By Khadijat Oyeleye
The
Burger King Manthem
•The
song “Manthem” is based on the song “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy. The original
lyrics are about women being strong, powerful and independent. This can be seen
when she says “I am woman, hear me roar”. When she says “I am woman”, it shows
us that she isn’t just a woman; she is woman and is therefore stronger than one
person standing on their own. Saying “hear me roar” makes the audience think of
lions which means that women are leaders because lions are commonly known as
the kings of the jungle.
•The
purpose of the song is to show men that women are strong and they don’t have to
rely on men to accomplish things in life. This makes Helen Reddy a reformer
because she wants the position of women in society to change; women should be
viewed as superior and not inferior. This therefore makes “I Am Woman” a
feminist song.
•Burger
King changed the song to show men that it is okay to be the traditional man.
This means that they don’t need to care about the clothes they wear and what
they look like; they can eat what they want and do what they want (they don’t
need to be the modern man and care about health an beauty).
•The
Burger King Manthem will appeal to men because men will no longer have to
attempt to be something they’re not as they can live up to the original
stereotype of men being ignorant.
The Technique Used to Advertise BK Burgers
•The
main technique used in the BK advert is humour. This is because the men in the
advert were being quite foolish- they were throwing a car off a building and
they were ripping their pants off. This makes them seem childish but they’re
living up to the stereotype of the traditional man. This is because the
traditional man doesn’t care about the opinions of other people; he is
apathetic. Therefore, he doesn’t see the need to be something he’s not (smartly
dressed and distinguished).
•The
use of a stereotype is what makes the advert funny because the stereotype is
being exaggerated. This can be seen when the men are ripping their pants off
and throwing them into a fire- this wouldn’t normally happen in reality.
•This
advert would appeal to people in the demographic groups E-C2 (Unskilled-
plumbers, builders). The reason for this is because some of the men in the
advert were working as builders so men who work as builders in reality would
enjoy seeing how their job is mocked. This is because traditional men like to
mock others so as a result they will find the BK advert funny as it is a way
for them to make fun of other people.
•
The psychographic groups which are being targeted are the aspirer and the
explorer. The aspirer because in the
advert, BK has a crowd of fans and aspirers like popularity. This means that
people who eat BK burgers will get many friends. However, the aspirer won’t
like the advert because they care a lot
about their appearance so due to the childish behaviour of the men in the
advert, they will believe the BK won’t make them look sophisticated so they
won’t eat the burgers. The reason why
the explorer is being targeted is
because explorers like to try new things so if they see a new burger advertised,
they will want to try it.
The Representation of Females
•The
females featured in the advert are the supporters and the cheerleaders. They
are also the “reward”. The reason why they are the cheerleaders and supporters
is because some of them are standing at the side cheering the men on and the
purpose of a cheerleader is to support and motivate.
•The
women in the commercial are wearing tight pink tracksuits, short cheerleading
outfits and figure-hugging dresses. The clothes they are wearing make them fit
into the following stereotypes: The glamorous assistants, “eye candy”, girly
and weak. This is because the glamorous assistants are only there to make the
leading male look good and pink is quite a girly colour which in turn makes
them look very feminine. The reason they are “eye candy” is because they are
wearing short and/or tight clothes which show their feminine form.
•The
women in the advert are meant to symbolise rewards. This can be seen in the
below picture where a woman wearing a tight pink tracksuit is tempting a man
dragging a very heavy object behind him with a BK burger. This shows that once
the man gets the burger, he will also get the girl, thus making her the reward.
- The females in the advert are marginalised because they do not have an important role- they are the background characters and/or the assistants. This means that the only reason they are in the advert is to support the men and to look weak while doing so.
•The
advert could appeal to women who are rebellious. This is because they won’t
like being told that they can’t eat the burger so to prove to men that they can
also eat the burger, they will eat the burger in order to prove a point. On the
other hand, the advert wouldn’t appeal to female reformers and feminists. This
is because reformers want change and equality so they won’t like the men
showing that they are the better gender. This advert wouldn’t appeal to
feminists because they wouldn’t like the idea of women being portrayed as weak.
The Psychographic Profiles
•The
psychographic profiles being targeted are the explorer, the aspirer and the
struggler. The explorer is being targeted because explorers like trying new
things and if they see a new burger being advertised, they will want to try it.
This is because they like discovery and the tasting of that BK burger will be
the discovery of a new flavour. The aspirer is being targeted because aspirers
care a lot about their status. As the men eating their burgers had many
friends, the aspirer would feel like trying the burger because then they’d
believe that by eating the BK burger they’d gain friends and therefore,
popularity/status. The struggler is being targeted because burgers are a form
of junk food and strugglers eat mainly junk food as they don’t feel the need to
think about what the impact of too much junk food can do to the body.
•This
advert promotes stereotypes because the stereotypes being presented in the
advert are the strong, traditional man and the fragile woman. This shows that
the reformers are definitely not the target audience because reformers
want change and equality which means that they will feel annoyed that BK are
not presenting men and women as equals; men are presented as superior and women
are presented as inferior.
Social Class
•The
main male in the advert is wearing a shirt with rolled-up sleeves and the top
button undone, while the other people in the restaurant are wearing smart,
formal clothing such as dresses and suits. If the main male is compared to the
waiter, we will be able to tell that even the waiter is of higher class than
the customer as the waiter is wearing a crisp white shirt with smart black
trousers. We can tell from the rolling up of the main male’s sleeves that he is
prepared to eat with his hands because people normally roll up their sleeves
when they are about to get their hands dirty/messy. The other people in the
restaurant aren’t taking such precautions as they are prepared to eat with
knives and forks.
•When
the main male gets served, he sees only a minimal portion of food arranged
elegantly on his plate. When he sees this, he looks disappointed with the size
of the food and the type of food. He then immediately stands up which tells us
that he is annoyed with the slight portion of food arranged delicately on his
plate.
•We
can tell he feels uncomfortable in the restaurant because when he sees the
small portion of food, he stands up and leaves the restaurant. This tells us
that he may have felt embarrassed that he was the only person dressed like he
was going to get his hands dirty- he’s wearing casual clothing while everyone
else is wearing formal clothing. This means that everyone else was prepared to
eat with the etiquette required when eating in a professional setting.
•From
this, we can see that the man would probably prefer to eat a burger because
rolled-up sleeves indicate that a person is ready to eat with their hands so
they don’t want to get their sleeves dirty.
•In
conclusion, the social class of BK burgers is middle class and lower class. One
of the reasons for this is the fact that upper class people prefer to eat in
distinguished restaurants (like the one shown in the advert) as they are rich
and therefore have a lot of money to spend on expensive food. This also tells
us that they are in the social classes of B-A as these are the people who earn
the most amount of money out of all the social classes so they will be able to
afford the food . This means that these sophisticated people will frown upon
the idea of eating in a fast food restaurant with their hands as many rich
people don’t like to get their hands dirty. This shows us that they will be just as uncomfortable as the
casually dressed man eating in the classy restaurant because they will be out
of their element as they will be dining within an environment that is
unfamiliar to them (upper class- haute cuisine restaurants, middle class- fast
food restaurants).
