Man out of Mac
The comic-strip narrative structure of the ad, “The insult that made a man out of Mac,” parallels the archetypical comic-book story, the superhero origin. The target audience is adolescent males who are insecure in their masculinity and who see the Atlas Dynamic-Tension method as a way to improve self-confidence, another common theme of the superhero comics. The ad entreats men not to be left behind and constructs a simple have/have not scheme in which the girl is the prize; women exist merely to reinforce a man's self-perception. Granted, Mac works hard to achieve his goal (presumably what goes on before the “LATER” banner transition), but the message is clearly that all problems can be solved with violence.