Ad Trend shows how confused men are about who they are

A few weeks ago vb beer launched their beer campaign for men who don´t wear handcream, as a reaction towards metrosexuality. Now a new typ of man, inspired by Mad Men, is spotted by a journo in Newsweek.

"Men in television advertising are often portrayed as barely sentient morons, emasculated husbands, or literate cavemen.  So in other words, according to many of my friends of the fairer sex, accurately.  But over the last couple of years, any couch potato worth his bacon can't help but notice Madison Avenue has taken a few baby steps toward the old-school masculinity we like to think our fathers exhibited when they were splashing on the Hai Karate and letting their chest hair flourish. Maybe it's the nostalgic influence of Mad Men. But the problem in current advertising is that a lot of these commercials--and by implication society--still can't agree on the male ideal. That's where I come in. After thousands of hours of watching TV and surfing YouTube over the past year, I've culled half a dozen commercials or campaigns that illustrate as a group the mostly sorry--but mildly hopeful--state of men in advertising today." Read the article here: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/21/ad-men-the-most-interesting-trend-in-the-world.html

The popular Old Spice commercial:


But HANG ON! When do we ever talk about the female identity? What is a woman today? We are still talked about when it comes to body image and being used as objects in ads for LYNX etc... But the true identity of a woman? As a human being, with interest beyond being pretty and a good mum?