THE STEREOTYPES OF MEN IN EXTRA JOSS COMMERCIALS

I.                   INTRODUCTION

1.      Background

Gender is always an interesting issue to be talked about. Whether in education, business, politic, or daily life, we can always meet gender issue. Not to mention for media, especially in commercials.

Looking in appendix 3, the 1950's Atlas, Bond and Desoto Adverts portray exaggerated masculinity, these men are strong, tough, wild and free. The cod liver oil (1950), post bran (1940) and coca cola ads depict the women as caring mothers, serving housewives and socially refined. The 1970's Levi ad goes a step further by portraying the woman in the ad as being sexually promiscuous and the Hitachi (1980) telephone ad has the woman playing the secretary.

The analysis about gender, including in advertisement, is quite common nowdays. However, the issue which is taken is mainly about women. Indeed that women are mainly be the victim of gender bias, but it doesn’t mean that men are not. Therefore, in this paper the writer will analyze about the stereotypes of men in Extra Joss commercials.

2.      Reasons

·         The lack of stereotypes analysis of men in media

3.      Objectives

·         To find the stereotypes of man in Extra Joss commercials

·         To analyze the reason behind stereotypes of man in Extra Joss commercials

4.      Theoretical Framework

Gender refers to the culturally and socially constructed differences between females and males found in the meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with "femininity" and "masculinity"(Judith Lorber, 1994:6). Societies have always had ways of differentiating between both men and women, between masculinity and femininity through the assertion of different attitudes and behavior patterns onto each gender (as cited in Gender and Identity, 2004).

It is therefore essential to distinguish between sex, gender and stereotype for purposes of the research. Sex refers to the biological differences between males and females. Gender is the social, cultural and psychological characteristics of being either male or female.

Stereotype is 'a standardised conception or image of a specific group of people or objects' (Anon, 2004). Stereotypes are false or misleading generalizations about groups held in a manner that renders them largely, though not entirely, immune to counterevidence. In doing so, stereotypes powerfully shape the stereotyper's perception of stereotyped groups, seeing the stereotypic characteristics when they are not present, failing to see the contrary of· those characteristics when they are,. and generally homogenizing the group (Lawrence, 2004:251). Gender stereotypes are a natural occurrence which changes over time to reflect current-day social ideologies.

It is known that media have always had an enormous impact on the society. Media and communications are considered to be the key elements of modern life, while gender is “the core” of individuals’ identities (Gauntlett, 2008:1). The media which contain many different images of men and women as well as many messages about men and women have a significant impact on the sense of identity. At the same time, the mass media influence the audiences. According to David Gauntlett, as we live in changing times, “what we learnt in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s about media and gender might not be so relevant today, because the media have changed, and people’s attitudes have changed”

5.      Data and Method

·         Data

This paper uses commercial break as the object of analysis. Therefore, the main data of this paper are commercials of Extra Joss. It includes the taglines and the attitudes of the characters in the commercials which contain the stereotypes of men.

·         Method

The writer uses qualitative method in analyzing the object. It is an observation method which  uses non-numerical data like words in the analysis. It works by observing the elements of the commercial break and then analysis it by words.

II.                ANALYSIS

A.    The Examples of Men Stereotypes in Extra Joss Commercials

There are some stereotypes which can be found about men in Extra Joss commercials. Some of them are wildness, naughtiness, impoliteness, and violence. The discriptions are listed below.

a.       Wild

Being wild is one of the stereotype which attached to men in Extra Joss commercials. Extra Joss Blend-Bandel Susunya Makin Asyik, Extra Joss Blend Aliando Syarief Version, and Extra Joss-Laki Tanding Kalau Sebanding are some examples of the commercials which show wildness where they act freely as if there is no rule to obey.

b.      Naughty
    Bandel Susunya Makin Asyik. It is an edition title as well as the tagline in an Extra Joss Blend commercial. In this commercial which is starred by Rio Dewanto, Aliando Syarief, and Ganindra Bimo, it shows the scene where they’re climbing and jumping all over the place. It also explicitly said, “Laki harus berani, juga harus bandel” (men should be brave and also have to be naughty). It generalized the idea that all men should be naughty.

c.       Impolite

In almost all Extra Joss comercials we can find the scene where the men shake their glasses and drink the energy drinks roughly to the point that the energy drink spilled quite much. This is generally considered as impolite behaivor.

d.      Violent

In Extra Joss commercial Laki Tanding Kalau Sebanding there is a scene where the main character Rio Dewanto get a trouble with some hoodlums. Even though in the end they don’t fight, but the problem solved after the hoodlums get chickened out by watching Rio Dewanto wins splendidly in some kind of one by one competition. Technically, the problem is solved by a show of violence. The title also imply that men should fight, in this case with someone on the same level.

B.     The Reason Behind Stereotypes of Men in Extra Joss Commercials

It is obvious that there are some reasons behind stereotypes in Extra Joss commercials. Based on 123HelpMe.com; Even though adverts are designed with a specific audience in mind, they are still developed to appeal to the vast majority within that target audience; there is no resource, finance or capability to market each unique individual. Advertisers exploit stereotypical gender types to produce advertisement to have the widest appeal.

In other word, advertisements like Extra Joss commercials only uses the stereotypes of men which already have existed and developed within the society (although the commercials can also contribute in spreading and sharpening the stereotypes in people’s mind). Since Extra Joss is a commercial product, the main purpose of the stereotypes usage is of course to get consumer as much as possible. Men stereotypes are selected because energy drink like Extra Joss is popular among men. It has something to do with the stereotypes itself; men are attributed with strength and physical activities so they are likely to seek for energy booster.

Unlike the stereotypes of women which tend to be responded negatively by the people, it seems that the stereotypes of men is not really opposed. In fact, some people accept it normally and even like it. It is the proof that the stereotypes have already rooted deep in our society’s mind and made some value changes. That’s why the stereotypes are believed to be able to optimize Extra Joss promotion.

Thus, it can be concluded that the stereotypes of men exist in Extra Joss commercials because Extra Joss intentionally uses the stereotypes to get male consumers as its main product target.

III.             CONCLUSION

There are some stereotypes of men that can be found in Extra Joss commercials. For examples are wildness, naughtiness, impoliteness, and violence. These stereotypes are found in Extra Joss Blend-Bandel Susunya Makin Asyik, Extra Joss Blend Aliando Syarief Version, and Extra Joss-Laki Tanding Kalau Sebanding. The stereotypes are presented in either implicit or explicit message.

Since Extra Joss is a commercial product, they intentionally uses the stereotypes of men which have already existed and developed in the society in order to optimize the number of their consumer, especially for men. In other words, the stereotypes of men exist in Extra Joss commercials because Extra Joss intentionally uses the stereotypes to get male consumers as its main product target.

IV.             BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anon. 2004. Gender and Identity.

Anon. 2004. The Meaning and Significance of Stereotypes in Popular Culture.

Blum, Lawrence. 2004. Stereotypes And Stereotyping: A Moral Analysis.

Gauntlett, David. 2008.Media, Gender, and Identity. USA : Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Lorber, Judith. 1994. Paradox of Gender. US : Yale University Press.

"Media and Gender Stereotyping." 123HelpMe.com. 14 Jan 2016   <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=121708>.