sexualizing men

[iverglas]

16. the Old Spice ad is just funny

It isn't laughing at anybody, and everybody knows that women really don't judge their partners, or men, on appearance as men do women.

The ad is aimed at women, who are the ones who buy this stuff for "their men". Make women laugh, and you've got us. The universal "wants" when women post at dating sites are "smart and funny". Everybody has their own standards in that regard, of course, but we want men who make us laugh. The guy in the ad does. That's what's attractive about him.

Anybody remember Due South, about the Mountie in Chicago? It was a Canada-US coproduction for the first few years and probably still runs at midnight someplace down there. Paul Gross, who played the Mountie, was a heartthrob: a cute do-gooder, in a funny show. The promos for the show played on that.

The one I can't find on line was a take-off on the Coca-Cola ad with the construction workers and women ogling them out a window. This one had Paul Gross seen from above in full Mountie regalia, with the women seeing the top of his Mountie hat and saying "take it off". So he does. The hat.

Here's another one:

The Full Mountie ... Uncover It All ... Paul Gross in his undies ... funny! It was all tongue-in-cheek and entre-nous. No objectifying. Not remotely similar to how women are objectified in media.