”Just a couple of years ago, the metrosexual was king (or queen). But now American advertisers have a clear, new message: ‘Masculinity is in crisis, so bring back the real men and smear those queers.'”
Bryan Safi‘s latest “That’s Gay” commentary for Current TV. He explores the perceive message that several commercials seem to convey: Sensitive and fashionable “sissies” are undesirable and need to be dumped (often in some sort of cartoonishly violent way). While the Old Spice commercials don’t approach violence, their odd, shirtless spokesman, Isaiah Mustafa, is trying to appeal directly to women, or men who want to appeal to women. However, the case can be made that the market is speaking for itself because, according to TIME, Old Spice’s sales are actually down. Mr. T is used as another example for his 2-year-old Snickers commercial, to which he did reply that he is not homophobic. (Current TV / That’s Gay)
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