“Force Factor”: Using Men’s Fears for Profit

“Force Factor”: Using Men’s Fears for Profit

by Nate Brennaman

While watching TV the other day, I saw a commercial for a product called “Force Factor.” The ad begins with a manly voiceover asking, “What happened to the real men of America?” This implies that because modern men aren’t working in factories, fighting in war, and eating lunch on steel beams they are less manly than their fathers and grandfathers. This sexist ad also identifies self-care as feminine. An actual line in the commercial says, “Before we suffer a full-on masculinity crisis,” which is played over an image of a man getting a spa facial. According to the commercial, real men are muscular and athletic, and that is the only acceptable form of masculinity.

This ad is targeted at men with fragile masculinities who think that feminists hate men and want to take over the world. I don’t mean to generalize, but the people that buy into the narrative of this commercial probably also use words like, “cuck” and “soyboy.” I don’t remember what channel I saw the commercial on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it plays on Fox News. I could also see it playing on ESPN. The media uses men’s concerns about “the femininization of America” to sell products. Political figures have also weaponized the “loss of masculinity” to their advantage. I don’t know how successful this product is, but the ad shows that there is the idea that masculinity is being threatened. By what? I don’t know.