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In the case of Kenya, the father has a passive attitude toward the mother's view of their son's sanitation. He does not seem to be concerned with the traditional duties of a woman. In the end, the wife appears to say to her husband, referring to their son, 'If I don't take care of him, who will?'
Such patterns highlight the gap that exists in terms of male involvement in childcare and household care.

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© Arampatzi, Michaela Athanasia

Email: math.arampatzi@gmail.com

To cite:
Arampatzi, MA. 2023. "A proposal to foster caring masculinities and responsibility in the lives of young men: Dettol Advertisement", SEXTANT: Masculinities, Sexualities & Decolonialities, Padlet. Vol 1, Issue 1: 20. 2023.

SEXTANT: Masculinities, Sexualities &, Decolonialities

ISSN 2990-8124

University College Dublin, Ireland

https://sextantnotes.com

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In this advertisement from 1980, the father figure is absent from everyday chores. Instead, this burden is carried by the mother, who is also responsible for raising the children. The depiction of the father has him finding a clean house after work and relaxing with a bath. These depictions perpetuate inequality between genders and within a family environment.

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The idea for the proposal for Dettol is based on the poor portrayal of male figures in advertisements for cleaning products. My research in Dettol advertisements across countries shows that men are displayed in “manly” specific situations, such as cleaning a car or being proud of their children when they listen to their mother and clean after themselves.  This research covers advertisements from 1980, and it is done in a global context. The depiction of male figures in the cleaning industry’s advertisements is poor or absent. The older the ad is, the fewer men appear in them.

The advertisement proposal I created is based on two themes: First, a young man incorporates responsibility in his life and feels proud of his accomplishments. Then, he enjoys communicating his feelings with those who have loved and accepted him, getting himself closer to caring masculinities.

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This advertisement includes the father figure who is involved in cleaning. However, the involvement concerns the paternal task of cleaning the car. The son is encouraged to help his father.
The father's responsibility for traditionally manly tasks is emphasized in this context.

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Key Concepts: Caring masculinities and responsibility

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Key Concepts: Caring masculinities and responsibility

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Proposal created by the Author: A Caring and Responsible Man

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Proposal created by the Author: A Caring and Responsible Man

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Men and Responsibility: a Window Opportunity to engage boys and men

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Men and Responsibility: a Window Opportunity to engage boys and men

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Performing in a specific masculine archetype dictates men’s lives. The role of a provider and a breadwinner occupies them. They are growing up with the role model of a man who must always fulfill his family’s needs to fit in and be respected. This can lead to the acceptance and perpetuation of such behavior.

Thus, young men are growing up with the sense that they need to be responsible for the money flow in a household to be well-regarded people. Of course, there are cases in which they fail to achieve this goal, so they immediately lose their desired role. Losing such a significant role can contribute to serious mental issues, which, when left untreated, might result in the decision to self-harm.

The goal is not to take away the responsibility from men. Rather conceptualize it as a shared value in a household. The notion of responsibility is putting an unnecessary burden on men, who feel accountable for it. This can be refrained from studying and promoting a “new type” of men, caring masculinities.

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Men suffer more from poor access to mental health advisors. Worldwide, it is more difficult for men to express themselves because of the different expressions of the heteronormative position imposed on them to be providers.

It is vital to acknowledge that mental health is as important as physical health. This is something that we should be taught early in our lives. For this reason, I would like to draw attention to the incorporation of phycologists in the educational system. There should be a team of experts on youth behavior to teach kids to embrace their feelings and create healthier roles.

Older men suffer from mental illnesses, too. For this reason, the existence of helplines is of great significance in preventing self-harm. However, they should be widely advertised to normalize turning to them and eradicate the stigma of advising a therapist.

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Caring masculinities are “masculine identities that reject domination and its associated traits and embrace values of care such as positive emotion, interdependence, and relationality.” Men who can be described as caring are recently raising academic interest. They are those who acknowledge that they are privileged over other genders and simultaneously act in a way to diminish this advantage. They actively engage themselves in gender equality both in their private and in their public lives.

Caring masculinities can be observed as fatherhood emerges in their lives. The new dad is the one who makes decisions about the household and the upbringing of the kids collaboratively with their partner. He is approachable to his children and their interests. Moreover, he embraces and accepts his emotions, navigating his life through them. Nial Hanlon proposes that “we cannot deconstruct male power without reconstructing the emotional lives of men.”

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Acknowledgment: The actor in this project

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Acknowledgment: The actor in this project

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Christos Grozos, the leading actor in the advertisement, is based in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a National Theatre of Nothern Greece student who participated in NTNG's plays and short films.
Email: ch.grozos@gmail.com
Instagram: @grozos.christos

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Dettol Advertisment. Script by Michaela Athanasia Arampatzi. Main actor is Christos Grozos.

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Dettol Advertisment created by the author

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Dettol Advertisment created by the author

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My proposal for the new Dettol advertisement follows a day of a young man in his mid-20s trying to cope with studying and working simultaneously. He wants to feel respected by his loved ones and his peers, so he is taking too much responsibility all at once. Even though this makes him proud of himself and his accomplishments, this can be exhausting. Sometimes he feels like he is on top of the world, and often he feels like the world is crushing him. However, he is never taken aback by negative emotions. Instead, he embraces them. He has therapy sessions and accepts the love and care of his family and friends

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Christos Grozos, the main character of the advertisment.

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This is a voice-over by the man -Jason- while doing the activities below.

Studying on a computer or over books, working, doing yoga, cooking, looking at the time in a hurry, asking questions in a professional or academic environment, in a nice shirt and trousers, engaging and friendly but always professional

Jason: I could never predict how challenging it would be to live alone. Managing adulthood hit me hard. I study and work at the same time to achieve my goals. I want to become a respected member of society, so I take up many responsibilities simultaneously.

He is thrilled; he just got the job.

J: And my effort is paying me back.

Hugging friends and family, celebrating, flirting, meeting with a therapist in a t-shirt and jeans, and not being afraid to show love and affection, maybe troubled and sad when talking to the therapist.

J: But to achieve that, I rely on those who care about my well-being. People whom I love, and they love me back. People for whom I care deeply because their support has been vital to my success.

On a couch, unproductive, and indolent in comfy and as childish pajamas as possible, watching cartoons.

J: Not all days are the same. But this is okay. I have learned to give myself the time I need to be as productive as I want the next day.

A friend joins, offering food and caring about him.

J: And it is their love that keeps me going.

Scrubbing his hands with hand sanitizer and hugging his loved ones.

J: Now, with Dettol, I can care for them without worrying about our physical health, as it neutralizes 99% bacteria.

This should be around one minute.

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Ahmed J., Naqvi I. (2015). ‘Personality Traits and Communication Styles Among University Students’, National Institute of Psychology Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. 13:2, 53-59

Cleary, A. (2019). 'The Gendered Landscape of Suicide: Masculinities, Emotions, and Culture', Springer International Publishing AG, Cham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.

Hanlon, N. (2012). ‘Masculinities and Emotions. In: Masculinities, Care and Equality’. Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Elliott, K. (2016). ‘Caring Masculinities: Theorizing an Emerging Concept. Men and Masculinities’. 19:3, 240–259.

Lester D., Leenaars A. (2016). ‘A comparison of suicide notes written by men and women’. Death Studies, 40:3, 201-203.

Oliffe JL, Han CSE, Drummond M, Sta. Maria E, Bottorff JL, Creighton G. (2015). ‘Men, Masculinities, and Murder-Suicide’. American Journal of Men’s Health. 9:6, 473-485.

Priory Group. (2023). ‘Why are suicides so high amongst men?’

Dettol India. (2018). 'Growing Up Needs Dettol'. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zOhF8hdlQ&ab_channel=DineshShukla

Kiwi Retro. (2022).  'Dettol Antiseptic advert 1980s' Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HWJNkSs_vc&t=1s&ab_channel=KiwiRetro

Leven One Communications Kenya. (2014). 'Dettol Cool TVC'. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0r2uGOgzHM&t=1s&ab_channel=LevelOneCommunicationsKenya