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Joana Hernandez
Professor Ditch
English 114A
20 October, 2014
Summer Eves Gender Mistake
Lately, media in the western society has become majority of the peoples attention. The
western society has become a mediated society, from what we read to what we hear; media is
everywhere! Yet, usually some people don't really understand what media is doing. Most people
just think they are selling a product or just advertise news on celebrities but media is always
sending a message. However, it is how people view the message. Media has become very
powerful that it is shaping what our society learns and how they act or think. In the commercial
"Summer Eve's "manly mistake" shows gender being done by participating in the stereotypes of
males being masculine and females being feminine, but some people don't realize it until it's
pointed out. In some way this commercial was meant to sell a women's product but eventually
turns into a commercial of a mans reaction and getting his masculinity back after using the
Summer Eve's body cleanser. Media still portrays males as superior and participates on doing
gender which affects females and males by making them conform to social norms, if not they are
considered abnormal.
In the commercial a man is taking a shower with his wife talking about the Summer
Eves body cleanser. Until, she said it was perfectly fit for a women and that he is using it. After,
his shocked reaction he quickly went to get his "masculinity back". The male getting his
masculinity back consisted of chopping wood, pulling a car with a rope attach to his teeth and
mowing the lawn. With all these various things he did, the commercial showed gender being
done. This commercial is offensive to women because in a way it's showing how being a women

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or using womens products are disgusting and if a male uses it they must get there masculinity
back or they possibly can be judged and be called names like: weak, unworthy, or sissy and so
much more for having a female characteristics or not conforming. The female in the commercial
also mentions how it's gentle, technically referring to female being gentle. So if a man would've
used a Summer Eves body cleanser people would consider the man as being gentle, having a
feminine characteristic. By this commercial it is influences and showing gender performance
being done because it's possibly saying how man should be strong and hard working. At the end
of the commercial she says "that was close" in other words close of being compared to a women
or close as having a feminine quality.
This commercial could be problematic and could affect women and men. This could
affect women because it could limit them to feel superior to men and have a mindset of men
being better. Media has often labeled women to seem not important or not seen as having a
masculinity personality to be normal. Also, saying that being a man is better than being a
woman. In western society man is A and woman is not-A (C.G p.29). Making some
women not fit in if they are not what media is trying to advertise like gentle, dependent, and
inferior. This could be problematic because they might fall in depression because they don't feel
as worthy or valuable. It could also affect males because some don't meet the social norm of
masculinity. Some are skinny and have some feminine performance like gentle, soft, and
sensitive skin that might require female products but this commercial is emphasizing on a male
getting his masculinity back as if being a man and not having masculine characteristics is bad.
Perhaps both men and women sometimes don't fit in the social construction that society has
created and media has taken upon to advertise and could end up with consequences. For
example, extensive work out for men to get the body of a perfect male figure could possibly

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increasing the amount of steroids they take, that may have harmful effects. If commercials like
the Summer Eve don't stop and people don't realize they are conforming to social norms, they
will continue to have the mindset as a "macho man", a domineering, controlling, aggressive type
of male. This decreases the possibility of having a future without prioritizing gender
performance.
In the video Miss Representation, it emphasizes how media influences many people
in western society mostly teens and women. "The facts that media are manipulative and so
derogatory to the most powerful women in the country then what does it say about medias
ability to take any women in America seriously" says Jennifer Pozner an executive director and
Women in media and news author. Usually, media isn't being direct and that's why people don't
actually realize what media is teaching and how we use it on our daily lives. In the Summer
Eves commercial it wasn't directly saying "man can't use females products if they do they must
get there masculinity back" but the commercial hid behind the humor of the males reactions. "A
lot of advertising is based on making people feel anxious and feel insecure, the effect is primarily
subconscious and its very harmful but for the most part people really aren't aware of that" says
Jean Kilbourne an author and senior scholar. In this commercial most western people especially
women don't seem to realize it was offensive. Many thought it was funny, how the man reacted
and what he went through.
Media had influence most people to perceive the world around us and help shape our
society. "Since the 1970's when the world has hijacked by sociologist, it has taken on wilder
meaning to indicate the socially determined characteristics of both women and men (Williams,
578)". In other words, that the gender performances have been indicated to organize people on
how they should be and act. It is hard not to become swayed by what the media perceived of

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social norms because of how much American society are exposed to media. Our population is
always growing as well such as new born babies, or foreigners from other countries. "Without
knowing the meaning behind the messages being broadcast to them," then it could possibly be
easier to "become swayed by what they see (Goodhall,pg. 160)" and take it as normal. Most
masculine people would respond to this commercial as a normal way to react. Jason Kats from
Tough Guise mentioned how men learn at an early age to be a "real man." By the time they are
ready for school, they have already learned to view the world in terms of a dichotomy (C.G
pg.84). Summer Eves is a great example because the way the man reacted was media
advertising "real man" stereotypes and is shown on television for anyone to see.
Family Guy is a funny cartoon show about a family that consists of five people and a
dog. The Family Guy show also had something similar to the product "Summer Eve." The
Summer Eves product is a body cleanser for women douche which could make a woman feel
fresh down there. There was two episodes season on 1 and season 7, when they had a scene
where a girl asked her mom about "not feeling so fresh down there. Their mom reaction was
shocked and their answer was "No. There must be something wrong with you." These episodes
could possibly be making women insecure and if they are not so fresh down there, there's a
problem and it's not normal. This show could probably be making a joke so people could laugh
not directly attacking women but more laughing about the products actually being used. If
women wouldn't conforms or "distinguish the false messages about body image and gender
behaviors media wouldn't be so powerful to get American people to feel insecure and let media
in courage gender stereotypes (Goodhall, pg. 161)."
There's other products like Summer Eve and there commercials are similar in some
ways and different on others. I compared RepHresh gel commercial from 2014 and Massengell

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commercial from 1996. RepHresh didn't include any men or any masculine performance and it
briefly describe what the product does throughout the commercial. In Messengell commercial it
also didn't include any masculine performance but the women in the commercial did asked if
man had the same problem and one responded "Yes, they give them a sporty name" participating
to the gender stereotypes of males having to be "sporty." In a way it was assuring that if I male
had a similar problem it would consider them womens problem normal.
When I first saw the Summer Eves commercial I also thought it was funny because I
didn't realize what the video was actually trying to advertise and I was not looking at the
commercial with critical lens. Until I notice that there were more messages behind this
commercial. According to Dr. Oz "women are self-cleaning oven" but in some occasions women
might require to use products like Summer Eve. I agree there should be product specifically for
women or specifically for men to benefit them because there is different type of situations, yet it
shouldn't be abnormal or disgusting for the other sex to mistakenly use it like shown in the
commercial. This commercial is less focused on explaining the product or advertising it and
more focused on making the man get his masculinity back, which causes the commercial to lose
its purpose.
American society shouldnt let media be so powerful and should start realizing how
media messages could affect women and men. Gender is such a familiar part of our daily life
that it usually takes a deliberate description of our expectations of how women and men are
supposed to act (C.G pg.20). Summer Eves commercial is an example of how media portrays
males as being superior and better than women and its not right. In order to become a better
society we all need to know what is going on and how it affects us. If we dont we will live in a
social construction where we are just based on our sex and be forced to be in a category of either

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feminine or masculine. There have been changes in the government. Yet, there are still mindsets
about gender stereotypes that need to change such as women being weak and dependent. Also, if
men dont meet the specific masculinity performance they are judge. American society could
change if we do not learn to judge based on a person being feminine or masculine.

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Work Cited
Goodall, Hannah. "Media influence on gender stereotypes" (2012):160.

Groner, Rachael, and John F. O'Hara. Composing Gender. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.
Print.

Katz Jason, Sut Jhally, Susan Ericsson, Sanjay Talreja, and Jeremy Earp. Tough Guise:
Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity. Northampton, MA: Media Education
Foundation, 1999.

Kilbourne, Jennifer L. Pozner, Katie Couric, Lisa Ling, Meenakshi G. Durham, Margaret Cho,
Martha M. Lauzen, Nancy Pelosi, Pat Mitchell, Rachel Maddow, and Rosario Dawson. Miss
Representation. Sausalito, Calif.: Ro*co Films Educational, 2011.

Newsom, Jennifer S, Regina K. Scully, Geralyn W. Dreyfous, Sarah J. Redlich, Jessica

Congdon, Eric Holland, Svetlana Cvetko, Caroline Heldman, Condoleezza Rice, Dianne
Feinstein, Dolores Huerta, Geena Davis, Gloria Steinem, Jackson Katz, Jane Fonda, Jean
Williams, Trish. Gender, media and democracy". Round table.357 (2000):577-83.proquest.