Where some retailers are actively trying to liberate childrens' products from the arbitrary pigeonholes of the pink and blue aisles, certain worried grown men are desperately trying to put themselves back into their safe, stereotypical boxes:
There are, apparently, men who think that slapping the word "tactical" onto their personal grooming products will turn them into some kind of special forces action hero, men who think that a hair product marketed as "Manpoo" sounds empowering, rather than just incredibly stupid.
It's not just adult males who get sucked into such cartoonish stereotypes. Just take a look at a typical selection of "funny" greetings cards aimed at women and you'd get the impression that the average grown woman is a featherbrained shopaholic who lives only to feed her prosecco and chocolate habit.
Are these female stereotypes perpetuated mainly by male ideas of what women should want, or are these clichés as deeply integrated into some womens' own self-image as one-dimensional hyper-masculinity is into the identities of tactical Manpoo consumers?
Whatever your gender, I reckon that "rounded human being" is a far better look than "targeted, segmented consumer."
We’ve covered many of them on Are Men OK?—laundry detergent, hair ties, novellas, soap, coffee, shampoo (aka Manpoo)—all marketed under the idea that men need their own versions of everyday goods and services...Interesting to see that it's (some) men who are actively doing this to themselves. When it comes to the pink and blue aisles, these are created by adults and kids just take what they're given. Grown-ups have a certain amount of agency and seem to be complicit in their own self-stereotyping.
...Manpoo and “tactical” soap aren’t just about bringing a range of aesthetic options to the marketplace; they’re designed specifically for a group of men who revel in masculinity—men who are convinced alternatives to these products are not for them...
...Evan Hafer, founder of Black Rifle Coffee, similarly started his company after feeling like there wasn’t a coffee brand for men like him. After serving in the Special Forces and working for the CIA, Hafer wanted to fulfill his dream of working with coffee, but found that he didn’t fit in at most cafes. “If I were in Portland or Seattle or anywhere else, I’d feel completely out of place. I can’t go to these coffee shops and talk about libertarian issues or pro-gun issues,” he told the Daily Dot...
...With their products, these companies are giving men permission to both accept their most masculine traits and re-label their “more feminine” ones as masculine. It’s OK, says the tactical lip balm, wanting soft lips is actually a manly thing.
Because the other option would be enjoying a trait or a product that’s traditionally feminine, and for many, unfortunately, that’s still unacceptable. It would strip them of their identity—an identity that has rarely been threatened since the dawn of Western civilization.
There are, apparently, men who think that slapping the word "tactical" onto their personal grooming products will turn them into some kind of special forces action hero, men who think that a hair product marketed as "Manpoo" sounds empowering, rather than just incredibly stupid.
It's not just adult males who get sucked into such cartoonish stereotypes. Just take a look at a typical selection of "funny" greetings cards aimed at women and you'd get the impression that the average grown woman is a featherbrained shopaholic who lives only to feed her prosecco and chocolate habit.
Are these female stereotypes perpetuated mainly by male ideas of what women should want, or are these clichés as deeply integrated into some womens' own self-image as one-dimensional hyper-masculinity is into the identities of tactical Manpoo consumers?
Whatever your gender, I reckon that "rounded human being" is a far better look than "targeted, segmented consumer."
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