Exploring the Intersection of Masculine Identity, Consumption, and Advertising: A Visual Research Perspective

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Benha University, Faculty of Applied Arts, Advertising, Printing and Publishing Department, Benha, Egypt

2 Faculty of Applied Arts, Benha University

3 National Research Centre (NRC), Textile Research and Technology Institute (TRTI), Pre-treatment and Finishing of Cellulose based Textiles Department (PFCTD), El-Behouth St. (former El-Tahrir str.), Dokki, P.O. 12622, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Through explication of a visual research method, this paper theorizes how masculine identity interacts with consumption—of imagery, products, desires, and passions in advertising and consumer culture. We analyze the male body as a discursive “effect” created at the intersection of consumption and several marketing discourses such as advertising, market segmentation, and visual communication, balancing between brand strategy—what the marketer intends—and brand community—the free appropriation of meaning by the market. The paper’s contribution rests in extending previous work on male representation into historical, ontological, and photographic realms, providing a necessary complement between understanding advertising meaning as residing within managerial strategy or wholly subsumed by consumer response. We argue that greater awareness of the connections between the traditions and conventions of visual culture and their impact on the production and consumption of advertising images leads to enhanced ability to understand how advertising works as a representational system and signifying practice.

Keywords

Journal of Textiles, Coloration and Polymer Science

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 29 February 2024

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 January 2024
  • Revise Date: 07 February 2024
  • Accept Date: 29 February 2024

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