Small Adventures Are Where Men Go To Be Men

by Andrew Budkofsky, Oct 16, 2012, 9:31 AM

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Men are being totally emasculated in our society today, aren’t we?  Even manly men like Adam Corolla are admitting it. Earlier this year he wrote a book, In 50 Years We’ll All Be Chicks. He gives guys a hard time about their blurred gender roles and poses a lot of questions about where men are headed. Check out what he says in these quotes from the book. Major media outlets like the broadcast networks see it, too. They now green-light shows like “Happy Endings” and “The New Girl,” where guys are nice and polite and aren’t out for only that one thing.  

As for myself, I can change diapers faster and better than my wife can. I can prepare dinner for my family and still work a full day. In the mornings, I can get the kids off to school without a hitch (don’t tell my wife I said all of this if you see her).    

But as a 40 year old with two kids, that doesn’t mean I’m not still a guy. I still need to feel like a man sometimes.  I need small adventures to maintain my machismo. For me, it’s about grabbing a few guys and going down to Atlantic City, or out to Las Vegas. Having the time alone, with just my guy friends, where we can be men is needed.

In a recent study we did called the Acumen report, themes emerged that turning regular life events into opportunities for male bonding and man time were where men were going to exercise their masculinity.  With gender lines blurring in their home lives and their professional lives, outings appear to be where men are now focusing to do specifically manly activities. Men as a part of our 2,000-person report shared some hilarious events in their lives where they are re-inventing the notion of male bonding.

Take “Mansgiving,” for example, where one of our research participants explained that he and his friends get together annually, watch all of the “Die Hard” movies, eat steak with their hands, and wipe their hands on their t-shirts to end the movie marathon looking like Bruce Willis as John McClane. Taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary means that guys aren’t just getting together for beers anymore, they are striving to “eventize” their outings. They aren’t just grabbing a burger, they are finding the best hard-to-find burger in their cities, getting their group of friends together, and creating excursions rather than traditional get togethers.

Specific stats from the study include the following:

• 84% say that every so often men need to challenge themselves, even if it’s weird or stupid.  

and

• 55% say they do “marathon” sessions of movie watching, video gaming, etc.

Marketers are just starting to tap into this. Campaigns like Corona’s “Find Your Beach” is exactly that. It’s telling guys that they can find their escape in their everyday lives. We’ll certainly start to see more marketers crafting messages to reach the modern man.

I’m still a man. I’m just a different kind of a man than my father was. No more of a man, no less. And I need my small adventures so I can keep my manhood alive and well.

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