Advertising: Score case study

Media factsheet 188:

1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?

According to AdAge, advertising agencies in the 1960s relied less on market research and leaned more toward creative instinct in planning their campaigns. The "new advertising" of the 1960s took it's cue from the visual medium of TV and the popular posters of the day, which featured large visuals and minimal copy for a dazzling, dramatic effect. Print ads took on a realistic look, relying more on photography than illustration. The Score advert reflects this change because as we can see, the subjects (the centre of attention) are real people and there is barely any illustrations within the advert apart from the product itself and the text to go alongside it. Furthermore, this reflects the 'realistic' nature that began to take a significant role in 1960s advertisement. 

2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?

In the 1950s it was often a male expert who lectured to women about the virtues of a product. This changed in the 1960s: the male expert replaced by a female in a kitchen regularly extoling the virtues of a new soap powder to another female. 'The Good Wife'- often portrayed as something of a 'bimbo'- was the most common representation of women in 1960s advertising, who serviced the needs of her family and took pride and joy in housework. 

3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?

Jungle setting evokes Britain's Colonial past
Facial expression (smile) of the man links to the slogan
The gun is a phallic symbol and shows male dominance
The girl reaching for the man shows how women are desperately needing for men in power
The women are dressed provocatively which was new in the 60s- (sexually objectified) females are exploited
Slogan suggests that men want scantily clad dressed women 
Pack shot- image of product.

4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?


The Liquid hair tonic is a product of the American Bristol-Meyers Company. Like many large companies of this era, they paid much more attention to building a distinctive character for the brand. The brand message is clear: to present the product as grooming product for a ‘real’ (masculine) man. The choice of the ‘Score’ brand name is deliberate and carries very obvious connotations.

5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?

The audience may have challenged this idea of subordination and inferiority of women in 2019 and in 1967, it may have been more accepted and not really challenged.
6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?

The anchorage text gives meaning and context to the image as well as reassuring men about their sexuality (1967 Decriminalisation of sexuality). The text also targets heterosexual and heteronormative men.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?

Van Zoonen believes culture- the media- plays a crucial role in establishing gender roles and the dominance of patriarchal ideologies. She also builds on Mulvey's idea of the 'male gaze' by arguing that the media presents the female body as 'spectacle'- sexualised for the benefit of male audiences. Zoonen argues that women are typically: presented to reinforce western beauty ideals. As we see in the advertisement, the women appear to be doing just that as they are tall, white and slim.
8) How could Stuart Hall's theory of representation and David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?

Gauntlett- Identity is becoming more fluid, there are generational differences and things change over time.

9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?

Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. For males growing up in the 1970s and 1980s being labelled “queer” was a direct challenge to one’s manhood.

10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?

Despite the passing of empire, the white western world still exerts its dominance through cultural products.


Wider reading

The Drum: This Boy Can article

Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:

1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?

A growing global ‘boy crisis’ suggests that we could be, in fact, empowering the wrong sex. Of course, women are woefully under-represented in boardrooms and certain walks of life, with casual sexism and unconscious bias still endemic, but the difference is that we are all now familiar with the narrative around tackling these issues.

2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?

Men were craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a 'successful' man in 2016.

3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?

In order to prevent a full blown crisis of self-worth, Brockway advocates that advertisers “totally reinvent gender constructs” and dare to paint a world where boys like pink, don’t like going out and getting dirty, or aren’t career ambitious, for example.

4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?

As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing – but advertising is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal.

5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?


Now we have our platform and our point of view, we can break the man-bullshit and show it doesn’t matter who you want to be, just express yourself and we will support that.