How many years have men thriven on ogling scantily-clad or downright naked women? Well, a new research survey says British men getting a taste of their own medicine are finding the taste very bitter.
According to Reuters, this survey says over a quarter of British men are "concerned about their representation in advertising, as companies exploit the male form and function to sell products."
The commercial think tank the Future Foundation performed the research, Reuters says. The think tank's cofounder says it's not just about losing power or economic clout. "(I)t is the objectification of male bodies in advertising - just as women have always suffered from the idealization of particular stereotypes," says Melanie Howard.
The survey comes up well short, though, of the 48 percent of women concerned about how they are represented. But Howard says undermining men in advertising was desirable to appeal to young, affluent women.
And the men seem eager to retaliate, Reuters adds. Most complaints over a poster ad for Howard Stern's show, telling men that if they were ugly and poor they might as well castrate themselves, came from men, according to Britain's Advertising Standards Authority.
Not that the ladies are being short-changed all of a sudden - Claudia Schiffer disrobed notoriously before driving off in a television ad for Citroen, the French car, while the upfront "Hello, Boys" poster ad is still catching prizes for Wonderbra, Reuters says.
The survey also says 39 percent of women and 27 percent of men think there is too much sex in advertising, with commercials failing to mirror actual life.
"(M)aybe advertisers should be thinking about things that will resonate more with people's lives and values than straight titillation," Howard tells Reuters.
