Publications
Partners
I know we’ve spoken about the ridiculous way that advertisers market to women before. But, really, if I had a penny for every condescending piece of ‘pink’ marketing I’ve had to endure in my lifetime I would… well… I would not spend it on any of the brands who do that.
And so many of them do.
Entire industries are built on telling us we’re not good enough and then preying on those insecurities. And to add insult to injury, products like washing powder, dishwashing liquid and nappies are almost exclusively marketed to women.
And this is really unfair toward men too.
They’re implying that men don’t do laundry or cook for themselves or clean their houses or raise children. While we all know very well it is utter nonsense. Men aren’t grunting Neanderthals who only spend money on beer and Xbox games. Men are partners and cooks and cleaners and dads too. So you can see why this type of thing makes me so angry.
What makes me laugh, though, is how skincare products are marketed to men.
As a women, I’ve spent years reading the ever-hyperbolic names and claims on beauty and skincare products. Words like “radiance, enriching, hydrating, gentle, moisturising, nourishing, silky, soft, rich, luminescent, glowing, pampering, softening” and the like are used with wild and reckless abandon in the product names and descriptions.
But the last few years I began to notice how very different the wording is on skincare products for men.
You see men – even men who’ve embraced basic skincare and grooming rituals – are still MEN, damn it. They’re not concerned with namby-pamby nonsense like softness and radiance. No! Apparently when it comes to men it’s all about sport and defense and fighting and war.
Moisturisers are “active”, they “strengthen”, they give your skin a “kick”. Descriptions are rife with words like “performance”, “endurance”, “skin defense” and “prime protection”. Cleansers and body lotions are about “pure power” and having “full body armour” that “excites” and “stimulates”.
It feels like the message they’re giving to men is: “The metrosexuals might have taken over, but as God is your witness, just because you now cleanse, tone and moisturise does not mean you’re any less of a man.”
So you go boys. You scrub that manly face with vigour, slap on some ultra-defense face cream, beat your chest and ROAAAAR. It’s adorable.
Do the men in your life use skincare products? Or do they blatantly refuse (even with the promise of bulletproof skin)? Share your story and you could win a Women24 t-shirt.
Love, and enriching, girly kisses,
