Every week we take a look in the RTÉ Guide archives to check out what made its pages in years gone by. Today's boys and young men are being bombarded with exhorations to improve their fitness and, more crucially, their bodies by millions of influencers and advertisers. But while the intensity of these messages has increased, and has been co-opted by the so-called "manosphere", there's nothing new about people preying on young men's insecurites for profit, as this ad which appeared in the RTÉ guide 51 years ago in May 1975 shows.
"Yes! Girls look at you, too... " screamed the headline of the ad for the Bullworker fitness tool. "Are you sure you measure up?" The ad copy urged young men to judge themselves harshly, and reminded them what young women supposedly wanted.
"Get yourself a dynamic he-man body FAST!" screamed the ad copy, which never exactly describes what the Bullworker does or how exactly it works. "Girls don't go for timid men, weäk men or flabby men. Girts want men who look and act like REAL MEN - men who are strong, powerful and fit, Take a good look at yourself in a mirror. Not just a hasty glance while you flex your biceps and pull in your stomach - but an honest evaluation of the way others see you. Examine your shoulders, your arms, your chest, your waist and your legs."
And once the unfortunate target of the ad had indulged in all this self criticism, they were offered a solution. "If you're less than proud of what you see and if you're willing to invest just 5 minutes a day in an easy, super-effective training programme already endorsed by more than a million fitness-conscious men the world around, we can help you get positive results FASTER than you ever thought possible. It's a proven fact. Just five minutes of daily Bullworker training is all it takes to start transforming pipe-stem arms into massive, rippling biceps; building broad, powerful shoulders, turning a flat, shallow chest into a deep and manly one; forging stomach flab into steel-hard muscle; developing muscular, contoured thighs and calves - many times faster than conventional techniques. AND you can prove it for yourself IN ONLY 14 DAYS!"
For the grand total of £16.65, paid in installments, would be he-men could send off for a Bullworker and supposedly transform their physiques. A reminder that snake-oil salesmen have been targeting young people's insecurities for a very long time.
