No Can Do Ladies, Dr. Pepper Ten Is For Men

Don’t worry, guys.  If your masculinity is threatened by diet sodas, you can always drink this, and then your balls will be like STEEL.

Seriously, Dr. Pepper, what the hell?

I drank two Dr Peppers to get codes for Fight Night Champion. Never again.

Over here in England, there’s a chocolate bar called Yorkie, and that’s marketed as ‘Not for girls’ because the chunks are pretty big, but it’s done in a humorous, lighthearted way like having an ad where ladies wear big beards to try to buy a bar of it. It’s like they’re trying to do that, but they really failed at it.

If their plan is to use reverse psychology to get me to drink their crappy soda out of spite, then their plan has failed.  If their plan is to get my girly ire up at not being “allowed” to drink their crappy soda, then that has also failed.

What this ad campaign will do, however long it lasts, (which I predict won’t be all that long) is give me an easy dumbass identifier.  Presence of stupid “man” soda = Walk the other way.

My face cannot contort itself into an accurate depiction of how I feel about this. I probably look like I’m trying to sneeze.

Guys, you can keep the Dr. Pepper Ten while I chug down your freshly-brewed morning java. And I detest romantic comedies.

I saw that bar in a specialty candy store in New York (is it tasty?) and was wondering if the advertisement is taken in stride. But by the big “No girl” stamp on the candy bar it’s just so sarcastic that I find it funny. I guess this makes up for the Post Waffle Crisp commericals where teenage boys dress up as old ladies to sneak into their cereal-making factory.

I saw that bar in a specialty candy store in New York (is it tasty?) and was wondering if the advertisement is taken in stride. But by the big “No girl” stamp on the candy bar it’s just so sarcastic that I find it funny. I guess this makes up for the Post Waffle Crisp commericals where teenage boys dress up as old ladies to sneak into their cereal-making factory.

I think there is a bit of over reaction here.   How is it OK to have “Strong enough for a man but made for a Woman” in your deodorant ads, but to play to male insecurity is now offending you?

If anything, I am not upset about women being excluded, I am offended that they had to make a “less offensive” diet version of their product to appeal to men.  I will drink my appletinis, light beers and diet colas and STILL kick your ass at Rugby.  And frankly, its genius marketing.  Women who already drink this product who are offended by this will drink it out of spite, nor not care and just drink their Diet Doctor Pepper instead.  And those protesting against it will post it on their blogs and facebook accounts giving Dr Pepper an expanded exposure.  

They’re ok, I prefer Dairy Milk myself, but that’s just because the fake beard itches. 

Apparently they have Yorkies in British army ration packs, but the wrapper says ‘Not for civvies’ instead :) It’s all definitely taken as a silly joke, and it’s never stopped anyone I know from having one.

No-one said that deodorant phrase in ads is OK, though. I always hate it, personally.

Coke Zero and Pepsi One did similar campaigns in an effort to make guys more comfortable drinking a diet soda.  I think that Dr. Pepper was copying them but going over the top to stand out.  If they had done a little “this is a man’s drink” rather than shoving it down our throats, I don’t think I would have cared.  But since they went so far, I think most men will avoid it just because it is so obvious.  The best advertising campaigns sell people without them even knowing it.  

Okay, I don’t know what it is about this commercial. It’s so over-the-top and campy that normally I would, at most, roll my eyes and continue with my day. Perhaps spare a moment’s contemplation on gender essentialism or some marketing dude’s undersized mantackle. It is absolutely not worth getting worked up about.

So why is it that every time it shows up on tv I go into involuntary teeth gnashing mode and feel the strong compulsion to smash the power button?

Maybe it’s the guy’s aggressively obnoxious, grating tone. You can get away with a lot if you deliver it with a light touch. Mr. Manly there doesn’t qualify. Also, does this mean that the marketing campaign with Fergie and her, uh, soda-swallowing skills was directed at chicks?

It’s like the Yorkie candy bar in the UK, the tagline of which is “It’s Not For Girls.”

I love how marketing for women is inclusive with taglines like “it’s just for you!” but when marketing is geared toward men, it has to leave women out by saying who the product is NOT for.

Argh.

This is just Coke Zero all over again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9yInAZTJvQ&feature=related

That’s okay, I’m really not offended by it. Guys, stick to your Dr. Pepper 10. I’ll be over here drinking my Guinness.

 Considering how many of my male friends chug down Diet Coke, I really have to wonder about the market research on this.

Secret’s “Strong Enough for a Man” was always patronizingly sexist. That hasn’t changed.

This is outright hateful. “This is a man’s world, and we know you hate many things about that, and you can suck it bitch” is the entire message of this commercial. They pretend to undercut that message by mocking the machismo of the tropes on display, but it isn’t parody. It’s real hate.

Personally, I’m just sick of the type of people that do something others find offensive and then cover it up with ‘we just wanted to start a conversation’. 

Largely because I’m starting to feel that the only people who do it have no idea how to start a freaking conversation without being a raging douche-table.

Meh. I was amused. ‘Catchphrase!’

I find

Meh. i was amused. ‘Catchphrase!’ i kinda think they’re trying to cash in on pseudo machismo, like the Old Spice ads.

What offebds me are the Hardees/ Carl jr. Ads. “hey, our burgers used to suck, and now they’re sloppy, greasy, disgusting messes eaten by sloppy, greasy, disgusting people, oh, and this supermodel here, in the one shot we got before she threw up. Our assumption is that we’ll do fine, because men are too stupid to feed themselves.”

Thanks for the Mansplanation, brah. Us chicks just over-react at stuff, we can’t help it! Thanks for setting us straight.

Not even this ad will make me try to break down gender barriers. Dr. Pepper is gross.

Women are seriously offended by this? There’s no “real hate” here, it’s more mocking the macho attitude than anything. It’s in the same vein as the “stupid male” commercials.

Way to set us back 50 years, Dr. Pepper! You used to be my favorite drink. Seriously, what happened? Was it really that hard to do what other companies do and at least try to make it subtle? Like how Coke’s energy drink for girls is hot pink, or how cereals give out prizes to play on little children’s greed! Geez, its like they decided “Fuck it, let’s NOT hire competent ad designers!”
*Headdesk*

So you SHOOT things in LIPSTICK and HIGH HEELS. You KILL.. things that are defined as WOMEN. So your shooting women and anyone/thing that wants to be a woman like say.. transwomen. So it’s basically a trainer to kill women and women identified people. WTF?! That is SICK. And they want to play it off “Well 40% of the women GET THE JOKE so it’s OK” Which goes back to the “Well I have a gay friend so I can’t be homobigoted no matter what offensive shit I say! :D!”

Now I know how the Trix Rabbit feels….. D:

I am male. I drink at least 1 bottle of Dr. Pepper a day (591ml). I’m drinking one now. I could seriously stand to consume fewer calories a day. I will NEVER purchase this product because I don’t want to look like a douchebag who thinks marketing like this is cute. Just two days ago I was celebrating and sharing via FB the Dr. Pepper college scholarship given to a woman at my alma mater. Now this. Idiots.

I can only hope that a future advertising campaign takes the opposite tack, with a stereotypically “girly” “feminine” commercial run and an archetypal host like the gun-toting dunderhead in the men’s commercial.  Then after that, the characters in both run into each other and start to argue about who Pepper 10 is really for.

I’m fairly offended by the advertising. But your sexism isn’t cute either.

It’s not enough to really make me angry or anything, but I think what is most offensive about it is the ad, where the man is telling us what we do and don’t like. If it were talking to men, rather than women, I don’t think it’s be that bad.

The message is very explicitly not aimed at women, so…no, it isn’t “This is a man’s world, and we know you hate many things about that, and you can suck it bitch”, if only because it is not a message to women. To say that would be to make some sort of argument that the Summer’s Eve ads tell men they’re worthless, when they’re not talking to men. 
More than that, it indicates that there’s definitely a “women” section of the world. If anything, it says that “this is a man’s and a women’s world, and the diet drinks are in the women’s part, but this drink isn’t part of that lady world”. Patronizing, condescending, sexist, offensive, unfunny? Yes to all of the above. But the hatefulness you read into it is you reading into it. 

I’m sure she’s glad to know you don’t think she’s cute.

Agreed. That was a wicked sick strawman she built, there. 

The ad isn’t “hateful” toward women – that implies an emotional investment that marketers typically don’t indulge in.  I do, however, think the exclusionary message is meant to be taken seriously by male consumers on at least a subconscious level – enough to get them to buy the product. The cynicism of the original reasoning that led them to do this is more insulting to men than it is to women  That, or it’s a sad commentary on western mens’ mental state if this works. Probably both. 

If it were “mocking” the macho attitude, somewhere in the 30 second ad there would be something letting people in on the joke. Commercials aren’t generally subtle. They’re not supposed to be. So, not only does that make this an offensive ad, but ineffective advertising, because it clearly didn’t do what it set out to do.

Which I don’t believe is the case. They’re not “mocking” the macho attitude, they’re using the macho attitude in a humorous, overblown way to appeal to that audience and sell drinks to a specific market. It’s not criticizing the attitude, it’s embracing it and using it for laughs. There’s a difference.

That’s exactly the point. That’s WHY a lot of people are offended by this. It SHOULD have been talking to men. It’s not the marketing to men that’s the problem. The problem is saying that women can’t enjoy this product. That’s just stupid.

For example – Secret is “strong enough for a man, but Ph-balanced for a woman.” Technically, men can still use the product if they want. And it’s basing the fact that it’s “for women” on actual, scientific, bodily differences, not arbitrary gender norms like “men like action movies and women like flowers.”

That would be an interesting idea. However, it’s dangerous sto start with this and not have the other commercial airing concurrently.

Overreaction much? You people need to calm the fuck down and look at this from a mature perspective. The Man’ments and crap are just one thing: Funny. This isn’t sexist at all, it is just a joke.
You make a mockery of yourself posting a such a poorly worded article about a personal, irrational rage.

0:18 Mr. Manly Man litters. I guess he needs a woman to clean up after him. Too bad he’s in a rain forest doing manly things. He can’t be bothered to recycle that man-can, he has bicep curls to do while riding on a jaguar in his Jeep.

Bought some Jones Soda today, it’s in a pink can. It’s only for women and I’m totally drinking it while riding a unicorn through the mall in glittery stilettos.

I LOVE the come-back “But these women weren’t offended!” I’m sorry our uteruses don’t synchronize like you thought; I’m an individual, you’re talking about my oppressed gender, and I have the right to be offended. 

Definitely was not offended. I thought it was kind of funny.
It’s just like food/drink commercials aimed at women, just a bit more forward about it. (and manly)
It almost feels like they were aiming to be funny but didn’t go the extra mile to make it excellently hilarious.

The real problem here is that they failed to make me want to buy their product. Instead, I want to go adventure through the jungle!

You know… I feel like they could have pissed a lot fewer people off by simply making the statement “it’s not JUST for women” instead. I’m not horribly offended by the commercial… the rom-com and lady drinks thing grated on me a bit… but way to marginalize 50% of your potential buyers, guys.

I don’t drink soda anyway, but I wouldn’t buy this drink if I did. However, I think there’s a lot more sexist advertising out there to worry about (hardees *cough cough*)

Remember when commercials were about interesting people in the product by telling them how good it was? Yeah, me neither.

/How is it OK to have “Strong enough for a man but made for a Woman” in your deodorant ads/

People said this where exactly?

All I get is ‘wahwahwah, sexist jokes are funny’.

/Women who already drink this product who are offended by this will drink it out of spite/

Are you for real? Stop projecting your childish attitude onto others.

Damn it Rodney, You make me so ashamed of being a guy.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS!? Why are you enabling this blatant display of sexism

WELL SAID FENG

YOU ARE FUCKING AWESOMESAUCE!

Im starting to get tired of this “LOLOLOL ITZ A JOKE SHUT UP U WHINY WIMMIN!” Stop trying to look like the mature voice of reason, because you are not.

I don’t like that it lumps all the “ladies” together. Not every woman likes romantic comedies and some of us love action movies. “Hey ladies, enjoying the film? Of course not.” FU very much Dr Pepper. It’d be fine if it was just “This drink is for dudes blah, blah, blah” without the crappy “Every woman is the same” feel.

Okay, the whole thing is dumb, but the part I really don’t get is why they think it’s manly to have a shooting gallery of lipstick and shoes.  I get that they’re trying to be like, “Haha, we manly men blow up girly things,” but to me a game where you shoot at lipstick just sounds like they took a regular shooting game and superficially feminized it in an attempt to get women to play.  

This actually broke back in June.  A food site did a taste test with diet and normal vs. “manly” 10 cal. version and determined that…women like the 10 calorie version better (although, to be fair, so did the men):
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/06/dr-pepper-ten-taste-test-vs-diet-dr-pepper-which-is-better.html

I guess my allergic reaction to Dr. Pepper came at the right time…

Someone think of the poor men!

Shooting gallery of lipstick and shoes? I watched the ad 3 times and didn’t find it (the 3rd time, I was watching for it).

I’m not at all offended by this ad. It’s kind of dumb and not as funny as it should be, but I think it’s marketing, not to dude-bros, but to women who feel insulted by ads full of lipstick and shoes and romance (i.e., most diet-soda commercials) and men who feels similarly about stereotypically “manly” advertising (i.e. beer and burger ads). There are several clues that the ad, and the spokes-action-man in particular, is not to be taken seriously. He drinks his “manly” soda over ice, trying ineffectually to pour it while bouncing around in a jeep (although later, he’s shown drinking it from a can — deliberate continuity fail). His action-man catchphrase is “Catchphrase.” 

I think the weakness of this ad is its hamhanded attempt at irony. It’s laughing at itself too much, and its winks at the audience are about as subtle as saying “wink, wink; nudge, nudge; saynomore, saynomore” (a la Monty Python).

Also, I think Dr. Pepper is gross, and no ad will convince me otherwise.

And Dr Pepper joins the line of companies that hate women more than they love money. Damn.

Anyone else feel like they just heard the powerthirst commercial from someone who cannot tell a joke?

To throw my own $0.02 at commercial’s message, I always figured true “manliness” is about embracing manly things, not being afraid of something “girly.”  Seriously, who has to put down something to establish themselves?  10-year old boys and people who think like 10-year old boys.  If they wanted to impress me, they should have come up with 10 increasingly macho things about the drink, one for each of the incredibly manly calories they packed into one manly can of testosterpwnage.  They instead admit to being frightened by Sleepless in Seattle.  Eyeroll.

I will admit, though, robot snakes that blow up when you punch them are damn cool.  I feel for the one in the video.  It deserved better.

I can guaranteed Dr Pepper would never make a commercial with the slogan, “It’s not for black people!”. I’m not sure why jokey sexism is considered more tolerable than jokey racism/homophobia/general jackassery.

25% of me says this is one of those small stupid things that don’t matter. 75% says What the hell is this load of horseshit? I could say I get the joke, haha very funny yes women are weak and lady like and don’t like explosions and motorcycles and extremely buff, homo-erotic heroes. But dammit I watched 300 and LOVED it and Dr. Pepper was one of my favorite drinks. *sighs* Maybe it’s too small an issue, compared to so many others, but it bothers me.

They also did a special ‘pink – girls only’ bar on I think international womens day.

Soda -> Don’t give a crap about. This sort of stunt has been going on for beef jerky commercials for ages.

I’m really more offended that the commercial was telling me that I don’t like action movies. Go to hell, commercial. You can’t take my Indiana Jones away from me.

THANK YOU. I love a good action movie, and I don’t drink soda so I don’t particularly care about the girlishness of fewer calories in my carbonated dental nightmare drink – instead I’m miffed they think I don’t watch and enjoy action films. Stick to advertising your drinks and stop the gender-biased stereotyping.

The shooting gallery is on the facebook page, not the commercial.

So your argument is “Well they were nice enough to give the scholarship to a woman so now it’s TOTALLY fine for them to mock the gender.”

At the end of the day we also have to be aware that this is a monster WE helped create. For a while there we created this image of a metrosexual man as good, allowing the man to come down from the gender repressive roles he has felt (and yes men are gender repressed as much as we are, simply by virtue of the fact that in order to be considered MANLY he must have certain traits) and embrace his feminine aspect enough to be okay with it. Well when that trend died, companies felt they had to create a new trend wherein MAN returns to his aforementioned MANLINESS so as to cast aside these silly notions of self care and style and silly things like letting homosexuals dress you! A LOT of commercials have been doing this lately where men symbolically reject anything even vaguely feminine and yell triumphantly to prove their manliness.

So think for a moment here ladies. While I agree this commercial is stupid and offensive towards women, I think it’s equally offensive towards men who are now made to feel responsible for upholding this patriarchal ideal masculinity lest they be rejected by their peers.

Did you miss the last word in his post? He’s saying “It was nice that they gave their scholarship to a woman, but now they’ve undone that goodwill with this stupid add campaign.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26966782@N00/523831811/

Yup, you’re right.

But Yorkie is a great big joke, and I reckon it’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that a lot of chocolate bars are aimed at women or, should I say, the adverts almost always depict women with the chocolate. Malteasers, Galaxy, etc – It’s very female-centric. That’s not to say men can’t eat those bars, I know my dad loves Malteasers, but it’s simply that women are the focus group of the advertising.

A tongue-in-cheek joke does not a sexist brand make, or something like that. As someone mentioned above, there was a pink-wrapped variation around some years ago, and it still made tongue-in-cheek comments such as “Girls – Can You Handle It?”, and it’s a nod to their marketing.

They could have just said “Hey dudely dudes, we made this for you, you manly manly man”, instead of “HEY LADIES NOT FOR YOU”

I’m just glad there are people here that understand… I posted this on facebook and a whole bunch of my male friends are telling me this is a stupid thing to get offended about, because it’s just “marketing towards men”, which isn’t the issue. It hasn’t ruined my week or anything, but I still think it’s dumb.

And pointing out other sexist commercials isn’t a good defense because, as others here have said, there are lots of them out there and, personally, this is far from the first commercial that’s pissed me off, marketed at men or women.

WHAT! THIS IS SOME MARKETING BULLSHIT.

Not only is the “catchphrase” and the script offensive to women, shouldn’t men find this offensive, too?!?

I can’t even express how offended I am by the commercial ::chews fist in frustration::

“Women who already drink this product who are offended by this will drink it out of spite, nor not care and just drink their Diet Doctor Pepper instead.”

Exactly how dumb do you think we are?

I know, right? Like we’ve never heard that “argument” before.

*RASPBERRY*

Take a hike you sexist dimwits.

I find it funny that they think men can be so easily marketed at.   ‘Hur-Hur, it’s not fur wimin so’s it’s must be betturs, hur-hur’     
Coke did this in the UK, though not so blatantly, with Coke Zero. 

Personally, I’m not offended by this.  I’m a bit upset that Dr Pepper, probably my favourite soft drink, have come to this bad marketing tactic so late in the game. Especially as their ‘What’s the worst that can happen, whilst maybe getting a little old-hat, is actually good. 

I chastise you Dr Pepper, NAUGHTY. BAD Dr Pepper!

I eat Yorkies just to fuck shit up. =D

That’s exactly it Lisa. I don’t feel angry at this at all. What I feel is more of an amused disdain. I found myself giggling as I read about it. Not giggling *with* them but *at* them, and at any guy who would react to such blatant marketing with “That’s the soda for me!”

I meant to hit reply, not like.

Dear Mary Sue,

Option to unlike a comment you liked by accident.

Thank you!

All I was going to say was…

That commercial…
…Mature perspective…

Repeat, reorder, repeat…does not compute.

I wish I could agree with your guys’ flippant treatment of this nonsense, but look at the numbers:

“In fact, about 40% of people who have tried the soda so far are women.”

Bingo. No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of consumers.

I see where you’re getting that sentiment, but I think his point is that the advertisers are assuming men are dumb and insecure enough to buy into this pandering nonsense, an assumption that is insulting to men (because they’re the target market). Whereas, if the ads are successful, it really DOES show that men are broadly insecure and stupid.

He’s not bemoaning the oppression of the poor men, he’s saying, “If you guys fall for this, you’re idiots,”

Again, I hate to say it, but 40% of the tasters were women. You can shake your head in disbelief, but there are plenty of men and women dumb enough to take the bait.

Yeah! Your proud brand loyalty totally puts you above the influence of such nonsense! Especially since Guinness has never made an ad that is in any way sexist!

Or, alternately, they have no interest whatsoever in starting a conversation.

“We just wanted to start a conversation” is the “no homo” of offensive statements.

Women: 51% of US population
African Americans: 13% of US population
Homosexuals: 5% of US population

Not every white or straight person has a close relationship with a black or gay person. Almost EVERY man has at least one close relationship with a woman (spouse, relative, child, etc). Being a woman has never been illegal (like homosexuals), and no one has ever suggested expelling all women to another continent (like African Americans). Women are a universal constant. They exist in every society, and are biologically essential to men.

Without getting into Oppression Olympics territory here, black people and homosexuals are a more hated, alienated demographic in Western countries than women, so advertisers feel less comfortable talking shit about them (at least overtly). Obviously, sexism is, in its essence, just as evil as other forms of bigotry. But, absurd and arbitrary as it seems, it is more palatable. I know that sounds fucked up, but think about it: how much do gender-segregated bathrooms, college dorms, and sports teams bother you? What about racially segregated ones?

Ethical != competent

Their tactics may be repugnant and bigoted, but I doubt they’re going to lose money.

“So you SHOOT things in LIPSTICK and HIGH HEELS.”

No, you shoot things LIKE lipstick and high heels. The objects themselves, not the people using them. It’s still fucked up, but the distinction is important.

The choice is yours, obviously, but what about… ceasing to drink Dr. Pepper? There exists no bigger middle finger you could give them.

How does buying excessively gender-coded products subvert the mindset of this ad in any way? It’s just the opposite side of the same sexist coin.

Remember the Two Minute Hate scene from 1984?

Powerthirst works as a satire because it’s not actually an ad for a product. Also, it’s so abstractly absurd, it’s hard to take any of its slurs too seriously.

If Dr. Strangelove made Gen. Jack Ripper seem really awesome and smart, and was produced by a lobby for military contractors, people wouldn’t think it was very funny.

It helps that 300 is about a different culture/time/place, and features a woman gutting her rapist and scoring a political victory. It’s not exactly a spiritual successor to Norma Rae, but it’s not as aggressively sexist as this ad.

The problem with the “metrosexual” as an ideal of gender egalitarianism is that it doesn’t promote men getting in touch with their feminine side. It promotes men embodying the oppressive, objectifying stereotypes that are perceived as feminine in our society. It doesn’t erase gender duality, it just flips it. It’s no wonder many men resented and rebelled against it. Plenty of WOMEN resent and rebel against it too! It’s just that somehow (ads like this), men became convinced that women were to blame for foisting this feminization on them, whereas women are just victims of the same (or rather, far more severe) limiting gender roles. 

“Homosexuals: <1% of US Population" – There fixed that for you.

Don’t worry, I’ll drink his share. They won’t miss him.

I find posting controversial material on facebook is generally inadvisable. You’ll either end up disappointed with your friends’ responses, or too afraid of souring your relationships with them by getting into a debate, since typed internet arguments lack the nuance and unstated mutual affection of arguing with your friends in person.

That’s why it’s nice to argue with anonymous people. You can tell them what you really think without worrying about it interfering with your social life.

I shouldn’t have simplified, and included the rest of the spectrum in my label. The most recent studies put the percentage for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in the US at 3.5%.
 http://www.keennewsservice.com/2011/04/08/lgbts-comprise-3-5-percent-of-u-s-adult-population/
But note that those are only the ones who identify as such. Not only do 8.2% of the population admit to having homosexual encounters, but some people simply hide their sexual orientation. In light of that, I overestimated the number by a percent or so.

Yes, exactly.  People are this vain, this stupid.  It’s exactly the motivation as spawned pepsi max, it’s not for vain secretaries it’s for cool, rad, wild kids.  Advertisers and brands pander to what will increase their profits, they know how such a campaign will positively and negatively affect this and their other brands.  Your civil rights aren’t being infringed just because something’s slightly harder to view on facebook, your local store won’t need to see ID to confirm your gender before selling it to you.

They know exactly these conversations we’re having will advertise their brand even further… and for free.  Who knows, maybe they’ll send Jill a case of it later, for making all these people aware of Dr. Pepper 10.

Must be a perspective thing; this is far more offensive to men than it is to women, from my perspective.  Most of the offended posters also seem to miss the basic psychological differences between (most) men and (most) women, which is why excluding women is a stronger sell to men whereas being tailored to a woman is a stronger sell to women.  Many people exist outside these stereotypes and market shares.  More people exist inside them.

My good deed for today! I called the customer service phone number that I found on the Dr Pepper web site and said ‘Hi, I drink a lot of Dr Pepper; it’s usually my first-choice soda. But I’m going to be buying Coke instead until this sexist ad campaign is canceled.’

The operator I talked to was very friendly and professional about it and said she’d forward my comments to the marketing department, for whatever that’s worth.

None of those strike me as particularly convincing excuses.

I can understand that companies have difficulties marketing diet sodas to men (it’s a whole other issue in society where “real” men aren’t supposed to care about healthy diets), but wouldn’t saying “For Men” be a lot less negative? Plus a bit clearer… ‘Hmm, “Not for women”, eh? So, it’s just for girls, right?’ Maybe not the message they were going for.

I’m a bit offended by the commercial, because it assumes that I wouldn’t enjoy a movie involving laser guns in the jungle. I probably would prefer that to a romantic comedy. And TONS of women see that kind of movie. Even the most guy-skewing films get about 35% female audience.

The worst part is the Facebook game where they shoot the lipstick and high heels. OK, leave us out, don’t play with us on the playground, but don’t turn shooting our stuff into a game! If some alcoholic drink were labeled “Not For Kids”, would they promote it by having you shoot teddy bears, toy cowboys, and toy trucks? That would be weird. Will drinking this diet soda still leave men so insecure about their masculinity that they’ll need to play violence against feminine objects?

Not excuses. Sexism is bad. Point blank. Nothing justifies it. But I do think the factors I described explain why it is more generally tolerated than other forms of bigotry. The more familiar you are with someone, the more license you feel to tease them, and men are generally more familiar with women than whites and heterosexuals are with black and gay people. It’s not fair or excusable, but it is understandable.
If you disagree, I’d certainly like to hear your reasoning.

It’s ok. While I chug down the DP10, my wife will be downing a bottle of rum.

http://www.lovetoshopping.org 
http://www.jerseymall.org
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Clothing 

I’m surprised they didn’t just call this Dr Pecker instead.

While Powerthirst was a parody, similar concepts have been used to appeal to an audience through a sort of hypermasculinity.  Examples like the Dairy Queen “So Good it’s Ridiculous” ads and the Terry Crews Old Spice commercials have taken this premise, advertised it for an actual product, and received a certain degree of success without the women have cooties mentality.

I realize neither of my earlier examples were bald-faced enough to literally tell the audience they hold certain traits and because of this the viewer should use the advertiser’s product.  Still, these are real commercials using the Powerthirst he-man mentality without the woman-hating aspect, though at that point it’s less satire and more tongue-in-cheek.

Based off the explosions, big guns, and lasers I’d say Dr. Pepper was trying for something similar.  However, due to the piece being entirely about telling women why they hate the product, it’s like the creators didn’t realize the joke isn’t based around putting women down.  And that is where they fail, while simultaneously earning the ire of every person who hates to be told what they feel or doesn’t enjoy having to share the Y-chromosome with these twerps.

D’oh! I rolled a 1 on my reading-comprehension check, apparently. Sigh.

The shooting gallery seems like a terrible idea. I can see how people might interpret it as appealing to an extreme misogynist bent in men, but I still think it’s trying to reach women –specifically those with a rebellious, anti-girly bent.

I doubt there are many men who would want to shoot at lipstick and high heels. Those who want to shoot at representations of women (a) are scary as heck, but hopefully very few in number, and (b) have other outlets for that. But many women view lipstick and high heels as the tools of the oppressors, and some of them may wish to shoot these things to pieces.

Despite their pretenses to the contrary, they’re still marketing a DIET soda to women (“look, even you liberated tomboys can look HOT with the help of our product!”) — and therein lies the problem for me. But it’s no worse, really, than all the other gendered marketing.

That rings a bell, but I read that book like four years ago and I don’t remember it all that clearly.

See, I think the campaign is hilarious.  My husband is a dear man whose concept of desirable gender roles began and ended with ‘Firefly.’ He doesn’t like carbonated regular soft drinks, let alone diet, but knows I crush enough cans to make a Cessna. So, this past week, he saw the ‘Not For Women’ and immediately assumed Dr. Pepper Ten was some kind of upgraded cola, unsuitable for weak, frivolous Saffron but just the thing Zoe and Kaylee-types would guzzle while their iced-tea-drinking Wash and Simon wondered why. It must be, he thought, the diet cola of Wrench Wenches and the Lady of War, to be perfectly TVTropes about it.

So he brought home a box and said “This was marked ‘not for women.’ Clearly, it is for superwomen. You can has.” I cracked a can and found it delicious, and at my urging, he tried some and liked it more than I’ve ever seen him like a soda. Then I looked up the ad and we had a good laugh over non-geeks’ clear misunderstanding of what gender means to soda preference: diddly-squat.

Obviously, the next stage of the campaign must be to show Ten as the chosen drink not just of tough guys, but of the Battle Couple. Mountain Dew has made a killing by appealing to gamers, and running an ad where the Halo-type avatar removes his helmet to gulp some Ten and is joined by another, who turns out to be his gamer-girl wife (I bet they could get Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton,) would definitely sell some pop. Another good spot would be to show a dude picking regular, a lady picking diet, a delivery guy putting in a delivery of Ten and the couple meeting each other in the soda aisle as each reach for the compromise.

 Amen; several male friends of mine find Coke too sweet, whereas I don’t like the chemical taste of the diet stuff. It confuses servers in restaurants no end when they bring drinks to the table and they realise that the one ordering the ‘manly’ full-sugar soda is a guuuuurl. *eyeroll*

Yeah, those “stupid male” commercials are incredibly offensive, too. Maybe one of them once every 6 months wouldn’t be, but every single beer/burger commercial has to have a sissy/dumb-guy and/or naggy/emasculating-woman? EVERY ONE?! 

I don’t understand why more men don’t find that really insulting. 

I hate that how awful they are makes us think that a slightly less offensive message would be okay. 

Because, really, I wish they would just quit with the gendered advertising altogether. If it’s not tampons, I don’t understand why we need to be a separate class of consumers. It just leaves me wondering how all the single men in the world do their laundry and clean their floors…

Basically, people scream and yell and throw shit at an image of what their government socializes them to hate and fear.

So they don’t think their idea of taking sexism as a joke and using it as a marketing campaign would be offensive.  Great.  They’re right.  It’s hilarious.  What’s even more hilarious is that sexism is alive and well and that we keep it alive with behavior like this.  It’s completely hysterical that the ERA has never been passed, the glass ceiling still exists and a woman who wants to have a baby still faces discrimination in the workplace.  I practically pee myself when marketing companies look out at the world and decide to poke fun at sexism.  I mean, why not make it funny so we can laugh about it?  We all know it’s not really that bad out there anymore, right?  Women are doing fiiiine so let’s just take the joke in stride and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.  It’s not like we’re being tricked into settling for a subservient role in society that’s only masked as equal.  Completely frickin hysterical.  I know I’m going be laughing a long long time.  

If a soda company gave you free soda, would you try it? I thought so.

actually, the game isn’t even available for women. their Facebook app is designed to exclude anyone who is listed on Facebook as a female – so it’s strictly men that are shooting heels and lipstick. women are only able to play if they create fake Facebook accounts.

This commercial does not reach the level of sexism that Dr. Pepper did at all!! In the Dr. Pepper 10 commercials they plainly state that this product is NOT FOR WOMEN!!! This Coke commercial indirectly insists that the drink is manly, definatly not stepping on peoples toes like Dr. Pepper is!

*grins* I always did like that part.

Um, no.  Ads for products like Summer’s Eve, if those products actually still exist, are aimed at women and “act like men don’t exist” because THEY ARE PRODUCTS FOR WOMEN.  Completely useless unnecessary products that pander to women’s insecurities by insinuating they’re not “fresh” enough.  But still, products that ONLY women can use.  But this is a carbonated, flavored beverage.  BOTH sexes can drink it!  Crazy, I know.  It appears Miller hasn’t gotten the message either.  But it’s insulting and rude to completely eliminate half your market demographic from your ads.

word.

No kidding.  I know tons of guys that drink Diet Coke daily and no one blinks an eye.  This ad manages to be insulting to both men (“you guys are so insecure that you’ can’t even order a diet coke bc someone might call you a GIRL!!”) and women (zOMG chicks love ROM COMS!!!)

Really girls your getting upset by THIS???? Come on there better things to do in your life then be bitchy women about a stupid commercial. Come on there are women who are getting beaten up by there husband who need more protection then from a commercial.