild advertisements that focus http://www.gentlemensgoods.com/wp- exclusively on men’s appearance content/uploads/2012/12/joopwild1.jpg accessed 21/11/2015 Gillette shower http://coolspotters.com/files/photos/6354 57/bryce-draper-and-gillette-fresh-clean- cool-wave-body-wash-gallery.jpg accessed 07/11/2015 iv Source Location of Images Used in Figures Figure Figure Description Source Number Biotherm Homme http://www.perfumedeals.com/blog/wp- content/uploads/2013/05/Biotherm- Homme-Aquafitness.png accessed 31/03/2017 5.6 Gods of Football Australian rugby http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzf6q