Dr. Pepper came out with a diet soda strictly for men, with its slogan as, "It's Not For Women." Dr. Pepper came out with this commercial of a "rugged" man (almost comparable to the Marlboro Man) shooting people and running away from bad guys in the jungle. I feel that this commercial is putting a major emphasis on the classic view of men and how in order to be really manly you should drink a soda that's only for men. In addition it stereotypes women when the main actor in the commercial says, "you can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks." By separating the two genders, this commercial feeds to the idea of the role of gender in society, and how men and women should act and look like.
I agree with your statement that this logo is directed for men. Particularly men with little self-confidence about their manliness. While I am sure that there was no malicious intent in the ad towards women (probably more for a comedic effect), it does serve the same purpose as the Marlboro Man. Many American males, once the Frontier was closed, did not know how to be a man (i.e. rugged, adventurous, tough). This ad attacks their confidence to better sell their product. And once I again I agree with your statement about stereotyping women. As suggested in the article "Where the Girls are", the media can be a women's friend or enemy. And in this case they are enemies, suggesting women do not share the same toughness or wildness of men.
ReplyDeleteI dont think that Dr. Pepper is trying to target men who are self-conscious or degrade women. They are trying to sell a product that men are not accustomed to buying, a diet product. Women are primarily the ones buying diet products due to thae fact that men tend to be less body conscious. They are not attacking confidence they are just telling men its ok to buy something diet, an idea that is thought to be more feminine. for example, in the movie Sweet Home Alabama the main character, Melanie, rearanges all of her husbands furniture and food while he is away at work as a joke to get him to sign divorce papers. When he gets home and opens the fridge he says, "What the hell is this? Chick food?!" He is talking about the LIGHT beer she has stocked the fridge with. So all I see is Dr. Pepper trying to make diet seem more manly. The comments about women were just for laughs it was nothing personal. All in all the comercial was different and it did its job, it got your attention!! As a woman myself I had a good laugh and eventhough it says the product is for men there is nothing stopping me from buying it.
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