In contrast, the recent Dr. Pepper 10 ad states that their low-calorie drink is "not for women." I realize that they are trying to change a stereotype - that only women drink low-calorie drinks, yet their message can be read as offensive to some. Mio, which is a flavor additive that can be added to water is also taking the same approach. They feature a man in their ad which I thought was great because it is done in a tasteful way, and they are doing what they set out to do, which is challenge the stereotype.
Usually ads that cater more towards males feature a more active scene. Ads that come to mind are usually fast-food or "game day" munchies such as chips, Taco Bell, and anything "fire," "hot" or "spicy" is almost always advertised to males. When viewing ads that are more directed at women, it shows them floating on clouds (such as for Philadelphia cream cheese ads) or there is usually a constant theme of checking their weight, such as in Yoplait yogurt ads. However, the other day I did see a Yoplait yogurt ad that focused on women watching their calcium intake and staying strong for the younger generations in their life which I really liked.
Overall, do you see a drastic difference in how food is advertised to men and women? Where do you see the biggest difference? In other words, does it depend on the brand, the product itself, or a stereotype?
Christine,
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool topic for your final project! I agree that most food adds are gendered, which is really strange... because I think that men and women both eat the same types of food. It's kind of ridiculous. But at the same time, it could also be practical for advertisers, because if they discover that most of their consumers are male or female, it could be more effective to tailer the marketing towards that gender. However, then the topic of what signifies gender roles is where we get into dangerous territory...I don't think that marketers should be reinforcing traditional gender roles (like women as sexual objects who need to stay skinny). On this note, I don't think I've ever seen a food ad for a healthy food that focussed on males(besides the Pepsi 10 ad). The commercials for foods like healthy breakfast cereals, yogurt, and fiber bars are always geared toward women. I think companies should try to make their ads more gender-neutral (like the Mio ad), because more and more males are concerned with being healthy and improving their diets and they can stay away from that shaky gender norms ground.
I have alot of friends that are guyus that are gym "rats"and are really into nutritian. Yet you rarely see ads that are directed towards them. There are so many people that are gender specific with thier views that are in target markets. Vermont is very open to things that other places have very different views about. Sounds like a really interesting final project with alot of things to go into
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