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Who’s the one man in TV ads British men aspire to be like…..?

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Seven out of ten men think we’re stereotyped in the media and yet half of us still aspire to be like one particular man from the world of TV adverts. Can you guess who that man is?

As part of its first national audit of masculinity published on International Men’s Day last week, the male suicide prevention charity CALM asked men which male character from TV advertising they most relate to and aspire to—and the result may surprise you.

WAS IT THE LYNX MAN?

No, apparently most British men don’t buy the idea that wearing an overpowering deodorant will cause millions of scantily-clad women to come charging towards you. Only 7% of men said they relate to the man in the Lynx ad and only 4% aspire to be that man.

WHAT ABOUT THE FAT BLOKE WHO CAN’T PLAY FOOTBALL?

No, only 8% of men relate to the fat bloke in The Sun’s fantasy football adverts and just 5% aspire to be like him!

HOW ABOUT THIS GUCCI SEX SYMBOL?

Would you be surprised to know that only 11% of men relate to this impossibly handsome man, though nearly one in five (19%) aspire to be like him.

IS DIY DAVE MORE OF A ROLE MODEL? 

More men (17%) could relate to the ordinary bloke in the B&Q advert though only 7% aspire to be like him.

WHO WANTS TO BE LIKE PAUL? 

http://youtu.be/VZlZ_6l8ul4

Yes apparently men want to be like the  overweight, beardy dad Paul Knowles who loves doing things for his family and puts “more effort into [their] holiday than most do at work. A total of 45% of men say they can relate to Paul and 51% say they aspire to be like him. As the advert says, “Paul, in our eyes, you’re already a winner”.

—Photo Credits: The Sun, B&Q and Gucci

Article by Glen Poole author of the book Equality For Men

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  • Nigel

    If you were to look into the advertising industry and its research you would in fact find that advertisers have learned to pitch their advertising differently according to gender of purchaser. So for instance men’s designer aftershaves are mainly bought by women (one assumes as presents) hence the similarity with general perfume advertising. Of course the advertising for low cost aftershaves has to appeal more to men directly, such as “lynx”. Overall many products avoid glossy asprirational characters if the majority of buyers are actually going to be male. The general idea appears to be that men are not attracted by people so far unlike themselves that they can’t connect. Women it seems are much more attracted to aspirational depictions of perfection. Though again this is related to the products (“mums shop at Iceland” versus buying L’Oreal “your worth it”.) It is just the case that women actually form the majority of purchasers of most goods.