女性产品中的男性代言人-英语论文

Male Endorsements inFemale Products

Group members:

12124184 Anne (example1) 12124051 Helen (example2) 12124004August (Introduction) 12123979Zoe (Introduction) 12123885Wingstier (History) Comment:

Ⅰ. History

Men are always logical species. They hide their emotion, act directly and bravely. They are strong, steel and secure. In a word, they are totally opposite to women, and thus mysterious to women. Taking that as an entry point, Misasa invited Chen Sheng to endorse for them in 1996.That advertisement took a male’s view to introduce a foundation for women, which is new and strange in 20th century.

At the same time, because of an advertisement, Kimura Takuya trigger strong reflection. Kimura Takuya advertised for『カネポウ·KANEBO』in 1996.It is a lipstick brand designed for females. There are two editions for this advertisement. In first edition Takuya put up lipstick in public and attracted women to put on the same lipstick. In second edition a women helped sleeping Takuya putting on the lipstick. The advertisement achieve great success - the posts in railway and underground stations were always stolen by women and even men fans;3 million lipsticks were sold in 2 months. Takuya make a breakthrough in endorsement and he became typical spokesman for female products. The advertisement took advantage of Takuya’s attraction to women and new concept of neutral beauty just popular at that time in Japan. “More beautiful than women is the message conveyed to customers.

Being one of the most successful cases in female products marketing, Takuya are followed by many Chinese star. One of the most famous cases is that Luo Zhixiang became the spokesman for sanitary towel.

In 2006, Luo Zhixiang attended product launch for YueYue sanitary towel and became the spokesman officially.In his word, it was his relationship with females and his image of gentle and mild made this collaboration. He was the first spokesman for sanitary towel.

This fashion came to Korea in 2012. At that year, So Ji Sub successfully printed advertisement for women’s underwear.Japanese put emphasis on male star’s atrration and neutral beauty,and Chinese emphasize the character and impression of stars while Korean companies value the male star’s dependent image and sense of security that they can convey to female consumers.

Except for the stars mentioned above, Zhou Yumin,Wang Dongcheng, Rain and so many stars familiar to us have the same cases.

Unlike many fashions originate in Western and affect Asia, this phenomenon spread from Asia to Western. Not until Brad Pitt endorsed for Chanel NO.5 in 2013 did the western culture catch up with this trend. For Pitt’s characteristic suitable to aroma of NO.5 perfectly, this classic perfume gained another great success in the investment.

It has been proved by fact that male stars are successful in endorsement they for female products over the past decade.

Ⅱ.Introduction

Advertisement is a tool for companies to send message to their customers. To achieve this goal, customers’ satisfaction is a priority. Therefore, advertisers have to try their best to meet customers’ preference.

Here are some examples. (Example 1,2,3)

Can you find the common point from these three ads?

It seems there’s no connection between male and these women products. But the common point of these three ads is that the companies use male image in advertising of women products to attract women customers.

And nowadays, women customers are getting producers’ attention, for the rise of women’s right and their need. One of the trends to attract women customers is using male image in advertising. With the deepening of reform and opening-up policy and

the influence of western culture, it is very common to see males appearing in advertisement of women products.

What images of men will sell products to women?

The five ads above are the examples of male advocating sanitary napkin. The five males all share the image of tender and thoughtfulness.

Kimura takuya and Ashin appeared in the ads of lipsticks.

The handsomeness of male is a direct attraction to those targeted female customers.

More and more advertisers use the source of male power. These male models not

only excel in their physical development but also appear in a welcome image. Sometimes, advertisers even use idol effect to fascinate potential female customers. The ads presented by male speak louder than by female themselves.

Analysis:

1. The impact of foreign culture:

China has been a male-dominated society since ancient times, and female always conformed to the dominant male value systems. Since the beginning of the reform and opening in 1978, our Chinese traditional concept has been gradually influenced by western culture, especially the concept of “equal between the sexes”. Modern society doesn’t stress differences between male and female, and women’s position has been elevated. Even there is a trend that men become more female. Male’s figure in female product advertisement is gentler: they care about wives’ physical and mental condition on their own initiative; they share household chores together… This kind of situation is a mirror of the times. 2. The wide spread “gender theory”:

As we all know, content of advertisements are deeply influenced by culture. In other words, advertisements’ content and theme is closely related with the social custom and social culture of a certain period of time. Cosmetics’ target consumer forces are female, as beauty is female cultural symbol. While cars and electronic products’ target consumer forces are male. This result is because society perpetuates the ideologies about gender roles, and advertisements just truly show this phenomenon.

With the wide spread of “gender theory”, this kind of male-power culture has been continuously criticized. Because the division of labor has been refined, more and more can have jobs. This directly led women’s economic independence, and raised women’s social statues. People’s expectation on traditional gender roles began to blur, and more and more advertisements refused to stick to traditional gender stereotype. Men’s “female quality” can also fully expressed in products to show their gentleness and considerateness.

Ⅲ. Example

To illustrate our arguments more clearly, we chose two advertisements to specifically show what role the male image is leading in and what implication is really embedded in these ads.

Example 1

That is how the story goes in Jin Chengwu’s ad:

At the beginning, the celebrity spokesperson is speaking right to the camera lens, while sitting on the tatami and sewing the red sweater for heroine. Then he put the

product on the well-folded red sweater he had just sewed and slowly the screen changed to the heroine in red sweater holding the product in her hands and blossoming a happy smile.

This advertisement was shown on TV in 2003. One characteristic that differ this ad from others shot before was that the hero uncommonly sewed the red sweater for heroine. It was not like the usual male image before that wears well-tailored suits and keep short clean hair representing success and entrepreneurship. Instead Jin Chengwu in ad represented a distinct image of “New Gentleman”.

This kind of “New Gentleman” knows the uncomfortableness that women feel when at menstruation and will offer his care to them. They know they should provide for a feeling of consideration and care, an initiative of sewing and placing medicine. Considering these action, they actually in turn imply that those “New Gentlemen” have broken the boundary of two different sexualities.

However, what behind these actions is still the ideology of paternity, according to his narration. Some of Jin Chengwu’s first lines are “how are you doing these days”, “will he company you through those hard days”, “will he give you the feeling of warmth”. Those words are not only said to the heroine but also to those female audience out of the screen. We can deduce from his words that he thought women must be companied when they are having period and it is important for men to give women a sense of security. Especially his last script-“let me take care of you”-manifested a little of his “male chauvinism”- if other men could not take care of you well, just let me do it. It is full of confidence and a little commanding tone but he forgot that women can take themselves well too.

Because there is no actual words from the heroine so that we will not be able to know whether she felt a little offended for the way he said this. But the pre-assumption here is clear that women are fragile and weaker than men, and they are naturally in the disadvantage comparing to men.

Example 2

Introduction of this ad:

Click the ad pages link, there will come out a Chen Bolin’s welcoming page. In the middle of the page, Chen Bolin, smiling, holding up a piece of the Libresse billboards, the billboards advertises the slogans of Libresse. A notice beside the billboards prompted that there are nine slogans. Every time you click the link, there will be a different one. This 9 advertisement revolves around one theme which is warmth and coziness, emphasizing the care of men against women. These slogans are well written in the tone of a boyfriend talking to his girlfriend which meets the expectations of many women for their boyfriends. Ad at the top of the page there is a \"interact with Bolin.\" Clicking into, comes out a scene in which Chen Bolin is in a comfortable home. And a dialogue with Chen Bolin is set in the scene. First, Chen Bolin said: if “the good” friend comes, I will come to you immediately. I know you want to drink hot cocoa. At this point, at the bottom of the screen there are two options: I will drink and I don’t want to drink provided for the audience to choose. Whichever you choose, there is a series of continuous dialogues. In all dialogues, Chen Bolin will give a variety of warm concerns, such as confining scarf for you, dressing you a coat and warming your hands. In the end of the dialogues, Chen Bolin will say: Some say that to judge whether a man loves you, you should see if he will buy you tampons. I will not only buy you tampons, but buy you Libresse. Because I love you and love with instill obedience.（有人说看一个男人爱不爱你，就要看他会不会为你买卫生棉。我不仅会给你买卫生棉，还会为你买轻曲线。因为我不止爱你，还爱你爱得服服帖帖。）

When the dialogues finish, it goes back to the first page. There are two links on the top place of the first page. One is linked to a page which introduces the way to take part in the Interaction with Chen Bolin Online activity which is subordinated to this ad. Another is linked to the official website of Libresse.

Choice of the spokesperson——Chen Bolin（陈柏霖）

Chen Bolin, a Taiwan's idol. In recent years he has played a number of idol dramas and becomes many teenagers’ idol. In In Time with You, he played the role of Li Daren. Li Daren is very considerate to his mother, sister and girlfriend. To select Chen Bolin as the spokesperson exactly in line with the characteristics of warmth of this advertisement.

1. Color & setting

Color: Color of this ad is in warm tones throughout. This ad’s overall background is pink, accordingly, Chen Bolin wearing a pink sweater with a pink shirt. The set of the color of pink is in line with the gender of the targeted

audience----women, but also creates a warm atmosphere.

Setting: The whole scene of this Advertisement is set as a home. Home provides a comfortable feeling and there are families caring about you. Chen Bolin wears leisure clothes and offers a variety of the family-like care, which is able to move the audience from the bottom of their heart. After watching this ad, the audience would believe that this napkin can offer the family-like care and few people can reject such warm and cozy care.

2. Coordination with a fans interacting project

Fans interacting project leverages the celebrity, rich rewards of this project can attract a lot of fans. As a result, there are more people knowing Libresse, which expands the recognition of Libresse and the consumer market. In other words, the ad fully completes its task.

Ⅳ.Conclusion

Using a male role to represent a male accessories is the most unconventional feature of this ad. The male spokesperson’s behavior seems to have get rid of the boundaries of genders. He knows the discomfort of a woman who is in her menstrual period and understands the importance of taking the initiative to pay care. But the entire ad is designed based on one assumption that women are weak and need to be taken care of. All in all, a male character representing a female accessories is a bold endeavor also a breakthrough. And the success of this ad speaks for the huge improvement in the relation between men and women and promises a development in the future.