Do Male Stereotypes Exist in Marketing Communication of Male Luxury Products?: An Analysis of Marketized Descriptions of Male Perfumes Using Corpus-based Approach
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Abstract
This study investigated how masculinity is constructed and represented in the marketized descriptions of male luxury perfumes and whether such portrayals reinforce or resist traditional gender stereotypes. A collection of 1,469 words was created from the descriptions of 69 perfumes sold as “for men” or “for homme” in Thailand's Eve and Boy stores. Frequency and concordance analyses focused on content words including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to identify recurring themes. The results highlighted ten dominant keywords encompassing man, masculine, power, powerful, bold, woody, freshness, fresh, modern, and elegance that shaped male identities in fragrance marketing. The discourse constructed masculinity along two axes: traditional traits of strength, dominance, and ruggedness; and emerging qualities of freshness, refinement, and modernity. While hegemonic masculine ideals remain central, subtle resistance is evident in references to sophistication and vitality, indicating an evolving representation of men in luxury advertising. These results have improved scholarship on gender, discourse, and marketing by showing how linguistic choices in perfume descriptions both reproduce stereotypes and cautiously accommodate more diverse masculinities.
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