Ideologies and Popular culture

Popular culture is a source of rich ideological concepts. There are several products of popular culture and they all represent different sociological and ideological viewpoints. Conducting an ideological analysis on a product of popular culture helps reveal the underlying ideologies that are perpetuated or formulated by that product.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ideologies and Popular culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Advertisements are good examples of products of popular culture. Advertisements are mostly meant to infiltrate a certain component of the society with the aim of swaying certain views and ideologies. This paper explores the ideologies behind a popular Men’s body wash television commercial. This commercial features a well-built and good-looking man doing things that ordinary men do not do. In the commercial, this gentleman indulges in several ridiculous things that women might fantas ize men doing. During the end of the commercial, the man looks straight at the camera and supposedly addresses the female audience by telling women that their men cannot be like him, but they can at least smell as he does. No seriousness is contained in this commercial but it still carries with it some serious ideologies. The first thing this advertisement does is to misrepresent reality. In the beginning of the commercial, many unrealistic goals are set. Ordinary men cannot undertake the fetes that are accomplished by the gentleman in the commercial. However, the men can at least be able to smell like this gentleman. This gives the men some hope of having some similarities with the commercial’s enviable man. The main objective of this advertisement is to point out at the inadequacies of men and then offer them a means of improving themselves using Old Spice Body Wash. The men contained in the audience can potentially change their ideology about how they are supposed to appea r after watching this commercial. The commercial also leans heavily towards the capitalist ideology by making the men feel like they are lacking something just because they do not own this product.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The humorous nature of this commercial might appeal to many cultures and people. Many people can relate to some of the jokes used in this commercial and subsequently make them part of their social group’s ideology. In addition, the commercial has the ability to formulate a new ideology among men and women. The man in the commercial is addressing women associating good things and moments with Old Spice Body Wash. With time, some women are likely to start believing that women who use this product are likely to have similarities with the man in the commercial. In an attempt to attract women, some men would associate themselves with this product even tually forming a complete ideology about the relationship between the choice in body wash and personal characters. The commercial aims to perpetuate the ideology that real men use Old Spice Body Wash. Advertisements regularly perpetuate ideologies using cultural references. Several people hold what they consider to be solid ideologies. However, a close investigation would reveal they picked the ideologies from products of popular culture. For instance, prior to the Old Spice commercial, several men were not aware of its existence. However, after an intense advertising campaign Old Spice might become part of the society the same way popular products like Apple and Google have become. The ideology about body washes defining manhood might become a mainstream belief as a result of this commercial. In addition, the ideology might contribute to the formation of cultures and sub-cultures. Commercials and other products of popular culture are all directly linked to ideologies. An individual ’s ideologies are a product of his/her culture. The ideologies that are propagated by this commercial will have people who conform to or stand against them. This essay on Ideologies and Popular culture was written and submitted by user Kaylynn C. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.