Watching a sporting event on television in the U.S., you'd be likely to see advertisements for Axe, Old Spice, Miller Lite, car wax, and Viagra in between innings, periods, halves, quarters, etc.
Right now, I'm watching a baseball game between two Taiwanese teams, and
between innings I just saw consecutive commercials for a Pantene hair product, an Estee Luader fragrance, a stain-removing laundry detergent, and some Mr Muscle cleaning product (who appears to be a hairier, UK version of Mr. Clean).
between innings I just saw consecutive commercials for a Pantene hair product, an Estee Luader fragrance, a stain-removing laundry detergent, and some Mr Muscle cleaning product (who appears to be a hairier, UK version of Mr. Clean).
A lot of conclusions can be drawn from this, including, but not limited to:
- there is not the same huge emphasis on extreme masculinity in Taiwanese society as there is in the U.S.
- more women than men watch baseball on TV in Taiwan.
- the men in Taiwan are very image-conscious and do the majority of household cleaning.
- people in Taiwan don't smell bad, count calories when drinking beer, or suffer from erectile dysfunction (have you seen the women over here????).
I'm not choosing to side with any of those conclusions, as it could be a combination of many different things, or even a lack of consideration of the television audience during a baseball game.
It might be worth noting that I have noticed that Taiwanese boys and men (probably between 15-35 years of age) are VERY self-conscious of their hair. I'd guess that a lot of them get their hair did at a salon, and it's not a rare sight to see a young man adjusting his hair with the aid of a pocket mirror or just about any reflective surface.
Am I missing something?
2 comments:
do you use a pocket mirror?
no... they use my head as a reflective surface
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