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At home or in public, adults are exposed to a dizzying array of media messages. They come from every conceivable form of device, publication and company. Often the messages are mixed, filled with stereotypes and target marketing. These messages often go unnoticed by those who receive them.
Even more disconcerting is that the messages reach young boys and girls, according to authors Lyn Mikel Brown, Sharon Lamb and Mark B. Tappan, developmental psychologists who explore this trend among boys in their new book “Packaging Boyhood: Saving our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes.” The book is a follow-up to the 2006 “Packaging Girlhood,” authored by Brown and Lamb.
On Tuesday, Brown and Tappan came to the University of Maine to discuss the book and their experiences conducting the research necessary to write it. In the book, they explore how media and marketing target boys as they grow up and how media messages and stereotypes affect boys’ identities, choices and expectations about what it means to be a boy and a man.
“This really isn’t a book about boys per se,” Tappan said. “It’s a book about the cultural landscape in which boys find themselves. It takes a broad look at a boy’s life, their vulnerability and what they are exposed to.”
Brown and Tappan, who share a home and have a daughter together, are professors of education and human development at Colby College. They said the trio’s motivation for writing a book on boys was the amount of public interest generated during the “Packaging Girlhood.”
“Throughout our research and engagements with the public we kept hearing, ‘What about the boys?’ So we figured we might as well start a new project and include Mark,” said Brown.
“From our work we know that boys take more risks. We know that they suffer more injuries, because they take part in violent acts more often than girls. And alcohol and drug abuse is higher among boys, so we really wanted to know if boys are naturally drawn to this lifestyle or does the media help to invoke these types of inclinations,” Tappan said.
The group gathered their information by conducting an online survey of more than 600 boys in different age groups. They asked a host of questions about general interests and got hands-on experience by going to malls, playing popular video games and talking with teachers, store clerks and counselors.
Brown and Tappan said Tuesday they expected much of what they encountered during their research, such as the contrast of blue for boys and pink for girls, but some results were unexpected.
“We really paid attention to the different kinds of marketing techniques used to sell products. One that proved to be constantly pervasive instilled a sense of artificially increased anxiety,” Tappan said. “The idea is to make the boys feel like they aren’t measuring up, make them feel as though they aren’t good enough because they need the next over-the-top toy, costume or clothing line to achieve perfection and coolness.”
In the book, the authors argue that toys like Nerf or Hot Wheels use this tactic in product design and advertisements. An example of the exaggeration provided is the Nerf N-Strike EBF 25-Blaster — which looks very similar to a military issue M-60 — or the new Hot Wheels set with nine crash zones. Further examples included ultra-padded superhero costumes to give the effect of a bulked up body or over-the-top colognes like Axe, which promise to attract more girls than a preteen can handle.
“What concerns us about these over-the-top techniques are the mixed messages boys receive. They tell the boys that they’re in control; they make it happen, when in reality they aren’t. At the same time, toys like these also encourage kids to be out of control, to be absolutely wild. Not to mention the violence, aggression and revenge some of the other superheroes and action figures promote,” Tappan said.
Tappan remarked Tuesday on the over-the-top technique and its goal of instilling a sense of power and coolness; Brown stepped in to answer the question, “What if you can’t be the best?”
“What surprised us during the research even more than these techniques was this concept of a slacker,” Brown said. “The marketers have created a counter-weight within the culture to poke fun at the intensely masculine stereotype.”
These burgeoning characters — like Jack Black in “The School of Rock” or Will Ferrell in “Old School” — somehow still manage to become success stories even though they are lazy.
“This slacker stereotype proved to be everywhere, and it really astonished us. It’s definitely a save-face alternative to not matching up to those ideals of perfection,” Brown said. “The idea of a slacker has really been cultivated within the boys medium. It has become the I don’t care position; it’s an identity now.”
The authors agree that at some point boys will more than likely grow out of this impressionable stage, but the book itself is being marketed as a tool for parents and teachers to help children become more media literate in a world constantly filled with countless media messages.
“I think a lot of what is out there naturally freaks parents out, but the best thing they can do is remain calm. All it really takes is real conversations about real issues. Listen to what children are interested in, introduce the concept of a stereotype and differentiate between what is right, what is wrong and what is real,” Brown said.
