In five pages this paper examines how magazine advertising presents a distorted perspective of masculinity. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
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advertising skews the perspective of male masculinity has come to represent a commonplace approach to capitalistic consumerism. Proponents of magazine advertising contend that there is one phrase for those
who are prone to the deceptiveness of media marketing: caveat emptor. They argue that it is not up to the advertiser to be responsible for the buyers gullibility, even
if that buyer happens to be an impressionable male seeking to emulate the ads buff model. Indeed, it can easily be argued that there is some form of deception
in most all advertising; employing bodybuilders to make it look easy to pump it up clearly influences readers to respond in the same fraudulent fashion.
The image of power and gender roles in popular culture reflects significant manipulation with regard to male masculinity. One only needs to consider such publications as GQ
to realize the significant impact power and gender have upon the content of todays magazines, confirming the presumption that the male gender is all-powerful within its societal role. However,
one might readily argue that the ads in such magazines portray a decidedly skewed perspective of what male masculinity truly represents, ultimately causing impressionable readers to jeopardize their health in
pursuit of the elusive marketing promises. Sexuality is perhaps one of the most influential of all elements in contemporary magazine ads that promote
male masculinity. As such a primary product of both article and advertiser content, the lure of male sexual power has proven to be a significant asset to circulation and
bottom line. So entrenched is the concept of sex and contemporary magazines such as GQ that there is hardly a single advertisement that does not exhibit an obvious display