It isn't just the news and entertainment media that caters to man-bashing, either. Advertisers are very much to blame for this as well as Glenn Sacks and Richard Smaglick write in Advertising Age:
The evidence is clear: "Man as idiot" isn't going over very well these days.
Defenders of the advertising status quo generally put forth the following arguments: Males are "privileged" and "it's men's turn," so it's OK to portray them this way, and that men simply don't care how they're portrayed. Both of these arguments are highly questionable.
Young males certainly aren't privileged. The vast majority of learning-disabled students are boys, and boys are four times as likely as girls to receive diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Girls get better grades than boys and are much more likely than boys to graduate high school and enter college. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women earn 60% of all bachelor's degrees and 60% of all master's degrees.
That adult men are "privileged" over women is also questionable. Yes, men do make up the majority of CEOs, politicians and powerbrokers. They also make up the majority of the homeless, the imprisoned, suicide victims and those who die young. [...]
Is it true that men really don't care how they're portrayed? Evidence strongly suggests otherwise.
According to Leo Burnett Worldwide's 2005 "Man Study," four out of five men believe media portrayals of men are inaccurate. The study found that men care more about the way they are viewed than was generally believed. [...]
Is bashing men a good way to sell products? The ad world has learned, for the most part, to respect womanhood. Given the rising level of media, ad-industry and public disgust toward anti-male ads, it's clear that good, respectful humor is a much healthier approach to advertising.
Read the rest.
