Media Assessment
1. Representation of men- in the BK advert, men are shown to be strong, hungry and powerful. The main man in the advert is angry about being served “chick food” in a restaurant (referring to his small portion). The men started protesting because they are hungry, which means small portions won’t be enough for them. In many of the frames, the men are in a big crowd, this shows us that men work together to get what they want. The soundtrack for this advert is called the burger king “manthem”. The word “Man” means an adult human male. The word “anthem” is a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause. So putting them together to make a neologism means that the men are gathering in groups to fight for a cause. This tells me the advert will celebrate the fact that men are strong, and independent. This shows me that the target audience is for men, because BK are saying that with the burger, you can be powerful and strong. So all men without the burger will think they are weak. However it can also appeal to women because they may think that BK are saying women cannot eat the burger.
2. Representation of women- the women in the advert are not really involved, they just keep appearing in the background. The women in the advert are wearing short cheerleading outfits, or tight pink clothes. This makes the women look like they are supporting the men, cheering them on. This would mean that some women may not like the advert because they are being pushed into the background. However some women may like the advert because we can laugh at it. This is because the stereotypes are very exaggerated, so we know they cannot be serious, this means we can laugh at them.
3. Social Class- The man in the advert is wearing casual clothes, whereas the other people in the restaurant are dressed more sophisticatedly. This tells me that the man is out of place in the restaurant, he is the odd one out. The man in the advert is given food that is only a small portion and his facial expression tells me that he is not happy with it. He feels this way about the food because it won’t fill him up. The man looks out of place in the restaurant because his facial expressions show he is not satisfied and his clothing is different to what the rest of them are wearing. The man would prefer a bigger portion of food, like the whopper from BK because it is big enough to fill his stomach. I think the target audience is for men. This is because I think BK is showing men that they can put down the small portions of food and protest to being given them. BK is showing they can satisfy the men’s needs more than other restaurants can because they have the full-sized portions that they need&want.
4. The men in the advert are wearing working class/ casual clothes. This shows they do jobs such as building, construction, plumbing or maybe office work. It is important for BK to show this range of jobs because that is usually a ‘male’ job (stereotypically) so it applies to most men. In the advert, the men copy the stereotype of how men are supposed to behave, this tells me that the target audience could be for men that do not act like the traditional man, e.g. men that care for their looks, weight etc. this is because the traditional man doesn’t worry about any of that stuff, because they believe that is what the women are supposed to worry about. Therefore BK are trying to make every man live up to the stereotype, and they can do this because they are basically saying to keep up their ‘manly’ reputation, a man has to have the BK burger.
5. The use of a soundtrack- The song ‘manthem’ is based on Helen Reddy’s song ‘I Am Woman’. The original lyrics are about women’s independence and strength. For example she says ‘I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman’. The purpose of the original song was to show men and other women that women really do have power and men shouldn’t dominate everything and that women are just as equal in capabilities as men are. BK changed the song because men then felt that they were being left out, as their strength wasn’t being showed like the women’s was. BK are suggesting that to get back at the women, the song change will bring back male domination, through just one burger. This changing of message would appeal to men because through this song, men will agree that they will no longer be put to the side while women talk about how strong they are. However it also appeals to women because the men are trying to steal their song, which could mean stealing their equality.
6. Psychographic profiles- the men in this advert want a big portion of food, like a traditional man would. This shows us that the psychographic profile of the target audience would be mainstreamers. This is because mainstreamers like to keep traditional values, which is what the men in the BK advert are doing. The BK advert is promoting the idea that men should stick to the traditional values that they had before men started worrying about health, weight and looks.
