male in the usa

JANUARY 2011

This white paper is the next chapter in Euro RSCG Worldwide PR’s

commitment to the study of the future of men. Since 2003, when Euro

RSCG popularized the “metrosexual” concept, the agency has been at

the forefront of the movement of marketing to men. Most recently, it

produced a report called “Gender Shift,” which asks if women are the

new men; organized a panel on men and women featuring David

Granger, editor in chief of Esquire; and did analytical work on the

American male voter for Campaign Money Watch. The force behind

metrosexual mania, Marian Salzman, who also co-wrote the book TheFuture of Men: The Rise of the Übersexual and What He Means forMarketing Today, is now president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR.

REALITIES, ICONS AND MEMES

For a lot of countries, it’s possible to create a reasonably accurate portrait of theaverage man. In Japan, for example, he has black hair, dark eyes and stands a shadebelow 5 feet 8 inches.1 Until the economic crisis upset the employment market, it wasalso pretty likely that he drove a white Toyota and spent not much time at home but alot of time with his co-workers. Japan is an exceptionally homogeneous country, whichmakes it easy to talk of averages there. The situation is similar in Sweden, Italy, Spainand many other places.

With the United States, it’s a different matter. America is the land of immigrants, theoriginal melting pot of hopefuls and huddled masses drawn from every corner of theglobe. Statistics say the average height of American men is around 5 feet 10 inches,2

but factors such as ethnic origin and income lead to huge variations. The same appliesto other physical characteristics.

It applies to some cultural characteristics, too. There’s a lot of diversity, from the stoicNordic types of Minnesota to the laid-back Cajuns of Louisiana, from high-speed urban

MALE IN U.S.A.: INTRODUCTION 3

INTRODUCTION

“America is not like ablanket: one piece of

unbroken cloth. . . . Americais more like a quilt: many

patches, many pieces,many colors, many sizes,

all woven and held togetherby a common thread.”

—Rev. Jesse Jackson

sophisticates to easygoing small-town guys. And the nation isquite divided along politicalparty lines (red versus blue),faith lines and ideological lines.

But even the most diverseAmerican men share somecommon points that distinguishthem from others. Most countrieshave patriotism, for instance, but

American patriotism standsout. It is highly distinctive

because, unlike most othermajor nations, the United

States is a country created by its people rather than inherited from its history.American children grow up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at school everyday. American media creates a constant flow of movies, documentaries anddiscussion about the country’s history, its present and its future. Even farbeyond its borders, people see the United States as the land of opportunity,the land of dreams, the land of new beginnings and constant renewal, where

self-made men walk tall and even the little guys get a second chance.

In a place where new people have been arriving since before the country wasestablished, Americans don’t rely on hand-me-down tradition to tell them how tobe. That would keep them tied too tightly to their individual roots. Rather, theyrely on nationally shared rituals, stories and dreams, all told through the mediaand updated or even reinvented to fit the mood of the times.

More than in any other country, men in the United States are the product ofthe interaction among three crucial factors: the flesh-and-blood raw

material of the people with their genetic and cultural inheritances; thedreams and values of the nation expressed in movies, TV and othermedia images; and the arguments

and debates that roll back and forth asAmericans exercise the right to freespeech that’s guaranteed by the FirstAmendment.3

To even begin to understandAmerican men at the beginning ofa new decade, we need to look notonly at what the numbers tell us

in terms of measured realities, but also at the maleicons that express men’s values and aspirations—and at the memes, or “thought viruses,” that areanimating American life. This white paper is thereforedivided into sections about realities, icons and memes.

4 MALE IN U.S.A.: INTRODUCTION

MALE IN U.S.A.: REALITIES 5

REALITIES

TRANSFORMATION NATIONIn many developed nations around the world, the people aren’t changing much. Mainlythey’re gradually aging as the local equivalents of baby boomers get older. Thepopulations of countries such as Italy, Germany and Japan are actually declining.Contrast that with the United States, which is now home to more than 310 millionpeople and counting, and has a growth rate just shy of 1 percent a year.4 A child is bornevery seven seconds, someone dies every 13 seconds and a new immigrant enters thecountry every 31. That’s a net growth of one new American every 11 seconds.

In the age range of 15 to 64 (66.9 percent of the population), the ratio of men towomen is almost perfectly equal, but over age 65, men account for only 43 percent.

Ethnically, the country is changing, and it’s struggling to find acceptable words to talkabout its ethnicity. In four states (Texas, California, New Mexico and Hawaii), “whites”are in a minority to “ethnics,” including Hispanics. The U.S. Census Bureau forecaststhat Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi and New York will be next. Currently, about33 percent of the U.S. population is non-white or Hispanic, but the Census Bureauprojects that ethnic “minorities” will be the U.S. majority by 2050.5

The figures and the Census have become embroiled in an ideological controversy that isitself a trait of this changing nation. The Census Bureau is required by the U.S.

“Nearly all men canstand adversity, but if

you want to test aman’s character, give

him power.”—Abraham Lincoln

Constitution to count everyone living in the country, no matter his or her immigration orcitizenship status.6 Exactly what should be counted is a matter of debate. Influentialconservatives such as Fox News commentator Glenn Beck and RepublicanCongresswoman Michele Bachmann called for a partial boycott of the 2010 Census onthe grounds that the Constitution mandates only a head count.7 The 2010 Censusachieved 72 percent mail-in response, unchanged from the previous Census in 2000.8

It’s not just the numbers that speak of a changing nation. Watch passersby in any city, orthe cast of TV shows and movies, and you see the nation changing before your eyes.

THE GREAT WEALTH ILLUSION

For a long time, it seemed rising prosperity was raising the living standards of the manyAmericans who regard themselves as middle class.The big homes, big cars and abundantgadgets impressed visitors to the country. Even ordinary, average people apparently couldafford hot tubs, SUVs, king-size beds and massive flat-screen TVs. Apparently the moneywas everywhere. In the last few difficult years, it has become clear that this was an illusion.

It’s easy to understand how the illusion continued and, in fact, still persists. Over muchof the past two decades, Americans’ spending increased consistently. In 1970, consumerspending accounted for 64.8 percent of GDP, rising to 65.2 percent in 1980, 66.7percent in 1990 and 67.8 percent in 2000.9 But that consumer-spending growth wasn’tdriven by growth in real income. Borrowing financed a substantial proportion ofAmericans’ consumer spending during the boom years. The subprime crisis that started in2007, followed by the financial crisis of 2008 and the economic crisis of 2009, havemade credit much harder to come by. They have made consumers leery of spendingmoney they don’t have or might need.

Now the economic crisis has widened the affluence gap that was previously bridged bycredit. On one side of the gap are the relatively few Americans who can afford to spendplenty without borrowing, and on the other are the many who can’t afford to spendmuch at all without borrowing. The most recent figures (2008) show the top 1 percent

6 MALE IN U.S.A.: REALITIES

of American households took about a 20 percent share (down from 23.5 percent in2007) of the nation’s incomes.10 In terms of individuals’ earnings, 2008 Census Bureaufigures show 75.4 percent of income earners made less than $50,000 a year;13.2 percent earned $50,000 to $75,000; 5.2 percent earned $75,000 to $100,000 and6.2 percent earned over $100,000.11

Drilling down to gender level, in 2008, American men made median earnings of$45,556, compared with the median women’s earnings of $35,471, according to aCensus Bureau report.12 In addition, 14 percent of working men earn more than$100,000 a year, compared with only about 6 percent of women13 (although women’sincome is on an upward trajectory).

The numbers clearly show that a lot of the serious spending money in the United Statesis in the hands of a relatively small proportion of Americans, and that it’s more likely tobe in the name of men than women. In practice, this doesn’t mean that each pot ofspending money belongs exclusively to men or to women.

THE EARNING CURVEAlthough men average out making more money than women and owning more assets, theaverages reflect the impact of the outliers—the struggling poor and the super-rich. In themiddle, it’s been increasingly hard for the old-style American working man.

Women used to be at a disadvantage, and all too often they still are. But over the pastdecade or so, in the data and in everyday life, women have been noticeably improvingtheir prospects through education and hard work. U.S. Census Bureau figures show thatthe number of females enrolling in college increased by 20 percent from 1967 to 2000,while the number of males decreased by 4 percent.14 And according to the AmericanCouncil on Education, 57 percent of the bachelor’s degrees across the United States areawarded to women.15


“You’ braggin’ allabout the things you cando/Every time you make

a pitch/If you’re sosmart/How come you

ain’t rich?” —Louis Jordan, singer and

songwriter

Add to that the increasing use of robots for heavy labor, the shift toinformation-based and service-based work, and the tendency for employersto downsize and offshore, and American working men have had the rug

pulled out from under them. Across the bulk of the U.S. population, theeconomic position of men has weakened while that of women has improved.According to Robert Reich, professor of public policy at the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley, the median male worker earns less today, adjustedfor inflation, than he did in 1980.16

After years of shrinking opportunities, the recession has made it all evenworse for the working man. Three-quarters of the job losses since 2007

have hit blue-collar workers, and two-thirds of all Americans who have lostjobs are blue-collar men.17

LOADED ZONESThe uneven distribution of money in the United States translates into a few wealthy hotspots. Despite the title of the famous 1996 book The Millionaire Next Door, thepercentage of wealth hot spots is surprisingly small. IRS figures show that of 3,142counties in the United States, only 130 (about 4 percent) have average per capita


incomes above $35,000. Wealthy countiestend to be just outside big economiccenters: Nineteen of the 25 richest are onthe East Coast, and six are on theoutskirts of Washington, D.C., most notablylist-topping Loudoun County, Va. Thisdoesn’t mean there isn’t serious wealth inCalifornia or Washington State. Rather, itreflects the fact that counties (like states)in the East are usually smaller and

therefore have less of a spread of wealth.18 There are fewer non-wealthy people to lowerthe average in such counties.

Even so, the picture is likely to change. Moneyed Americans are moving south to warmerweather and lower taxes. Florida and Texas are particular favorites.

THE SILENT (BUT WEALTHY) MINORITY

Throughout the country’s history, American men in the most aspirational powerpositions in politics, media and business have been virtually all white. Sports and musichave provided more of an equal stance for icons. Recently, nonwhites have taken somemainstream limelight, especially with Barack Obama (and Tiger Woods before hisdownturn) capturing the nation’s imagination.

Despite the ever-increasing numbers of non-whites in the overall population, thedemographics of the aspirational elite are still more like the overall demographicsof several decades ago, and images portrayed by the media often reflect that. Thesame applies to women. They still lag white men in aspirational image power, eventhough they comprise at least 50 percent of the population and have been makinggreat strides in education, work and public life.


In other words, the media are lagging the reality. Behindthe public images of American men projected by themedia, non-whites are packing increasing economicpower. In particular, the spotlight has been on Hispanicsbecause of their sheer numbers and visibility in everydaylife. As well as growing in numbers and percentage ofthe population, Hispanic Americans have also beengrowing in wealth. Their spending power went from $212 billion a year in 1990 to $862 billion a year in2007.19 The upward trajectory, however, was hit by theeconomic crisis, and it remains to be seen how that willaffect the wealth track of Hispanics.

Meanwhile, Asian Americans are emerging as a wealthforce out of proportion with their numbers. Asiansaccount for just 3.65 percent of households but 5.59 percent of the wealthiest fifth of households andan even more impressive 6.46 percent of the wealthiest5 percent of households.20 Note that the term “AsianAmerican” covers a broad range of ethnicities, fromEast Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. In terms ofnational origin, that includes Asian Indian, Chinese,Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese21, plusother smaller ethnic groups.

According to a UCLA study, Asians Americans have the highest median and meanhousehold income compared with all racial groups. In terms of total net worth, however,they have lagged non-Hispanic whites.22


Pundits and commentators use the word “icon” at the drop of a hat, and with goodreason. Historically, icons were images or painted pictures of holy figures that werevenerated by the faithful. In historic times without pervasive media, icons were the onlyrepresentations that ordinary people had of holy figures. The icons served as a focus ofworship and they also put human features on divine figures. Religious icons were, andstill are, objects of veneration. They expressed the norms, ideals and aspirations of theircultures. For common people in the illiterate centuries before the printing press, iconswere a magical, inspirational link with divine powers.

Today’s “icons” have a comparable role. Certainly the term is overused (especially“iconic”), but as the following pages show, today’s icons express a lot about whatmodern American men venerate and aspire to.

AMERICAN IDOLSFor almost a century, Hollywood has been creating icons and transporting them aroundthe world. The core products are, of course, movies, but the essence of the movies isdistilled in the still images used on posters and publicity materials. The poster-boyimages communicate many layers of feeling and meaning in one brief glance. They areindeed icons, crafted with artistry and care, endlessly reproduced and displayed in publicand private places.

The box-office returns of movies reflect which icons are touching the hearts and souls ofAmericans, making movies an icon index of sorts. The changing faces of movie icons

MALE IN U.S.A.: MALE ICONS 11

MALE ICONS

“I am my ideal.But YOU are my idol.”

—Eric Von Zipper, in BeachBlanket Bingo (played by

Harvey Lembeck)

through the decades give strong indications as to which qualities of American manhoodare in favor at any time. Through a circular, reflexive process, the movie icons bothreflect the reality of American male values and influence them.

Take this subjective list (above) of one male Hollywood star for each of the past eightdecades, intended to represent the spirit of the times. It’s far from exhaustive (missingsuch big stars as John Wayne, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert De Niro andLeonardo DiCaprio, among many others) but is rather meant to illustrate how maleideals and aspirations have changed through the decades.

BEYOND TINSELTOWNAmericans’ appetite for interesting male figures has long since outstripped the capacityof the movie industry to supply them. The media are constantly on the lookout for menwith the power to attract consumers and hold their interest. Through the ’90s and intothe early 2000s, there was a craze for celebrity CEOs such as Jack Welch of GE. Thatbubble has burst, along with the craze for stocks and investment.

Then came the era of the metrosexuals (a word that Euro RSCG’s Marian Salzman andher trendspotting unit ushered in to the popular culture in 2003)—“straight urban menwilling, even eager, to embrace their feminine sides,” in the words of The New YorkTimes.23

12 MALE IN U.S.A.: MALE ICONS

Clark GableStrong, romantic

(Gone with the Wind)

Clint Eastwood The avenging loner

(Dirty Harry)

Tom HanksThe all-American hero (Saving Private Ryan)

James StewartDutiful, ordinary (It’s a Wonderful

Life)Dustin Hoffman

Naive, sexy (The Graduate)

Harrison Ford The resourceful

adventurer (Indiana Jones) Johnny Depp

Versatile, ironic (Pirates of the

Caribbean)

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Marlon Brando Moody, rebellious (The Wild One)

???

Today, the American men who are most widelyfeatured in the media have a distinctive mix ofstrong personality, high intelligence and,increasingly, diverse ethnic backgrounds. Theyare men who have achieved a lot, who embraceprinciples and put them into practice—but theyare also complex and not without flaws.

Below is a list of today’s iconic men. Again, thelist is subjective and could be two, three, 10 oreven 20 times as long. Its purpose, though, is tolook at what these icons represent for Americanmen.

Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple. Maverick genius of Silicon Valley whodropped out of college and started a world-beating business in a garage. After havingbeen ousted from the company he co-founded, he returned to save it and take it to newheights.

Sergey Brin, co-founder and leading light of Google. Smart young Ph.D.candidate who dropped out of his doctorate program to pursue a new business idea. Likethe even younger Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Brin embodies a combination ofidealism (“Don’t be evil”), intellectual prowess and business acumen.

George Clooney, actor, director and liberal activist. Heartthrob handsome,intelligent, articulate humanitarian activist and a true-blue liberal in the tradition ofshowbiz liberals.

Glenn Beck, conservative media personality. The Fox News stalwart has becomethe media magnet of the American right. His story of overcoming alcoholism and drugaddiction and finding faith (Mormon)24 resonates deeply with sections of the Americanpublic, as do his outspoken Libertarian-conservative views.

Barack Obama, president of the United States. The first black American in theOval Office (although the TV show “24” paved the way with a black Americanpresident—David Palmer, played by Dennis Haysbert—through the middle of the 2000s).

Nouriel Roubini, economist. Previously shunned as Dr. Doom, a gloomy-lookingacademic with a foreign accent who repeatedly warned Americans about the economicproblems to come. Roubini went from media outcast to media darling when eventsproved his analysis horribly right. As with Steve Jobs in technology, Roubini won bysticking to his guns.

Don Draper, lead character in TV’s throwback drama “Mad Men.” Draperwas voted most influential man of 2009 in a poll by AskMen.com. So how can afictional character be included in the same list as Steve Jobs or President Obama? Asthe poll commented: “Most of us are just as likely to have a beer with Don Draper aswith anybody else on this list.”


DON DRAPER: MODERN MAN?

“Mad Men” is no “Happy Days,” harking back to simpler, happier times, and DonDraper is no two-dimensional ’60s stereotype. “Mad Men” throws new light on today’sissues by tracing them back through the decades. The show might have scored its initialsuccess with the quality of the acting, the stylish sets and the intriguing plot lines, but alot of its cult status can be distilled to Draper’s fully rounded, complex character. LikeTony Soprano before him (and unlike most American TV characters), Draper is three-dimensional.

Don Draper lives almost 50 years ago, but he’s a modern man in a period of transition, acomplex figure for complex times when men are pulled in many directions by inheritedvalues, new values, urgent desires and vague longings. The way the ad man looks andacts sometimes stands in sharp contrast to modern norms, but sometimes they’reremarkably close.

He’s impeccably groomed in a way that virtually no American man is today, and hesmokes and drinks too much, as few American men still do—at least not in public. He’sambitious and successful in his work, but it comes at a cost. He’s trim without goingnear a gym, he’s masterful, manly and in control, but he’s also a depressive. He’s clearabout what being a man involves, but he doesn’t like it. He’s principled, earnest anddriven, but also deceitful, sexist and hedonistic. He aims high and falls low.

Draper’s world is full of style and luxury cues that modern viewers can understand, eventhough they’re now history and will never return. The “Med Men” attitude towardwomen is history, too. Although modern women find Draper fascinating, most would notput up with him. More than 40 years of social progress have made women morepowerful and less tolerant of casual sexism and buttoned-up, old-style male behavior.

And the scope of Draper’s responsibility is a lot narrower than for modern Americanmen. Thanks to the efforts of the media, activists and marketers, American men nowknow that every purchase decision they make has potentially wider implications for localemployment, people in far-off places and the ecology of the planet.25


“I’m living like there’sno tomorrow, becausethere isn’t one.”

—Don Draper, on “Mad Men”(played by Jon Hamm)

In the 1960s, the Communists were the bad guys and the Americans were the good guys,and that was the sum of the ideological issues for most people. Since then, the so-calledculture wars have opened up ideological divides in the United States and pittedAmericans against each other. Modern American men are rarely neutral on ideology, andthey’re not afraid to say it.

BIG MOUTHS, STRONG VIEWS

Throughout history, many icons of American manhood have been strong, silent,brooding types—men of few words and plenty of action. They were in tune withTheodore Roosevelt’s maxim “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”But successful modern American men don’t keep their thoughts to themselves, andthey don’t care much for moderation. In today’s sharp-elbowed media landscape,the microphones and cameras just aren’t interested in men who speak too softly.

The imperative to be bold and loud has played itself out in the medianetworks, too. The brash, opinionated Fox TV has pulled in viewers with

strident, partisan personalities, while CNN has seenviewers deserting its more measured, balanced approachin droves. Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh hasblustered his way to becoming an opinion leader withnationwide clout in conservative circles. Liberalloudmouth Michael Moore has applied his no-holds-barred activism to filmmaking, creating four of the 10 top-grossing documentaries of all time.26 Contrast that withPresident Obama. He has found his cool, reasoned approachleaves even his own supporters cold and doesn’t win over his foes.(And this just in: On the AskMen.com 2010 poll of mostinfluential men, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert bookend thetop 11; Obama dropped to No. 21 from No. 3 last year.27)

The changing balance of media ownership and control has madebig personalities, strong opinions and a loud voice much more


important for men. TV, radio, film and print used to be in the hands of a fewgatekeepers, who gave the breaks to guys with the right looks, contacts or chutzpah. Itwas an insiders’ game. Now anybody has a shot at getting noticed through the Internet.Social media encourages men to have an opinion and put it out there for the world inblogs, podcasts and videos. Good looks and impeccable grooming are optional extras.

HOT WHEELS

What is an American man if he doesn’t drive a serious car with aV-8 throbbing under the hood? Big cars have been a defining partof American-ness for many decades. Choreographed car chases areobligatory in action movies. “Detroit muscle” used to be shorthandfor American industrial power and an expression of whatAmerican men wanted from their cars—and wanted their cars tosay about them.

American men have also always liked to push their cars to thelimit: drag racing and NASCAR for speed lovers, demolition derbies for those who likenaked aggression, and monster trucks for sheer muscle. On the road, the love ofautomotive muscle took the form of trucks and SUVs through the 1990s and into the2000s, with the Hummer taking street-legal muscle about as far as it could go. Itsmilitary origins, exaggerated wide stance and road-dominating presence were an extremeexpression of the American male aspiration to tame the wilderness with technology andsheer physical power. “Sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself,” said theadvertising, paradoxically combining the nature-loving spirit of Thoreau with the muscle-bound swagger of Rambo.


“Advertising isbased on one thing:

happiness. And do youknow what happiness

is? Happiness is thesmell of a new car.”

—Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm)

Then soaring fuel prices, a surge inclimate concern and the economiccrisis killed the Hummer, which isnow out of production. At thesame time, Toyota’s hybrid Priuswent from being an indulgence fortree-hugging celebrities to a smartchoice (at least until Toyota’s massrecall took some of the shine off it).

It would be misleading to say American men haveturned 180 degrees on the muscle-car tradition,though. Now they can get their fix of SUV ruggednesswith intelligence and a conscience, thanks to a raft of new hybrids coming from most ofthe main brands, such as the Ford Escape. But for the ultimate in high-end brains andbrawn, look to Tesla Motors with its sleek battery-electric vehicles. The Tesla Roadsteraccelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds and is making headway in theAmerican market.

BANKERS AWAY!

Some men have a difficult relationship with money, but not Americans. Money itselfnever goes out of style, only how they make it and what they do with it. That’s part ofwhat makes the United States such a magnet for ambitious, go-getter men.

Until 2007-08, American alpha males seeking wealth, power and prestige went intoinvestment banking and finance. Those who made the big time could regard themselvesas what author Michael Lewis called “BSDs,”28 men who flaunted their manly prowesswith conspicuous earnings (massive bonuses), conspicuous consumption (massive co-opsand summer homes) and conspicuous philanthropy (massive plaques).


In the harsh light of the Great Bust, a lot of financiers looked greedy and selfish. Somelooked dumb, and a few, such as Bernie Madoff, turned out to be villains. Now finance isback to making big money, but financiers themselves are out of style. They’re no longerheroes or aspirational figures for American men.

At a time of financial (and overall) insecurity, money still matters a lot, but so doesdoing the right thing and being respected. The sweet spot for American men now isfiguring out how they can make a good living in ways that they can feel all-round proudof in the post-bust, newly mindful era. There’s also the added complication that womenhave made huge progress in the workplace, especially in jobs requiring study andqualifications. The upper echelons of finance were one area where high levels oftestosterone were an advantage and old-style male behavior was not uncommon. Sowhat’s next for American men who want to make money and be manly without becomingsocial pariahs?

GEEK GODS

Fortune magazine’s top corporations are mostly old-economy stalwarts: oilcompanies, banks and retailers.29 But the products, corporations and leaders that firethe imagination of American men these days are in technology—especially now thatinvestment banking is in disgrace. Technology is the new frontier.

Silicon Valley is the cradle of dreams, and technology is the language that all self-respecting American men must speak, whatever their BMI and political leanings.Whether they have an eye for Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt or XXX-ratedcelebrities, all American men lust after the latest gadgets. And they admire those whomake them, and especially those who make money from them.


An added bonus is that technology is still a man’s world. Women have shown theirmettle in most domains, but not as much in the technology business. It’s still an area inwhich men’s competitiveness, obsessiveness and love of gadgets give them the edge. It’sthe frontier where they can range freely and do heroic deeds. And there are plenty ofhigh-profile wealthy technopreneur role models for American men of all ages: genomicsguru Craig Venter, Apple’s Steve Jobs and Linus Torvalds of Linux are just the tip of theiceberg.

And don’t forget Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Evan Williams of Twitter, and DennisCrowley and Naveen Selvadurai of Foursquare. Social media is to today’s millennialgeneration (people aged 18 to 25) what rock ’n’ roll was to baby boomers: a new andpowerful mass cultural phenomenon that is defining and shaping attitudes, behaviors andgenerational self-perception. It has eclipsed politics, corporations and consumer power asthe greatest agent of change, according to a summer 2010 survey by Euro RSCGWorldwide.30

So IT and social media have generated the first and second waves of technology icons.Now venture capitalists are looking to fund new technologies to take over outdatedenergy and transportation systems. Chances are that as with IT, the icons of these newtechnologies will be American men. Despite the advances made by women, powergeneration, cars, boats, trains and planes still tend to be guy things.


“Don’t live to geek;geek to live.”—Lifehacker.com

A SECOND CHANCEFor many Americans, the Great Bust was one of the most shocking experiences of theirlife, like being woken with icy water after a massive party and being presented with thebill. With layoffs, foreclosures and stern talk from the authorities, it has been a time forAmericans to think hard about their values and behavior. To hear what American menare thinking now, Euro RSCG Worldwide surveyed 752 of them in late spring 2010.31

Bottom line: The “live for today” attitude is over. Theeconomic shocks that started in 2007 have shown thatthere are no guarantees that tomorrow will be betterthan today, or even as good as today. The ever-climbinglines on the graph have stopped climbing. Nearly halfof American men (49 percent) feel more anxious nowand more worried about having enough for theirretirement (50 percent). A large minority (40 percent)are worried about getting out of debt.

It’s been time for some hard questions, and they haveproduced some worrying conclusions about wherethings are now and where they’re headed. More than

20 MALE IN U.S.A.: MEMES

MEMES

“When things are bad,we take comfort in the

thought that they couldalways get worse. Andwhen they are, we find

hope in the thought thatthings are so bad they

have to get better.” —Malcolm Forbes

two-thirds of American men (70 percent) think that in many ways, society is moving inthe wrong direction. Almost as many (64 percent) think people aren’t willing to considerothers’ point of view. Even more (75 percent) worry that society has become tooshallow, intellectually lazy (75 percent) and physically lazy (83 percent).

But retreating in despair is not the American way. There’s no doubting that the economyis still tough, that people have made mistakes and that changes are needed. The plus sideof this is that in the land of new beginnings and second chances, this difficult situationhas the potential to become a new beginning, too. Almost two-thirds of American men(63 percent) think the recession has had the beneficial effect of reminding people ofwhat’s important in life. A big minority of 44 percent are actively trying to figure outwhat makes them happy. Some might even argue that this is a patriotic duty, to honorthe famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness.”

CHANGING IT UP

Since 2007, it has seemed as if everything has been out of control: debt,spending, deficits, waistlines, prices, jobs, finance, government, morals. A lotof the chaos has been “out there,” but American men also have a sense of itbeing much closer to home.

Weight is the most visible issue. Compared with the “Mad Men” era,today’s American men are an inch taller and 25 pounds heavier.32 Infact, 72 percent of American men are overweight, including 32 percentwho are obese.33 Yet how many iconic American men are pear-shaped orapple-shaped? Physically, at least, the male icons in the media rarelyreflect the country’s reality. Maybe instead it’s up to American men tochange the way they are?

The Euro RSCG survey shows that a massive 75 percent of Americanmen now say they are making an effort to improve the way they live and73 percent are making an effort to improve the person they are. This

MALE IN U.S.A.: MEMES 21

includes paying more attention to home life. The notion that it is very important that afamily eat at least one meal a day together is supported in principle by 72 percent ofmen. In the most affluent 10 percent of households, 80 percent of families are noweating at least four meals a week together, compared with 16 percent five years ago.34

HUMAN/NATURE

Traditionally, American men have had an adversarial relationshipwith nature. Their forebears were pioneers in a big, wild country ofextremes, and a big, wild country called for big, tough men. Out innature, iconic manly American pursuits have involved huntinganimals, shooting guns, felling trees, rounding up cattle and drillingfor oil.

Concern for the environment had (and still has) ideological associations witheffete liberals and naive tree-huggers. Yet events such as Hurricane Katrina, theGulf of Mexico oil well disaster and lots of extreme weather have shiftedperceptions and prompted even manly men to rethink their attitudes. The risinggenerations of men are less locked in to old attitudes and more tuned in to abigger-picture understanding of the environment.

With their endless inventiveness, American men are finding new ways to measurethemselves against their wild country: backcountry hiking, mountain biking, rafting,canoeing, caving and free-climbing.

KEEPING IT REALAmericans have lived a growing disconnect for some time now. Ratings-sensitive mediapresent ever-more sanitized, plasticized, cosmetically enhanced, media-trainedcelebrities. Yet between these visions of ideal lives and media clones, Americans respondpowerfully to authenticity. There’s a growing hunger for people, things and experiencesthat have the tang of “real” about them.


Tony Soprano, the mixed-up mobster from unlovely New Jersey, became anAmerican favorite precisely because he seemed so gritty and real. TV star DavidLetterman overcame blackmail by being straight and real about his sexualinfidelities. “Keep it real” has become a new rallying cry across the nation. ForAmerican men, the search for authentic ways of being is a real and ongoingchallenge in a world of media spin.

A symbolic moment came in the 2008 presidential election. Out on the stump in Ohio,candidate Barack Obama faced questions from a man concerned about tax hikes. TheRepublican camp quickly dubbed the bald, burly, straight-talking working man “Joe thePlumber” and talked of him as an example of a real American man just trying to livethe American dream. Yet in reality, it turned out his name wasn’t Joe, he wasn’t aplumber and he was more likely to get a tax rebate than a tax bill.35

LOOKING FOR LOVETo keep it real, you’ve got to know who you are and what you want, and more men thanever are trying to figure that out, especially with the renewed focus on individualachievement and satisfaction.

In the generation of young adults in the United States, according to a brand-new studyfrom Euro RSCG Worldwide of people aged 18 to 25, their big issue and objective ishappiness—how to define it, how to gain it, how to keep it. When asked what happinessmeans to them, this is how young American men answered:

• Love: 42 percent

• Freedom: 24 percent

• Friendship: 20 percent

• Money: 12 percent

• Power: 3 percent

• Having children: 2 percent

As the white paper concluded: “It appears that men and women are moving away fromwhat have long been considered the coveted prizes at the end of the rat race—namely,money and power—in favor of love and friendship, which perhaps earlier generationstook for granted.”

MALE IN U.S.A.: MEMES 23

“Love is a manysplendored thing. Love

lifts us up where webelong. All you need is

love!” —Christian in Moulin Rouge!(played by Ewan McGregor)

GAY IS OKAY

Until recently, the United States and many Western nations regarded homosexuality asan aberration, a crime and even an abomination. Any man who was openly identified asbeing homosexual risked losing everything. Not surprisingly, through most of Americanhistory there are no prominent, influential men who identified themselves as homosexual.

Change arguably started when the towering all-American heartthrob Rock Hudsonpublicly confirmed in 1985 that he was dying of AIDS. Gradually, Americans learnedthat the Rock, and many other apparently hunky icons, were actually gay. Since then,sexual orientation has continued to be a hot topic, inevitably being picked up as an issuein the culture wars.

The issue of homosexuality in the military was accommodated with the 1993compromise bill dubbed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” There have been plans to repeal the billand allow gay people to serve openly, but it hasn’t happened yet.36 Nevertheless,Americans are gradually coming to terms with gay issues.

Among the general population, a majority of Americans (52 percent) now find gay andlesbian relationships morally acceptable, while a minority (43 percent) finds themmorally wrong. The biggest increase is among American men. In May 2006, far fewermen than women found gay relationships morally acceptable (39 percent vs. 49 percent),but by May 2010 the gender skew had switched (53 percent of men vs. 51 percent ofwomen).37

Despite all the furor and moral outrage still stirred by homosexuality, the signs clearlypoint to its becoming a non-issue in real American life. Even so, it’s far from being aroutine part of the hyperreality of American media. The 2005 gay western BrokebackMountain turns out to have been more of a one-off than a trendsetter. Gay men are stillnot a mainstream phenomenon in American media, and gay-themed storylines areunusual and often still stereotyped.


“Men in the United States[aged 18 to 25] were most

likely to cling to genderstereotypes, with nearly six

in 10 believing men shouldbe masculine and women

should be feminine.” —Euro RSCG Worldwide

“Gender Shift” study

There can be no simple definitive angle on more than 150 million American males spread over a vast country. On the otherhand, Americans love a challenge and love to wrangle things down to basic principles. So here is a checklist forunderstanding the mythical, elusive and possibly illusory male in America today. As with previous lists in this paper, and alllists, it’s subjective, selective and by no means authoritative.

1 Whomever and wherever, American men are Americans; they’re not European men in denial.

2 “Classic” for American men embraces a big, wild country heritage.

3 On the surface, American male icons lag the demographics, but mentally they’re more multicultural.

4 Success is important, and money is still a key indicator of success in a rainbow nation.

5 Technology is one of the crucial common denominators of American men.

6 Physical prowess and sport are areas in which American men can still express their manliness.

7 Keeping it real is an attractive principle but a challenge in a media-mirror world.

8 American men want to change and do better, but on their own terms, at their own pace.

9 American men need new aspirational models in tune with the needs of the age.

10 Doing well by doing the right thing in a smart way and getting recognized for it is the ultimate.

MALE IN U.S.A.: CONCLUSION 25

CONCLUSION

26 MALE IN U.S.A.: END NOTES AND PHOTO CREDITS

END NOTES

1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height#cite_note-37

2http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/healthcare/a/tallbutfat.htm

3http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/

4https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

5http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2008/August/20080815140005xlrennef0.1078106.html

6http://2010.census.gov/partners/pdf/ConstituentFAQ.pdf

7http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/us/31census.html

8http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN1427444420100714

9http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/11/art2full.pdf, page 2

10http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/

11http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032009/perinc/new01_001.htm

12www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acsbr08-3.pdf

13http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100607229.html?sid=ST2010101100168

14http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98

15http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2010/09/03/the-real-lesson-of-labor-day/

16http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/12/22/obama_and_the_invisible_workingman__99636.html

17http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/04/america-richest-counties-lifestyle-real-estate-wealthy-suburbs.html

18http://www.terry.uga.edu/news/releases/2007/minority_buying_power_report.html

19http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

20http://www.frbsf.org/community/research/assets/AsianAmericanWealth.pdf

21http://www.frbsf.org/community/research/assets/AsianAmericanWealth.pdf

22http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/style/metrosexuals-come-out.html?scp=5&sq=metrosexual&st=cse

23http://www.glennbeck.com/content/program/about/

24http://www.thenewconsumer.com/study-highlights/

25http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=documentary.htm

26http://www.askmen.com/specials/top_49_men/

27http://www.slate.com/id/2200917

28http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/full_list/index.html

29http://eurorscgsocial.com/millennials-and-social-media/

30http://www.thenewconsumer.com/study-highlights/

31http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/healthcare/a/tallbutfat.htm

32http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=afYZWQDBI2Oo

33http://us.fashionmag.com/news-114565-U-S-luxury-spending-grows-wealthy-are-happy-survey

34http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/05/05/4433352-joe-the-plumber-elected-official

35http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/dont_ask_dont_tell/index.html?scp=6&sq=don%27t%20ask,%20don%27t%20tell&st=cse

36http://www.gallup.com/poll/135764/Americans-Acceptance-Gay-Relations-Crosses-Threshold.aspx?utm_source=Ode+Newsletters&utm_campaign=b8a61a5b6e-daily-rss&utm_medium=email

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover:paristempo

Inside covers:Collage by paristempo

Page 3:creativecommons.org/BenSutherland

Page 4:(clockwise from top right)creativecommons.org/emilio labrador; David PaulOhmer; Wyatt’s Virtual Drifting;Rob Young

Page 5:creativecommons.org/Bondseye

Page 6:(from top)creativecommons.org/Symic;joanna8555; AMagil; lcm1863;guano

Page 7:creativecommons.org/aflcio

Page 8:(from top)creativecommons.org/BobJagendorf;deltaMike;khteWisconsin; miamism

Page 9:(from top)creativecommons.org/miamism(2); HaPe_Gera

Page 10:(from top)creativecommons.org/John.Karakatsanis; ’El Photo

Page 11:creativecommons.org/emiliolabrador

Page 12:(clockwise from top left)creativecommons.org/x-ray deltaone; cliff1066TM ;Siebbi; Juanedc;nicogenin; cliff1066TM ;garryknight; gesster

Page 13:creativecommons.org/The U.S.Army

Page 14:(from top)creativecommons.org/SanFranAnnie; fimoculous

Page 15:(from top)creativecommons.org/DanCorreia; political Graveyard;paristempo

Page 16:(from top)creativecommons.org/Teknorat; bibendum84;AGeekMom

Page 17:(from top)creativecommons.org/randichiu (2); rednuht; schatz

Page 18:(from left)creativecommons.org/David Hernandez; See-ming Lee;Robert Nyman

Page 19:(from left)creativecommons.org/Revolweb;World Economic Forum

Page 20:(from top)creativecommons.org/Spirit-Fire;The U.S. Army

Page 21:(from top)creativecommons.org/JessySutton (2); Magnus D

Page 22:(from top)creativecommons.org/PlanetVicster; vernalanemgmt;paristempo

Page 23:(from top)creativecommons.org/typicalgenius; zak mc;hipposrunsuperfast.com

Page 24:(from top)creativecommons.org/See mingLee;Tim Psych

Page 25:creativecommons.org/timparkinson

This white paper is the fifth in a series of thought leadership pursuits by Euro RSCG Worldwide PR.

In October 2009, Euro RSCG Worldwide commissioned a survey to map the trajectory of social life and social mediausage in the United States, quizzing 1,228 Americans. A white paper looked at the macro developments in socialmedia and drew conclusions and implications for marketers and their clients. Our company conducted an additionalsurvey of 600 Americans about social media and health care. We presented our findings at an FDA hearing onpromoting FDA-regulated medical products online and through social media. To get a copy of the white paper, pleasego to our Social Life and Social Media website.

Shortly thereafter, seeking to better understand how teen girls spend, socialize and communicate, Euro RSCGWorldwide PR commissioned a survey of 100 teenage girls nationwide aged 13 to 18. A March 2010 white paperpresented the proprietary study’s findings in the context of today’s communications and business worlds as they areincreasingly dominated by social and other digital media. We used the information we gathered to launch TheSisterhood, an agency within an agency that is an insight group to help define the teenage female consumer’s ideas infashion and beyond. To get a copy of the white paper, please go to The Sisterhood website.

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR and Euro RSCG Life, the health-focused communications network of Euro RSCGWorldwide, commissioned the online “mood monitor” survey of 386 Americans in February 2010 that also led to awhite paper. The survey showed that people’s interest in a raft of weighty matters had grown in the previous 12 to 18months. And on many points, particularly related to money, Americans tended to net out far more pessimistic thanoptimistic on subjects such as quality of life, employment, real estate and schools. Euro RSCG commissioned a similarpoll in the bellwether state of Connecticut. For a copy of the reports, please go to the White Papers page of the EuroRSCG PR website.

In summer 2010, ERWW PR took part in a five-country study by Euro RSCG Social that looked at how millennials(people aged 18 to 25) are making themselves felt in the workplace, consumer markets and politics. The biggestbottom line in the survey: Young people across the world think the world needs changing, and they’re confident socialmedia will give them the power to accomplish that change. To download the report based on the study, please go toour Social Life and Social Media website. A new report built on the same study, discussing differences betweengenders in that age group, launched this fall.

And for this paper, we drew on the results of some of these proprietary studies and others, plus independent researchand insights we gain through our global trendspotting network, connecting the dots between all of them.

Through such research and analysis, we are addressing topics that are not only imperative to our clients and our owngrowth but are also driving news about the future. The studies are places to listen and learn. They’re propellingmomentum for companies, brands and causes. They’re satisfying the new value exchange, where consumers wantbrands that listen, converse and enable them.

Please join us in the conversation.

Marian Salzman President

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America

200 Madison Avenue, 2nd floor

New York, NY 10016

http://www.eurorscgpr.com

P: 212-367-6811

E: [email protected]

T: @mariansalzman

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