Men matter too

A few years ago I was dating a guy who was a much better knitter than me. I thought it was great that he was so skilled in an old-fashioned craft, but when I told my Vietnamese parents, they were less than pleased.My mom questioned his masculinity. My dad just laughed. They couldn’t understand how a man could be interested in knitting and I couldn’t understand their rigid view on traditional gender roles.But it seems like I’m not alone on this. The global rise of third-wave feminism and the growing gender equality in education and income is manifesting itself in attitudes in Asia, yet our briefs remain as stereotypical as ever. Baby formula? Only mums know how to take care of babies. Whisky? Only men drink that. This is ridiculous. It’s 2017, and it is time we, as advertisers, caught up or risk alienating a large potential consumer base.And speaking of the rise in third-wave feminism, the effects of which have trickled down into marketing all over the world, as seen with brands such as SK-II in China, Ariel in India and Pantene in the Philippines. It’s easy to forget that men have difficulties and face biases as well. Because, similar to women, their spheres of influence are growing, shrinking, and generally shifting in new, uncharted directions that most brands have yet to catch up with.Daddy Day Care[caption id="attachment_176409" align="alignnone" width="440"] Image courtesy of Simpson Crazy[/caption]“This trope is repeated everywhere in popular culture, from adverts portraying fathers as feckless incompetents who can’t even take care of a KFC bucket to cartoons where the butt of every joke is the idiot dad: Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin and, most egregious of all, Daddy Pig in Peppa Pig,” rants Andrew Watts in his appropriately titled “Stop telling men they’re useless at childcare, and maybe they’ll be better” feature in The Spectator.In 2014, Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower reported that 10,200 males cited "family responsibilities" (e.g. childcare, housework, etc.) as their main reason for not working, more than triple the number in 2006.The movement towards gender equality is evident and even in countries with great disparity, such as Japan where just a meagre 2% of Japanese men took paternity leave in 2012, strides are being made by the government to normalise greater male involvement in family life. The Japanese government currently grants male employees with young children up to one year of childcare leave with the goal of raising the percentage of men who take paternity leave from 2% to 13% by 2020.Perhaps as time goes on, and these government initiatives and evolving mind sets take a greater hold, marketers will realise that both men and women share the responsibility of making major childcare decisions, on matters such as education, activities, and diet. Maybe then, grievances such as those of Andrew Watts, will be a thing of the past: “I just find it odd that women, who would be appalled by anyone suggesting that a woman’s place is in the home, can promulgate the idea that men are, by their nature, hopeless parents—even though that’s saying the same thing in different words.”This past year saw many large multinational beauty brands embracing male spokespeople. CoverGirl named makeup artist and high school senior James Charles as its beauty ambassador; Maybelline appointed Manny Gutierrez (@mannymua733) as theirs, and Rimmel followed with 17-year old beauty vlogger Lewys Ball. With these bold strokes, the cosmetics industry has rung the death toll on traditional, narrowly-defined gender norms.For those of you who think the actions of these Western brands don’t apply to Asia, think again. “This is where the market’s development is happening,” said Euromonitor beauty analyst Nicole Tyrimou. “It’s very concentrated in Asia.”APAC holds the largest men’s skincare market, accounting for 2.1 billion dollars, or 64% of the global spend on male skin creams, lotions and whiteners, according to Euromonitor’s April 2013 data. China is the largest men’s skincare market, accounting for nearly 30% of global spend, while South Korea holds second place with almost 20% of the global share.“There is a wider idea of skincare being effeminate in many countries, but in Korea, this doesn’t seem to be the case,” noticed Simon Duffy, co-founder of the United Kingdom male skincare brand Bulldog. “If your mother has a nine-step skin routine, which happens a lot in Korea, you’re going to do five,” elaborates Euromonitor analyst Tyrimou.So now what do we do?Just as the traditional role of women have made dramatic shifts in Asia, so too have the traditional roles and self-perceptions of men who now see themselves as active participants in the home and in their own skincare routine.As culture continues to evolve in Asia, accelerated by the ubiquity of the Internet and the different global viewpoints that it brings, gender roles will continue to shift and blur (men will knit; women will drink whisky) and our industry will need to keep up.The writer is Tam Le, regional associate strategy director, Carat APAC.