Coco Tree Coconut Juice Live Room: In the reversal of gaze, the reality dilemma that cannot be eliminated

This article starts from the "handsome live broadcast marketing model" of the Coconut Tree Coconut Juice live broadcast room, and interprets this simple and unpretentious "eye-catching" method from many aspects. It is recommended for those who want to explore the new situation of live broadcast performances.

"A live broadcast may open up a small gap in aesthetics, but it cannot break the shackles of social production."

In many people's minds, Coco Tree Coconut Juice is a strange brand that is firmly tied to "earthy packaging" and "vulgar marketing". Some netizens commented that Coco Tree Coconut Juice can rely on its unchanging childhood taste to ensure a lifetime of wealth and prosperity, but it keeps testing the edge of "vulgarity". Once, a slogan of Coco Tree Coconut Juice - "I have been drinking it since I was a child" caused an uproar with suspected sexual innuendo. Since then, the tights worn by the beautiful anchors in the live broadcast room and their twisting sexy limbs have once again become the reason why Coco Tree Coconut Juice has been criticized.

(Advertisement for Coco Tree Coconut Juice)

After being criticized for "objectifying women", Coco Tree Coconut Juice seems to have learned its lesson and started a "live broadcast marketing model for handsome men" in the eyes of netizens. Recently, Coco Tree Coconut Juice recruited "sunny and healthy big boys over 1.8 meters tall to cooperate with live broadcasts to show products" and took the initiative to boldly show muscles in the live broadcast room, which was regarded by netizens as "equally objectifying every human being."

(Live broadcast room of Coco Tree Coconut Juice)

This simple and unpretentious way of "attracting attention" really opened the eyes of netizens. At first, the live broadcast room was flooded with bad comments such as "greasy" and "unbearable to watch". However, as the live broadcast became popular, many netizens said they were "addicted" and supported its "clear vulgarity, sunny explicitness, and healthy edge". Why did this role-reversal of body gaze trigger such a heated discussion?

01Desire and pleasure that erupt in gender reversal

Using the body as a marketing tool is not uncommon in the past cases of Coco Tree Coconut Juice. In a 2006 TV commercial, Coco Tree Coconut Juice began to use the slogan "white and tender, with charming curves" and the advertising images were also the type that "children cannot watch". After that, Coco Tree Coconut Juice was fined for advertising coconut juice as a "breast enhancement tool" on the packaging.

(Advertisement for Coco Tree Coconut Juice)

Despite this, Coco Tree Coconut Juice still hit a wall on the road of "being on the edge of earthy taste" and did not turn back, and started a new round of live broadcast performances. This may be closely related to the current body consumption. In the contemporary visual feast, the body is undoubtedly the "most beautiful consumer product". In online live broadcasts, the voyeurism of the body between the two sexes has reached its extreme, and they watch and consume privacy under the control of hormones. In addition to showing the beauty of the flesh, the exposed body is also entangled with power, capital, and sexual expression. In addition, the audience of live broadcasts not only gets the pleasure of voyeurism in the scrutiny of the body, but also experiences the dominance of money over people in the reward mechanism. In many online live broadcasts today, as long as you give a reward, you can specify the anchor wearing "cool" clothes to make actions corresponding to the reward amount.

(Live broadcast on a certain audio platform)

Although the live broadcast of Coco Tree Coconut Juice has not been so explicit, its behavior seems to be trying to cater to the visual needs of the audience. In response to the dissatisfaction with the male model's clothing in the comments, Coco Tree Coconut Juice quickly came up with the "four people wearing one suit"; in response to the "leg hair" and "armpit hair" that the audience strongly complained about, Coco Tree Coconut Juice simply removed the hair on the spot during the live broadcast. Coco Tree Coconut Juice's "borderline marketing" is undoubtedly turning the body into an inducement for consumption, using the "earthy style" to satisfy the public's curiosity.

(Live broadcast of Coco Tree Coconut Juice)

In the past, it was the plump figures and "eye-catching" breasts of female anchors; now it is the muscles and naked bodies of male models. Both male and female anchors are divided into body symbols with sexual connotations in the live broadcast. These sexual characteristics have become symbols of charm, used to simplify individuals as people. Unlike in the past, the muscles of male anchors have become the main product of this exhibition. The live broadcast room where muscular men gather has broken the previous narrative structure of "men watch and women are watched". In a patriarchal society, the image of women is the "white, young and thin" in men's fantasy, and is a constructed "virtuous wife and good mother". In the long past, women were often suppressed in the visual hegemony of men, and were objects that could be consumed and pointed at. However, with the rise of the "her economy", men have also begun to become the party that can be consumed and gazed at.

(The highly anticipated gay drama)

In the era of "male beauty" consumption, the images of "warm men", "fresh meat" and "old uncles" that cater to women's fantasies have emerged, and names such as "little milk dog" and "little wolf dog" are heard everywhere. The rise of the danmei market and the popularity of erotic games all reflect the huge discourse power and consumption power of the "her economy". Female audiences objectify men and enjoy the pleasure of gender reversal. Undoubtedly, the large-scale exhibition of coconut juice has created a huge "female gaze" landscape on the Internet. Female audiences immersively watch and evaluate male models. Some netizens complain about the male models' belly, sloping shoulders and hunchbacks, and point out that their clothes are greasy and earthy; others justify their figures and muscles and praise their bodybuilding.

(Comments from netizens on the male model in the live broadcast room)

They freely evaluate the figure and appearance of male models on social platforms, and stare at their bodies from the position of the dominant. Female audiences have the right to freely control, consume, and stare at men in the virtual world, enjoying pleasure and pleasure that are difficult to experience in the secular world. When Coco Tree Coconut Juice, who listened to the advice, changed the male anchor's clothes into a suit and removed his armpit hair live, this immersive sense of control may make people forget everything in an instant. At the same time, the long-term neglect of women's expression of love and the suppression of sexual needs in society also broke out in this live broadcast. Netizens described the Coco Tree Coconut Juice live broadcast room as exuding "hormones running under the coconut trees on the beach." The display of flesh and the naked show of goodwill to female audiences opened a crack in the taboo of women's "sexual fantasy."

(Male model shows his "body" in the live broadcast room)

The feudal society has been teaching women to be faithful and chaste for thousands of years, which has made women afraid to talk about sex. The free expression of desire in cyberspace is gradually breaking the shackles, which is a rebellion against the moral requirements of women and a challenge to the traditional power structure. The bubble of capital

02 Landscape of Nü Ning

However, this show was not so satisfactory. During the live broadcast of Coco Tree Coconut Juice, netizens continued to judge the male model as "greasy". At the same time, the female anchor in the same show rarely received barrage complaints. Netizens expressed their love for her and even felt that her appearance made the male model "overshadowed".

(Female anchor of Coco Tree Coconut Juice)

The reason why the male body image presented by Coco Tree Coconut Juice is not as "satisfactory" as the female image is that it also reflects from the side that the long-term neglect of women's needs cannot be compensated for for the time being? For female anchors, the long-term gaze of the audience has solidified their image. Whether it is body shape, appearance or temperament, there are formulas that can be referred to by rote, which can easily meet the expectations of the audience. The current popular hot word "serving beauty service" refers to the large amount of time and energy that women spend to maintain their beauty. And the tailor-made aesthetic standards such as "comic legs", "A4 waist", "good women are not more than 100", etc., are always disciplining women's image management. The body management of middle-aged male and female stars, who are often compared, also confirms the more stringent appearance indicators for women at present.

(Appearance requirements for women)

Because of this, "newcomers" of male anchors may rarely face the image requirements of the female market and have not formed fixed role expectations. The male model of Coco Tree Coconut Juice was regarded as "greasy" for overdoing his charm in the process of showing his charm; the male anchor in the "Vida Tissue" live broadcast room was complained that he looked like a "scumbag". In the eyes of netizens, these are "the types of men that women like."

(Comments on the "Vida Tissue" live broadcast room)

In the media, female viewers are surrounded by various male symbols that can be pointed at, and they consume male bodies openly, as if they have the sovereignty to manipulate male beauty. But do women really have autonomy in the gaze of men? A live broadcast may open up a small gap in aesthetics, but it cannot break the shackles of social production. When the female gaze is paralyzed by the live broadcast of male beauty, the real demands of women in economics and politics are eliminated. The carnival in the live broadcast room cannot change the dilemma of women in the workplace, and the female gaze on the Internet is difficult to reverse the imbalance of childbirth and family responsibilities.

(Women’s dilemma in the workplace)

Whether it is the visual hegemony of men or the aesthetic gaze of women, the root cause is the production relationship in real society that causes unequal division of labor between the sexes. Women are anesthetized by the freedom of the virtual world, but the power in the real world has not changed. When we ridicule the coconut juice brand Coco Tree for "objectifying everything and pleasing everyone" and "launching a live broadcast of macho men but the sales volume is less than one thousand", are we ignoring the huge advertising effect behind it?

(The promotion effect of Coco Tree brand coconut juice)

In the carnival of the consumer world, excessive indulgence will only make us dissolve into the bubble of capital. The "equal treatment" of Coco Tree Coconut Juice may not really be a platform for the welfare of women. In this transformation of gazing and being gazed, capital is the real winner.

References: [1] Liu Naige. Facing the “Her” Era: A Perspective on the “Female-Oriented” Phenomenon and Culture in Film and Television Art[J]. Modern Communication (Journal of Communication University of China), 2018, 40(12): 94-98.

Author: Frog Diary, WeChat public account: Zhizhu.com