Food Politics ? Annals of food marketing: Are Dr. Pepper ads sexist?

I am indebted to FoodNavigator.com for bringing the recent ads for Dr Pepper Snapple?s diet?oops, low-calorie?Dr Pepper Ten to my attention.

This drink has only 10 calories but is aimed clearly at men who, the ads assume,?are fine about low-calorie sodas but squirm at the idea that they might be seen drinking diet sodas.

In case you haven?t been tracking these things, Coke has both bases covered: Diet Coke appeals to women and Coke Zero appeals to men.

FoodNavigator?s Caroline Scott-Thomas is devastating in her critique of this strategy.? The ?it?s not for women? campaign excludes half the market.

Not only that, she says, but the ad is:

patronizing to both men and women in its reinforcement of what I had (perhaps naively) hoped were outdated stereotypes?.It deliberately picks at the edges of our comfort zones.? Is it OK to be sexist if it?s done with irony??Provocation is a blunt instrument.? It may prove effective for sales?perhaps as effective as sexually explicit marketing?but it is still crude and obtuse.?

Finally, she asks: ?Would this ad be offensive if it involved a bunch of redneck clich?s and proclaimed ?it?s not for blacks??? You bet it would.?

In this era of food overabundance, marketers will do anything?anything?to sell products.? Water, anyone?

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2012/02/annals-of-food-marketing-are-dr-pepper-ads-sexist/

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