The Alcohol Man: Portrayals of Men in Popular Ghanaian Alcoholic Beverage Advertisements ()
1. Introduction
In a saturated marketplace where brands and products compete for the attention of consumers, advertising acts as a prime differentiator (Soberman & Xiang, 2022; Derks, 2011) . According to Derks (2011) , to gain the attention of consumers, Marketers fashion out persuasive massages and intriguing images that will elicit purchase decisions. This is to suggest that advertising impacts on consumer buying behaviour by influencing these consumers to create connections between the advertised brand and their experiences (Falebita et al., 2020) . Consistent with the above assertion is that of Czeremki (2020) who contends that advertising mythologizes products and aligns the presentations of these products with phantasms of the target consumer. Put differently, advertising transforms brands into legendary figures by giving them distinct features which consumers can create a mental and emotional connection with. Moorthy & Madevan (2014) indicated that everybody in this contemporary world is somewhat influenced by advertisement.
Meanwhile, Kelley & Jugenheimer (2008) opine that owing to the interplay of audio, video, motion graphics, text and animation, television advertisement helps to create vivid perceptions in the minds of consumers thereby stimulating an array of emotions among target consumers. Anwar (2012) calls television the “King” of advertising media owing to the fact that it has a wide audience-base, and is able to influence audience buying behaviour. Most people also find television adverts more credible than other media options (Kicova et al., 2020) .
Studies have suggested that advertisers sometimes employ ostensible gender portrayals in creating adverts to suggestively actuate gross sales, a phenomenon typical of alcohol advertisements (Towns et al., 2012; Hall & Kappel, 2018) . Tamba (2017) argues that depictions in advertisements are influenced by the social reality of the environment in which the advertisement is being shown. Gender representation has been identified as one of the most projecting social phenomena embedded in advertising (Bonsu, 2021; Adzovie et al., 2019; Diabah & Amfo, 2015) . Although there are studies on gender portrayals in advertisement in Ghana, most of these works focused on the portrayals of women (Diabah & Amfo 2018; Tsegah, 2009; Tamba, 2017) . For instance, Tamba (2017) conducted a comparative content analysis of the portrayals of women in the advertisements of local and multinational brands; Diabah (2019) investigated how women are represented in Ghanaian radio commercials and highlighted whether such representations reproduce, reinforce, or challenge feminine practices. In essence, minimal studies have investigated masculinity as it pertains to the advertisement of alcoholic beverages in Ghana (Tamba, 2017) . Tamba (2017) alludes to the scarcity of data on gender portrayals in the advertising industry of Ghana by intimating that “whereas there is data available from media watchers like the Ghana Media Monitoring Project on the portrayal of women, the information gathered from such projects generally reflect what is seen in the news. Advertising is hardly considered” (Tamba, 2017: p. 8) . Kilmartin (2017) notes that masculinity is often overlooked in terms of importance when it comes to research because it is considered an obvious trait. Additionally, Rudy et al. (2010) believe that there is a scarcity of content analysis research exclusive to men. They reveal that out of 114 mass media content analyses published in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, only 3 studies focused entirely on men (Rudy et al., 2010) . Through theories on masculinity, and relying on qualitative content analysis, this study attempts to address these knowledge and empirical gaps in the literature by examining how television advertisements of alcoholic beverages in Ghana construct masculinity.
2. Television Advertisement
While O’Barr (2015) suggested that advertising denotes the arrest of attention of the passer-by and then inducing her or him to accept a mutually advantageous exchange, Danciu (2014) contends that advertising is not always a mutually advantageous exchange and that what advertisers really sell to us is the “fleeting promises of myths”. Danciu’s assertion has been corroborated by Ofosu-Boateng (2019) by asserting that “advertisers are in the business of turning products into brands by mythologizing them and humanizing them to give them distinct attributes that sit squarely into the aspirations of humanity” (p. 3). On account of pictorial presentation, television advertising is more effective and impressive and leaves longer lasting impression on the mind of the viewer (Shapiro et al., 2021) . This method of advertising has gained rapid coverage and immense popularity among the masses due to its audience attention retention feature that emanates out of its pictographic advantage. Recent studies indicate that consumers consider television as the most reliable and convenient source to get to know about new products and services (Ofosu-Boateng, 2019) . Up to 61% worldwide consumers trust in television advertising (Nelson, 2018) . It is therefore not surprising to note that alcoholic beverages manufacturers spend heavily on television advertising (Belitz, Grosch, & Schieberle, 2008; Jernigan, 2009) . According to Zenith Business Intelligence (Zenith, 2021) , expenditure on the advertisement of alcoholic beverages on television is twice as much as money spent on any other range of products for advertising purposes. It is projected that spending for alcohol adverts is expected to rise from US $6.7 billion in 2020 to $7.7 billion in 2023.
Gender Portrayals in Mass Media and Advertising
Extant research on gender roles in the area of mass media has concentrated on the stereotypical portrayal of gender roles (Craig, 1992; Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2013; Kolbe & Albanese, 1997) . Craig (1992) for example, concluded in his study that the portrayals of men and women in advertising were clichéd. In the said study, Craig (1992) posited that while men were largely portrayed as aggressive, strong, independent and successful, their female counterparts were portrayed as emotional, nurturing, cooperative and dependent. Similarly, Kolbe & Albanese (1997) examined the portrayal of men in 120 magazines in the United States and found out that men were largely portrayed as consumers, leaders, affluent, womanizers and bodybuilders. Kolbe & Albanese (1997) also discovered that the portrayals of men in the magazines reinforced the stereotypical ascription that women are some sort of reward for hardworking and successful men. On their part, Vigorito & Curry (1998) analyzed gender portrayals in 83 world-renowned magazines and established that whereas women were predominantly presented as models and consumers of products, men were portrayed as professionals and experts in occupational roles.
Karklina (2015) mentioned that advertisements only reflect the deeply embedded social constructions of masculinity and femininity, which shape societal attitudes, values, and norms. According to Lukas (2002) , some advertisers explore the concepts of misogyny and violence to sell their products. He cites the example of an advertisement for sunglasses, in which a tough and impassive-looking man appears to be choking a woman with his fist clenched around her neck while the lady appears to be gasping. A critical examination of an advertisement like this is disturbing. Lukas (2002) however, questions why advertisers depict men as violent and tough, particularly towards women to sell products, and what do these advertisements teach about masculinity? Asare (2013) for instance, aver that in Ghana, masculinity socialization commences at birth and continues through the lifecycle. Boys socialized to think that, being a male is characterized by virility, strength, power, and the ability to bear physical and emotional pain. Girls, on the other hand, are taught to regard boys as stronger and wiser.
Masculinity is therefore what a given society accepts as the associated features of being a male and the expressions of maleness (Diabah & Amfo, 2018) . From a socio-cultural constructionist point of view, Edley & Wetherell (1996) also acknowledged that the ideals of masculinity are culturally specific to every society in the world since every society has its own specific set of themes of masculinity and what it means to a man. What may therefore be considered an ideal masculine behavior, or otherwise, in Ghana may not necessarily be ideal in the United Kingdom, for example (Edley & Wetherell, 1996) .
3. Theoretical Foundation
Firmly established in studies on men and masculinities is the notion of hegemonic masculinity, which is defined as a dominant form of masculinity in a given social context (Connell, 2005) . The term hegemonic masculinity is used within social constructionism to describe the culturally-idealized form of masculinity within patriarchal societies (Courtenay, 2000) . Schippers (2007) affirms that hegemonic masculinity is basically gender inequality made to seem natural and normal because it benefits upper class men, through their institutional control of valuable resources such as money and political power. These ideas and beliefs are circulated through language and texts of social institutions, particularly the mass media (Croteau & Hoynes, 2018; Yilmaz, 2010) . Additionally, hegemonic masculinity centers on how gender inequality in society operates through the widespread circulation of ideas and beliefs of patriarchy which is a dominant ideology in many societies through language and texts of social institutions (Yilmaz, 2010) . Hegemonic masculinity also operates through the subordination or marginalization of other masculinities by identifying, highlighting and celebrating certain characteristics, like exhibition of power and strength, resilience to pain, bravery, as the true reflection of masculinity. Gender relations are another essential facet of masculinity (Connell, 2005; Wedgwood, 2009) . In essence, masculinity is primarily conspicuous when manifested in relation to the female gender. Although masculinity is socially constructed around power, not all masculinities are equally powerful.
As indicated earlier, one key source of construction of masculinity is the mass media. The media serve as an active vehicle in communicating a set of things and how social actors interpret meaningfully these set of things and make sense of the world around them in general (Buckingham, 2003) . According to Bomas (2005) , these social values and norms in the advertising content are considered one of the aspects which usually contribute to success of an advertisement. The influence of these issues on both the success of the advertisement and its effect on society have been discussed by many authors. For example, sex roles in advertising by Gilly (2010) ; television in terms of commercial culture by Budd (2018) ; global and local aspects of television production by Straubhaar (2021) ; and global branding and advertising strategies by De-Mooij & Hofstede (2016) . For this reason, the present study extends the discussion of masculinity by examining its manifestation in Ghanaian-advertised alcoholic beverages.
4. Methodology
This study adopts the qualitative research approach considering suggestions that it provides the avenue for measuring, analyzing and interrogating meanings embedded in social phenomena (Braun & Clarke, 2013) . Particularly, the qualitative content analysis was employed as the research design on the basis that it provides the strategy, plan and structure for examining the meanings and patterns embedded in the local alcohol brands advertisements in Ghana. The study purposively selected twelve local alcoholic advertisements in Ghana in order to obtain rich, detailed, holistic understanding of how local alcoholic beverages in Ghana portray masculinity. The twelve local alcoholic advertisements were selected for this study on the basis that they constitute the most awarded alcoholic beverages by the Chartered Institute of Marketing in Ghana (CIMG) between the years 2018 to 2020. In analyzing the data, the study employed the thematic analysis in order to generate relevant themes that suitably reflect the collected data as suggested by Braun & Clark (2013) .
5. Analysis and Discussion
The researchers sought to examine the themes that run through how masculinity is constructed in television advertisements of alcoholic beverages in Ghana. A coding of twelve purposively sampled television advertisements of alcoholic beverages, totaling an aggregate of 120 scenes revealed these themes: Amatory, Camaraderie, Aggression and Heroism. Table 1 shows the 12 popular advertisements that were sampled for this study and the alphanumeric codes assigned
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Table 1. Sampled television advertisements of alcoholic beverages in Ghana.
to them. The twelve local alcoholic beverage advertisements were selected for this study on the basis that they constitute the top twelve most awarded locally produced alcoholic beverage brands by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) and the Ghana Beverage Awards (GBA) between the years 2014 to 2020.
5.1. Amatory
The theme of amatory signifies expressions of sexual sentiments (Budd, 2018) . Scenes in the television advertisements that portrayed romance, sex or sensuality were coded under the theme of amatory. According to Budd (2018) , sex and romance are tacit expressions of amatory that advertisers use to attract sales since consumers are hardwired to notice sexually relevant information. The results of the data obtained, as shown in Figure 1 reveal that 45% of television advertisements sampled for this study exhibited scenes of sensuality. The finding reveals that in the Ghanaian context (though same could be said for other parts of the world), sexual vigor and resilience is regarded as a desirable attribute of men as espoused by Akotia & Anum (2015) . From the sampled adverts, it is observed that the advertisers recurrently constructed masculinity along the lines of sexual vitality. For instance, in the Adonko Bitters advert (AD1), sexual innuendos are depicted right from the first scene. In the first place, the advert projects a man flirting with twelve women. In a particular scene as shown in Figure 2, the man is on a swing and surrounded by the women, each of them holding a bottle of Adonko bitters. The women happily dance around the man while he continuously licks his lips and flirts in the direction of the women. Seltzer et al. (2012) analysed such non-verbal cues of tongue protrusion and
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Figure 1. Cumulative percentage distribution of how masculinity is constructed in popular television advertisements of alcoholic beverages in Ghana.
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Figure 2. A man on swing or “adonko” flirting with women. Source: Adonko Bitters advert—AD1.
asserts that the body language of sticking one’s tongue out as well as licking the lips (as portrayed in the Adonko Bitters advert) can be fascinating because of how shifting its connotations can be. However, the licking of lips in the direction of a woman is deemed sexually explicit in almost all contexts Sommers-Flanagan et al. (1993) . Thus, the representation of a man on a swing, surrounded by women while licking the lips seeks to demonstrate an expression of arousal of sexual desire.
Furthermore, the man on a swing in AD1 has deeper meanings other than its literal meaning. In the plot of a story, the actions of a character, words or events are imbued with certain meanings that are different from their face value meanings (Mayer, 2014) . Whereas the choice of depicting a man on a swing may be synonymous to the word “adonko”, the Twi translation for a swing, the innuendo of a man oscillating back and forth in the company of women can be akin to a man “thrusting” into a woman during sexual intercourse.
Likewise, the soundtrack of Adonko Bitters is a male’s voice. The song begins with: “me twa bi a na m’agyina me nan so; m’atwa bi nti mennye meho duro; me nom biaa na m’agyina pintin; m’nya ahoden nti mensuro hwee…” This translates as, “I am able to stand on my feet when I drink some; I have drunk some so I don’t patronize any medication…”
Diabah (2015) in her examination of sexual potency within the Ghanaian context, emphasized that Ghanaian men are required to “stand on their feet”, a figure of speech used in reference to male sexual potency. It can therefore be established that the use of the phrase “stand on my feet” in the lyrics of the Adonko Bitters’ soundtrack, against the backdrop of a man pictured making explicit gestations to twelve women is a figure of speech intentionally used to reiterate male sexual prowess in the advertisement. A similar construction of masculinity in the light of sensuality is evident in the Kasapreko Alomo Bitters Forgerrit advert (AD5). In the advert, a man addressed as Kojo Papa is represented as the center of attraction for three women. The advert starts with Kojo Papa returning from a trip. Upon his arrival, he is met by a frenetic reception from his partner, sister Afia. In their conversation, Kojo Papa admits to Sister Afia that he misses his favorite “ebunebunu” (a local soup in Ghana) and Kasapreko Alomo Bitters. Sister Afia on the other hand retorts by running her hand on the back of Kojo Papa’s head affectionately and inquire “eno nkoaa?” which means “is that the only thing you miss?”
Although the meanings attached to certain non-verbal cues are determined by culture and context (Bhat & Kingsley, 2020) , the use of non-verbal cues in sexually suggestive ways like running your hand through your partner’s hair or pushing your body very close to your partner’s body in an affectionate manner are cross-cultural non-verbal communications, reserved for people who are in sexual relationships (Grammer et al., 2000) . The common message in the Kasapreko Alomo bitters Forgerrit advert (AD5) is the products’ ability to facilitate love connection between couples. However, it does so by arousing sexual pleasure in portraying Kojo Papa, the central character in the advert as a figure of sex appeal. In television advertisements, language takes the form of images, dialogues, written texts, soundtracks and body movements. In both Adonko Bitters (AD1) and Kasapreko Alomo Bitters (AD5) adverts, images, dialogues, soundtracks and body movements were used in defining the theme of amatory.
Fundamental to Connell’s theory of masculinity is the idea that masculinities are often bound together by their domination of women (Wedgwood, 2009) . Thus, masculinity can only be understood in relation to femininity (Wedgwood, 2009) . In the Adonko Bitters advert (AD1), one may argue that it is a plus for the media since more women are represented. However, it is also genuine to question the type of representation that occurs considering the body movement by each gender in the advert. A critical analysis of the advert suggests that the women are represented in the advert to connote them as weaker sex and that, it takes twelve women to match up to the strength of a man. The representation of one man to twelve could be interpreted as male supremacy and the domination of women in patriarchal societies. A number of studies have affirmed the supremacy of men and domination of women in the Ghanaian society (Adinkra, 2004; Owusu, 2014) . In the view of Adinkra (2004) , women are considered weak in strength as compared to men, women are vulnerable as compared to men, and women are dependent, hence need to be supported by men. Since advertisements are constructions built from social knowledge and values within society, the producers of Adonko Bitters (AD1) and Kasapreko Alomo Bitters Forgerrit (AD5) adverts represented masculinity in line with male supremacy and domination of women in the Ghanaian society.
5.2. Camaraderie
Camaraderie means a state of companionship and belonging arising from common interests and goals (Hall & Kappel, 2018) . In determining the theme of camaraderie, scenes that demonstrated an assembly of men and friendship among men were taken into consideration. These indicators helped the researchers to appreciate how the advertisements constructed masculinity along the lines of comradeship among men. Camaraderie was an inherent theme, featuring in almost all the twelve television advertisements sampled for the study. The theme of camaraderie was embedded in 29% of the scenes analyzed. An investigation of this result reveals that like in many other societies, Ghanaian men are culturally socialized to find a sense of cooperation and belonging among themselves (Owusu, 2014) . It is therefore not uncommon to see men in the Ghanaian society congregate in their numbers under trees to play draught games or at drinking spots to share stories of their experiences Butler (1988) . Accordingly, since advertisers sell products and services by wrapping them around the socio-cultural background of their target audience (Sharma & Bumb, 2021) , comradeship was an integral theme in how adverts like the Joy Dadi Bitters (More Joy, More Power) and the SM Bitters constructed masculinity.
In the Joy Dadi Bitters More Joy, More Power advert (AD8), a group of men are pictured playing the game of draught. Whiles they were at it, they could also be heard cracking jokes and mocking each other. One of the players in expressing his displeasure after losing the game asked his challenger to direct his energy into satisfying his wife in bed. In his remarks, he noted that: “…Wobeye edwuma a, ye edwuma no wo inside. Last no na woyere de woma di w’akyi. Ese wo ntumi nbo edwuma wo dan mu…Pe Joy Dadi Bitters nom, na wei enboa wo…” This translates as: “…Direct your energy towards satisfying your wife in the bedroom. The last time, your wife was even chasing you with a pestle all because you can’t satisfy her in bed. Drink Joy Dadi Bitters, playing draught will not help you…”
The expression “direct your energy towards satisfying your wife in the bedroom” connotes sexual weakness, an attribute Fordjour (2016) affirm as slanderous in the Ghanaian context. Although the use of the invective “direct your energy towards satisfying your wife in the bedroom” is humiliating, Donkoh et al. (2019) on the other hand in their work on Application of Combinatorial Techniques to The Ghanaian Board Game puts forward the argument that the game of draughts is often characterized by players exchanging “reproachful remarks as a form of hilarity and diversionary tactics in disorienting opponents” (p.5). Donkoh et al. (2019) reiterate that Ghanaian board games like the draught do not only serve as point of assembly and community cohesion for men but it also provides an avenue for peer-to-peer review and support. Ghanaian male conversations around board games are inclined to be rougher than those of females, with more derogatory name calling and harsh teasing. They are also mainly centered on conversations on career, politics and relationships; offering pieces of advice all at the same time (Donkoh et al., 2019) .
The scenes in the Joy Dadi Bitters More Joy, More Power advert (AD8) representing a group of men playing draught can therefore be interpreted as follows: first, the game of draught was employed as an assembly area for men. It was also used as a way of building a state of companionship and belonging among the men in the advert. Secondly, although the remarks by one of the players requesting his challenger to drink Joy Dadi Bitters to end the humiliation of his wife chasing him around is derisive in nature, it can also be described as a peer-to-peer recommendation. Thus, even though the facial expression of his challenger denoted that of displeasure (maybe for washing his dirty linen in public), he still went ahead to heed to the advice. At the end, he got the Joy Dadi Bitters and saved his marriage.
Similarly, in the SM Bitters advert (AD9), a man referred to in the advert as Kweku was pictured in a conversation with his friends at a bar. Kweku tells his friends that his wife, Adwoa now holds him in high esteem. He explains that because he found SM Bitters which keeps him invigorated, his wife has stopped her bickering. In the conversation, Kweku is heard saying to his friends “…sesei aa de Adwoa se se ote me so aa na w’asore” meaning “Adwoa is well pleased with me now”. Whilst his friends shower him with praises, for his new found vigor and joy in his marriage, Kweku could be seen beaming with smiles at his friends’ approval. In these scenes, Kweku was depicted as registering his membership to the “community of men” and asserting his place as being man enough to their approval. Unlike the Joy Dadi Bitters (More Joy, More Power) advert where the game of draught was employed as an assembly area for men, in the SM Bitters advert, the bar was used to represent the point of assembly for men. Kweku recommended SM Bitters to his friends explicitly and stated: “…nananom adaworoma na wokofa SM Bitters aba…ennubran ne ahahamma na yaka’bomu na yede asomuduro kakra aso mu. Menua, na se wonom aa, (gesturing with his fist pumped up) edwuma no esi…” This translates: “SM Bitters, traditionally authentic and made from indigenous herbal recipes. My brother, if you drink it (with his fist pumped up), the work is done…”
The depiction of Kweku’s fist pumped up as a nonverbal gesticulation whilst he talks about the herbal properties of the SM Bitters and his new found joy in his marriage can be attributed to sexual vitality. For this act, Kweku was not only endorsing the sexual proficiency of SM Bitters, but was also advocating that his friend resort to SM Bitters if they want to save their marriages. This scene proves that when men meet (in this case at a drinking bar), they demonstrate fellowship and solidarity among themselves by sharing their experiences and using same to offer counsel or recommendation to each other. The scene in Figure 3 shows Kweku and his friends fist bumping, a gesture similar in meaning to a handshake or high five. A fist bump is also a symbol of approval or companionship among two people (Alim & Smitherman, 2012) . After Kweku had told his friends about SM Bitters and how it can introduce a new breath of fresh air into their respective relationships, they decided to fist bump to that, chanting “edwuma no esi” (which means the work is done) together. The scene in Figure 3 further illustrates how the SM Bitters advert (AD9) constructed messages of masculinity by first, depicting a group of men at a drinking bar; and second, by showing a sense of companionship and a bond of friendship among these men.
In view of the theoretical standpoints on masculinity, it is evident that these television advertisements are key sources of construction of masculinity in society (Knudsen & Andersen, 2020) . Television advertisements such as the Joy Dadi Bitters More Joy, More Power (AD8) advert and the SM Bitters advert (AD9) are used to maintain basic values and norms by depicting masculine patterns of behavior within the sociocultural structure of its target market (Abokhoza, Hamdalla, & Narula, 2019) . In the Joy Dadi Bitters More Joy, More Power advert (AD8) for example, the producers of the advert incorporate the game of draught played by a group of men to underscore the cultural orientation of Ghanaian men. The Ghanaian man finds his interaction with his male counterparts as an approval of his manliness Butler (1988) . The draught on the other hand, is a typical Ghanaian board game which serves as point of assembly for men in many Ghanaian societies (Donkoh et al., 2019) . During draught games however, Ghanaian men often use the occasion to negotiate their membership into the “community of men” and assert their place as being man enough by seeking approval of male counterparts through sharing of experiences (Butler, 1988; Owusu, 2014) . Bomas (2005) explains that social values and norms in advertising content are considered one of the aspects which usually contribute to the success of an advertisement. This is because, the social values and norms help the audience relate with the advertisement and at the same time, promote the products and services (Bomas, 2005) . It is therefore not unusual that the Joy Dadi Bitters (More Joy, More Power) advert exemplified these sociocultural underpinnings of masculinities in Ghanaian societies to market Joy Dadi Bitters to men.
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Figure 3. Kweku and his friends fist bumping to show comradeship and in-group identification. Source: SM Bitters advertisement, AD9.
Implicit in Bomas (2005) ’s explanation is the power of the media as an institution to maintain “accepted” gender roles within the social structure by conveying to new generations these “accepted” gender roles, thereby maintaining their continuity within the social structure. Connell’s theory of masculinity views Bomas (2005) ’s explanation through the praxis of hegemonic masculinity which is a representation of society’s ideals of the male behavior (Connell, 2005) as cited in (Beasley, 2018) . Television advertisements are used as tools to legitimize “accepted” masculine behaviors. According to (Connell, 2005) as cited in (Beasley, 2018) , the more media shows these “accepted” masculine behaviors, the more they are established on the mindset of the consuming public that, that is how a male should behave. According to this, hegemonic masculinity is, in the most general sense, the name of a system which ensures that masculine values and structures are imposed on the rest of the society, men and women alike, through the continual encouragement, exclusion or exemplifications of masculine behaviors in advertising contents (Beasley, 2018) .
5.3. Aggression
As shown in Figure 1, the theme of aggression ranked third with 18% on the list of cumulative percentage distribution of how masculinity is constructed in the twelve television advertisements for this study. For the purposes of this study, the theme of aggression encompasses male portrayals that signified heightened energy and vigor as desirable qualities for the male gender. In the Kasapreko Airforce Bitters advert (AD2), men were represented as warriors. The warriors are spotted by a stream in the woods gathering firewood and clad in animal skins. The leader of the warriors spots the proverbial eagle flying overhead in the sky and alerts the other warriors who watch in amazement as the eagle whom their ancestors spoke about to bring them happiness, transforms into Kasapreko Airforce Bitters. As a sign of victory, the warriors burst forth into an exuberant chanting of battle songs, “hei hei hei, double the action, action, action, action” With bottles of Kasapreko Airforce Bitters in their hands, they thumped their feet on the ground and bumped their chests against each other in celebration of the fulfillment of prophecy as shown in Figure 4.
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Figure 4. Warriors aggressively bumping their chests against each other in a brawl. Source: Kasapreko Airforce Bitters advertisement, AD2.
In the first place, the advert projects the men as strong, muscular and agile looking warriors (as shown in Figure 4). These well-built men jumped up and bumped their chest together with force, chanting battle songs and thumping their feet on the ground. This range of masculine representation demonstrated in the Kasapreko Airforce Bitter advertisement (AD2) gives emphasis to Nowosenetz (2008) ’s position in the study “The Construction of Masculinity and Femininity in Alcohol Advertisements in Men’s Magazines in South Africa” that men are often portrayed in alcoholic advertisements as physically built. In the Ghanaian context, Asare (2013) notes that shortly after birth, Ghanaian male children are socialized into recognizing physical strength and resilience as a desirable quality, while vulnerability, empathy, and sensitivity are deemed to be exclusively “feminine” and, thus, inferior. Words commonly used to describe masculinity are competitiveness, daring, toughness, bravery and aggressiveness and this impacts ways in which Ghanaian male children learn to perceive the world around them (Karklina, 2015) .
To maintain the image of masculinity, advertisers socially construct their male-targeted products to facilitate the notion that physical strength and flexing of muscles are often central to masculine representations (Kossakowski et al., 2020) . In the Kpokeke Atadwe Ginger advert (AD10), men are spotted exerting physical strength in pulling fishing net. The advertisement shows the male pulling a fishing net to the shore whilst singing and swaying their bodies in harmony to the rhythms of their chanteys. This portrayal is reminiscent of the impassive sturdy looking man shown in the Kalahari Bitters (AD7) advert pulling on a robe in an athletic contest; dragging a group of seven people over the line alone. Examination of these adverts: The Kpokeke Atadwe Ginger advert (AD10) and Kalahari Bitters (AD7) advert reveal that images in advertisements do more than sell products. They depict not necessarily how men behave but how men should behave (Nowosenetz, 2008) . These depictions serve the social purpose of convincing audiences that this is how men are, or want to be, or should be (Nowosenetz, 2008) . In the Kalahari Bitters advert (AD17) for example, the image of a tough looking man (as shown in Figure 5) pulling a group of seven people over in a tag of war contest is evocative of the “man ought to be strong” proposition underlined in the study on cultural influences on advertising and male objectification (Rohlinger, 2002) .
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Figure 5. A tough looking man pulling a rope purported to be very heavy. Source: Kalahari Bitters advertisement, AD7.
Television advertising is a very powerful form of social communication (Ayanwale et al., 2015) . It offers the most sustained and most concentrated set of images that creates and define what is considered masculine (Mntambo, 2013) . Drawing on Connell’s theory of masculinity in understanding the theme of aggression as an inherent attribute of masculinity in television advertisements, Wedgwood (2009) asserts that one way to analyze the media construction of masculinity is by looking at how the male body is positioned through body specific performances. The Kasapreko Airforce Bitters advert (AD2), for instance, adopts specific body performances such as flexing of muscles and the show of brute force as dominant characteristics of the male gender. Wedgwood (2009) further asserts that the masculine gender model under Connell’s theory of masculinity emphasizes strength and aggression. In that context, Wedgwood (2009) alludes that the masculine role is therefore defined through the show of vigor and muscles. Against this backdrop, television advertisements portray the male gender as strong and aggressive as seen in the Kasapreko Airforce Bitters advert (AD2).
Although masculinity is associated with strength and aggression (Wedgwood, 2009) , not all men have equal strength or demonstrate the same level of strength (Wetherell & Edley, 1998) . Wetherell & Edley (1998) further claim that while men are often seen as aggressors and stronger than women, some men are also weaker and less aggressive than other men. This assertion is evident particularly in the Kalahari Bitters advert (AD7) where one man pulls a group of seven people comprising both men and women over a line in a tag of war contest. Thus, the Kalahari Bitters advert (AD7) supports and reinforces some men as having a dominant position over other men; a concept which is highlighted as hegemonic masculinity under Connell’s theory of masculinity Wetherell & Edley (1998) . As this concept relates to television advertisements, it suggests that this hegemonic dominance is projected to the audiences in such a way that subordinate groups accept this power simply as the way things are and have always been (Edley & Wetherell, 1996) .
5.4. Heroism
Another theme that was dominant in the analyzed advertisements as far as masculinity is concerned has to do with heroism. The adverts significantly portrayed the male gender as a gender that invariably engages in heroic activities as opposed to the female gender. Franco, Blau, & Zimbardo (2011) considers heroism as the apex of human behaviour. The aforementioned scholars also viewed heroism as a prosocial activity that is culturally, historically and situationally determined. Others additionally postulate that heroism somewhat involves physical peril or risky activity, and courageous activities in achieving something for the greater good of a people (Rate, Clark, Lindsay, & Sternberg, 2007) . This study therefore draws on these explications of heroism to elucidate activities by characters in the alcoholic beverage advertisements that depict prosocial and physically perilous ventures in achieving something for the greater good of a people.
Also, several studies have established that advertisers of alcoholic beverages embed elements of heroism in audio-visuals to suggest the potency of these drinks and make it appealing to their target audiences or market which are mostly the men (Dumbili & Williams, 2017; Jones & Donovan, 2001) . According to Dumbili & Williams (2017) , male youths are mostly drawn to alcoholic drinks which adverts portrayed masculine gender as heroes. These scholars stressed that a section of their interviewed participants classified such alcoholic beverages as men’s drinks or hero drinks. They also mentioned that alcoholic advertisers often tend to portray masculinity in adverts through the use of heroic characters because they believe that heroic contents and messages will resonate with their audiences. These scholarly positions came to light in the analysis of the Airforce Bitters (AD2) and Darling lemon (AD11) television adverts. In the Airforce bitters (AD2) advertisement for instance, the men were portrayed as warriors who hunted for the proverbial eagle, which transforms into the Airforce Bitters. In the advertisement, the voice-over indicated that the expedition to hunt for the proverbial eagle (Airforce bitters) was very pertinent in that, this discovery, was to bring happiness to the people. “Legend has it that one day the eagle will come from above. Fearless and tenacious, it will spread its mighty wings and soar to greater heights. The eagle will never surrender. It will always fight for what it desires with the power from above and come down to bring happiness to all the people.” The warriors in this advert are portrayed as the courageous men who risked their lives to hunt for the proverbial eagle. In the advert, the eagle metamorphoses into Airforce Bitters and eventually brings happiness to the whole community. This particular advert shows that after the bitters was discovered, there was a widespread happiness in the town which led to a party. A similar scenario of heroism comes to light in the Darling Lemon advertisement (AD11) where warriors of a clan, embark on a treasure hunt and discovers “the treasure” (Darling Lemon). The story teller who narrates the tales of exploit draws on the heroic act of the warriors to advice the young people on the importance of not giving up. “So you see how important it is not to give up? If they had, they wouldn’t have found the treasure, our treasure.”
In these advertisements (AD2 and AD11), masculinity is constructed around the heroic act of hunting for treasures. In AD11 for instance, the Darling Lemon drink refers to the “treasure of the people”; something they should uphold. The scene in Figure 6 illustrates how the Darling Lemon advert constructed masculinity around the heroic act of treasure hunting. It is also noted that when the treasures are brought, the men are celebrated as heroes. In an analysis of hero-related advertisement of brands, Sanders & Krieken (2018) maintain that the most well-known character archetype in audiovisual advertisement has to do with a hero, most often a man who embarks on a journey to find a treasure and faces one or more obstacles on that journey while being assisted by one or more helper(s) to subsequently obtain such treasure. According to Sanders & Krieken (2018) organizations and brands embed heroic storytelling in their audiovisual advertisements based on the presumption that narrative is rooted in both
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Figure 6. A warrior discovers the treasure (Darling lemon) and shows it off as his achievement. Source: Darling Lemon advertisement, AD1.
our cultural and biological make up and that heroic stories are more likely to make a brand appealing to its target audience. The aforementioned authors also observed that most brands that tell heroic stories weaved the narrative around dominantly masculine account of heroism. In essence, heroism in advertisements significantly asserts masculinity. The analysis and explication of this theme aligns with Connell’s argument that masculinity is always evident when there is a gender relation to the opposite sex. This implies that for masculinity to be clearly portrayed and seen, there is the need for it to be related to women. This was clearly evident in the plot of the Airforce Bitters where the men had to go on the adventure and women were doing domestic chores. The return of the men also brought joy to the women who rushed to fraternize and party with them.
6. Conclusion
The qualitative content analysis was employed to interrogate the embeddedness of elements of masculinity in Ghanaian-advertised alcoholic beverages. Particularly, the study examined 12 selected television adverts. To critically interrogate the issue, voice-overs, audiovisual showings, images, soundtracks and body movements in these adverts were all analyzed in view of earlier scholarly works and theoretical standpoints on gender portrayal and masculinity in mass media and advertising. Findings from the study essentially showed that advertisers of Ghanaian alcoholic beverages largely embed elements of masculinity in creating audio-visual contents that are aired on television. The examined adverts suggested that advertisement of alcoholic beverages was targeted more at the male gender than their female counterparts. The study found that alcoholic adverts are constructed along the line of amatory. This suggests that the selected adverts show that men possess sexual vigor and strength and are enthused about sexual intimacy with women where they can tout or show off their sexual prowess. In this sense, men who were not sexually vibrant had their masculinity questioned by other characters in the adverts. Findings also show that the adverts portrayed men as enthused with sociability and camaraderie. This finding resonates with earlier suggestions that masculinity is sometimes measured along the line of comradeship and brotherhood. In addition, the themes of aggression and heroism were also evident in the study. This suggests that men who were consuming these alcoholic beverages were portrayed to be strong, courageous and getting involved in dangerous ventures to ensure the happiness of their society. Entirely, the findings of the study significantly indicate that masculinity is a dominant feature of these adverts. These alcoholic adverts to a large extent, reinforce societal stereotypes that men are more powerful, daring, could flirt and have numerous sexual partners. The adverts significantly place men above women in every sense.
Going forward, advertisers must therefore find alternative ways of communicating and making alcoholic brands more desirable to larger audience than the over-reliance on sexual dominance and violence which are major elements of masculinity. If this is not checked, stereotypical behaviors among men would continue to play out in society. Also, the nature of these adverts invariably limits the target market. In essence, these adverts are concentrated around men and might not inform the desire in women to patronize them. If advertisers create contents that give so much preference to a particular gender, the proclivity to purchase such a brand would only come from one direction. Therefore, in order to widen their consumer-base and market share, advertisers of alcoholic brands must be more gender sensitive in their advertising.
Based on the scope and findings of this study, further researchers could advance the discussion by analyzing outdoor adverts like billboards, radio adverts among others in order to holistically appreciate the discussion. Expanding data sources and analyzing other advertising avenues could help future researchers to understand whether the dynamics are distinctive and if findings could be more wide-ranging. Also, future studies could use interviews, and focus group discussions among other methods to understand the perspectives and perceptions of advertisers in creating these contents. Additionally, future researchers could do a comparative analysis of local brands in relation to foreign brands in order to advance the discussion and appreciate whether there are similarities or differences in advertising alcoholic brands from both angles.