Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience

This paper originates from an awareness of a prevailing issue among Indonesian male audiences who tend to criticize the portrayals of male skincare users as deviating from traditional masculinity. Challenging these conventional ideals, MS Glow X Keanu ads features Indonesian male influencer, Keanu,...

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Main Authors: Salsabila Mutia Rahmadani, Mashita Phitaloka Fandia Purwaningtyas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hipatia Press 2025-06-01
Series:Masculinities and Social Change
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.hipatiapress.com/index.php/mcs/article/view/15422
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author Salsabila Mutia Rahmadani
Mashita Phitaloka Fandia Purwaningtyas
author_facet Salsabila Mutia Rahmadani
Mashita Phitaloka Fandia Purwaningtyas
author_sort Salsabila Mutia Rahmadani
collection DOAJ
description This paper originates from an awareness of a prevailing issue among Indonesian male audiences who tend to criticize the portrayals of male skincare users as deviating from traditional masculinity. Challenging these conventional ideals, MS Glow X Keanu ads features Indonesian male influencer, Keanu, who defies traditional male beauty notions by presenting traditionally feminine visual elements and practices that contradicts the established standards of male beauty advertising. This paper aims to provide insights into the perspective of young male audiences who are active skincare users as informants; how they define male beauty through the depiction of Keanu in the ads. Using a reception analysis method, this paper considers informants’ level of involvement in skincare usage and the influence of other internal and external socio-cultural factors on their interpretations. The findings show that even though informants tend to see and agree that Keanu’s appearance on the ads as the counter-narrative for stereotypical male beauty, they also suspect that Keanu’s usage as model of ads is merely a marketing gimmick from MS Glow, because of his virality and impact factors among Indonesian youngsters.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2014-3605
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Hipatia Press
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series Masculinities and Social Change
spelling doaj-art-b2b352f7bcb34598a4bd4f6bdb80a5932025-08-20T03:24:16ZengHipatia PressMasculinities and Social Change2014-36052025-06-0114210.17583/mcs.15422Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male AudienceSalsabila Mutia Rahmadani0Mashita Phitaloka Fandia Purwaningtyas1Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah MadaFaculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada This paper originates from an awareness of a prevailing issue among Indonesian male audiences who tend to criticize the portrayals of male skincare users as deviating from traditional masculinity. Challenging these conventional ideals, MS Glow X Keanu ads features Indonesian male influencer, Keanu, who defies traditional male beauty notions by presenting traditionally feminine visual elements and practices that contradicts the established standards of male beauty advertising. This paper aims to provide insights into the perspective of young male audiences who are active skincare users as informants; how they define male beauty through the depiction of Keanu in the ads. Using a reception analysis method, this paper considers informants’ level of involvement in skincare usage and the influence of other internal and external socio-cultural factors on their interpretations. The findings show that even though informants tend to see and agree that Keanu’s appearance on the ads as the counter-narrative for stereotypical male beauty, they also suspect that Keanu’s usage as model of ads is merely a marketing gimmick from MS Glow, because of his virality and impact factors among Indonesian youngsters. https://journals.hipatiapress.com/index.php/mcs/article/view/15422male beautyskincare adsIndonesiareception analysiscounter-stereotypical
spellingShingle Salsabila Mutia Rahmadani
Mashita Phitaloka Fandia Purwaningtyas
Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience
Masculinities and Social Change
male beauty
skincare ads
Indonesia
reception analysis
counter-stereotypical
title Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience
title_full Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience
title_fullStr Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience
title_full_unstemmed Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience
title_short Counter-Narrative or Marketing Gimmick? Defining Male Beauty in Indonesian Skincare Ads from the Lens of Young Male Audience
title_sort counter narrative or marketing gimmick defining male beauty in indonesian skincare ads from the lens of young male audience
topic male beauty
skincare ads
Indonesia
reception analysis
counter-stereotypical
url https://journals.hipatiapress.com/index.php/mcs/article/view/15422
work_keys_str_mv AT salsabilamutiarahmadani counternarrativeormarketinggimmickdefiningmalebeautyinindonesianskincareadsfromthelensofyoungmaleaudience
AT mashitaphitalokafandiapurwaningtyas counternarrativeormarketinggimmickdefiningmalebeautyinindonesianskincareadsfromthelensofyoungmaleaudience