The current study adds to field of communication studies by examining male roles
in a popular video game commercial. It asserts through textual analysis that the brief
advertisement conjures up several salient masculinities that demonstrate a greater
conflict, uncertainty and need for negotiation within the media. Context is provided to
assist in the comprehension of this fractured masculinity. The first section of analysis
explores the traditional dominant masculinity conveyed. The second examines the
presentation of men as slackers. The third segment discusses the ways in which
camaraderie emerges as a strategy to incite male solidarity. Together, these serve to bring
about a new sort of disorderly masculinity in response to the various perceived challenges
facing men in the 21st century. The ad ultimately exacerbates the crisis it claims to
mitigate with such mixed male representations.