Is
this the most sexist commercial ever made? To promote their newest product Dr.
Pepper Ten the marketing department at Dr. Pepper decided to go with the
catchphrase “It’s Not for Women”. If you
go by the amount of dislikes and the comments on YouTube it may be one of the
most controversial commercials ever made.
The
commercial is full of stereotypes about gender and masculinity in particular. Dr.
Pepper’s marketing department is out to prove the manliness of Dr. Pepper Ten.
The commercial begins as if it is some kind of action movie with a man running through
the jungle surrounded by laser blasts with a gun in his hand. He turns to the
camera and says “Hey ladies enjoying the film? Of course not because this is
our movie”. This statement is stereotypical implying that women would not enjoy
watching an action movie. Saying this is “our” movie also implies that all men
enjoy action movies. The main character then punches a snake, jumps of a cliff
and lands in a car. When in the car he grabs a Dr. Pepper Ten describes how it’s
“our” drink and has ten manly calories and all 23 Dr. Pepper flavors. The main
character again uses the word “our” when describing the soda implying that it
belongs to men. Throughout this entire sequence the main character is being
chased by men riding motorcycles. He crunches the can in his hand throws it
behind his back and springing a trap that stops the bad guys in their tracks. As
the commercial comes to a close the main character tells any women who may be
watching that they “can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks”. After this
statement the commercial ends with the following statement Dr. Pepper Ten, It’s
Not for Women.
I
think that it abundantly clear who the target demographic for this commercial
is. This commercial is clearly aimed
towards men even stating that it’s not for women in case there was any
confusion. It’s as if the main character came straight out of an action film. I
believe that the people at Dr. Pepper are trying to push the manliness of Dr.
Pepper Ten because of the negative stigma that many men often associate with
diet soda. By using this marketing strategy Dr. Pepper might also be attempting
a reverse psychology of sorts on women who may be slightly more inclined to try
the soda after being told it’s not for them. I think the people at Dr. Pepper
assumed that there would be no problem getting women to drink a soda with ten
calories so they instead shifted their focus toward selling their product to
men.
As I had
previously stated this commercial is full of stereotypes about gender and
masculinity in particular. The commercial starts with the stereotypical
assumption that all men would enjoy an action movie. By the same token the fine
folks at Dr. Pepper also made the sweeping generalization that women would not
enjoy watching any action film. The commercial
makes other generalizations with the liberal use of the word “our”. The commercial
refers to the pretend movie in the commercial as “our” movie and that Dr.
Pepper Ten is “our” soda. By using the word “our” Dr. Pepper Ten creates a
sense of community through this product. Some men might feel as if they would
be more readily accepted by other men somehow by drinking Dr. Pepper Ten as
opposed to another diet soda that has no calories. Another stereotypical
assumption made by this commercial is the viewing of romantic comedies. This
commercial assumes that all women enjoy watching romantic comedies. This
assumption simply isn’t true as there are many women that can’t stand romantic
comedies just as there are many men that don’t enjoy action movies. The
commercial is also stereotypical in implying that watching romantic comedies is
unmanly. Just because watching romantic comedies doesn’t fit with the masculine
rugged perception that has been built as the perception of masculinity in
popular culture doesn’t necessarily mean it is unmanly for men to enjoy these
movies. I am sure that there are many men who enjoy romantic comedies as much
or more than action movies. Does this make them any less masculine? Another
stereotype used in this commercial is the “girly drink”. Why is it that
drinking a certain type of drink makes a man less masculine than if he had selected
a different drink? We all participate in and believe in these stereotypes to a
certain extent. We are led to believe that man drinking a beer is much more
masculine than one who is drinking a Mike’s hard lemonade at a party for
example. These drinks have gotten the girly drink label so men avoid them in an
attempt to affirm their manliness. Everyday men make choices in an attempt to
confirm their manliness based on perceptions built by popular culture on what it
means to be manly.
This
leads me back to my original question is Dr. Pepper Ten sexist? In the
politically correct world we live in the commercial does come off as sexist. If
you type in Dr. Pepper Ten Sexist on YouTube there are more than ten videos of
people complaining about how sexist the Dr. Pepper Ten commercial is. As of the
time this was written 2,095 people disliked this video on YouTube opposed to
only 1,531 likes. The comments section of the video is also full of arguments
about whether the commercial is sexist. On one hand there are people saying
that the commercial is so sexist that Dr. Pepper should be sued for it. On the
other hand there other people saying that the commercial was a joke and to take
it as such so stop complaining. Which side is right?
