I was watching football on Sunday when a commercial came on that really got my attention, but not in a good way like those delightful Geico ads with the British lizard. (Isn’t he just a treat!?!) It was for Dr Pepper’s newest drink, Dr Pepper Ten, which is a 10-calorie version of their classic soda. This latest product, though, is targeted only to men, with the offensive slogan of “It’s not for women.” I just couldn’t wrap my head around an ad campaign that was specifically targeting a market to say, you can’t have this. Obviously, I’m no dummy. I know that they are pandering for negative attention to help promote their oh-so-manly diet soda. And by writing this, I might even be playing right into their hands. But it’s worth it to hopefully convince people that maybe they don’t need to support a company that’s so blase about basically saying, “Yeah, women are the worst!” But I guess more power to you, Dr Pepper. Keep striving to break through that glass ceiling that’s been holding men back for centuries!
Now, before I continue this rant against one of the most sexist campaigns I’ve laid eyes on, I’d like to address some concerns the readers might have about me as they peruse this article. No, I was not dumped recently, it’s not that time of the month, I’m not listening to Ani DiFranco, I didn’t get passed over for a promotion for a less qualified man, I’m not on a juice fast and I don’t need a hug. I’m just a woman who is very upset by a company that is going out of its way to put females down in order to sell a product. A product, by the way, that claims to be uber-masculine because it’s not diet. Apparently, ten calories is all it takes to make this drink suitable for the toughest of dudes. Because nothing screams ‘manly men’ like limiting your caloric intake.
The commercial (which can be seen on their website) starts off as if you’re watching an action film. The ‘hero’ says, “Hey ladies, enjoying the film? Of course not – because this is our movie!” It then ends with, “So you can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks, we’re good.” So, I suppose the whole point of this thing is for men to see that they can have something that is just for them. Isn’t that what scratching your junk in public is for? This brilliant advertising campaign reaches beyond television, with their smug Facebook page, which also claims to be for men only. “Welcome gentlemen, to the manliest tab of Facebook. A lady-free zone of rugged, macho, hair-on-your-chest awesomeness that’s definitely not for women.” All that machismo AND only ten calories? I stand corrected.
Dr Pepper isn’t the first beverage to target itself toward a specific gender and it certainly won’t be the last. There are plenty of energy drinks, among others, that are in pink cans and claim to be beneficial to women in some way, and I’m not a big fan of those either (although the pink tabs from the can make such adorable earrings). However, I’ve never seen a single ad for any of those beverages that put men down and play into ridiculous stereotypes (and there are plenty) in order to sell their product. I feel like as the parent company, the Dr Pepper Snapple Group should work a little harder to be creative without insult, not just watch old episodes of VH1’s The Pickup Artist and call it an ad campaign. If they were targeting their brand to a specific ethnicity, would they use racist slurs against another ethnicity to do it? Probably not. So why is this okay?
I get that the point of advertising is to try and to speak to a specific audience. Men don’t like the idea of drinking a diet soda? Fine by me, but come on. I think the execs at Big Soda who came up with this one could have tried a little harder. I also understand that part of their advertising campaign is to rile people like me. I acknowledge that by addressing this issue I’m giving them free publicity, but it needs to be addressed. Maybe it’s the worst kind of negging though. Maybe they want me to see that ad, and say, “Hey! I’m a woman and I’m offended. I can enjoy that soda as much as any man can. Just let them try and stop me!” Well, they can keep their ten-calorie testosterone driven soda. Water is my drink of choice anyway. Good, old-fashioned, non-sexist water.
Photo via Forbes.com
Agreed. I honestly couldn’t believe it when I saw this commercial – if nothing else, it’s a really bad marketing strategy. Way to eliminate half of your potential market straight off! I mean, a Dr. Pepper that’s only 10 calories with great taste? I’d love that! Except now I absolutely refuse to buy this soda as a matter of principle, and I assure them that I can find other types to drink which will be just as satisfying with less offensive marketing strategies.
i laughed at the commercial :/ i mean, it’s awful, so cheesily bad that i think its funny. i’m not offended by it, and i’ll still drink dr pepper. to each their own!
A good friend of mine works for a large ad company that produces and scripts ads like these. I showed her the ad, and her response was “this product is obviously marketed towards women”. I agree, as there’s nothing in the ad that would actually appeal to a man.
I would argue there’s nothing sexist about this (no more sexist than “strong enough for a man, but ph balanced for a woman” is) as there is no power-play taking place.
That is literally one of the stupidest marketing techniques ever. I feel like I am going to be less likely to try to get something I “can’t have” because it’s “only for men” because it is an offensive slogan. Imagine if it were to say “Not for *Insert race here*’s”. That would be offensive to that group and there would most likely be a fight trying to ban it. So why are we going to allow them to use such a sexist ad on television. I’d rather not have men going “You can’t drink this!” I think this marketing technique needs to be thought out better.
oh and stevia soda taste like my arm pit sweat
Well… I liked this website until now. ^^^^^^sharon is misinformed its NOT a diet cola but a lower calorie soda. and as far as the commercial being pathetic yall have a $h@t load more products that are women only. what if one day i eat like 60 bently hot wings from my local hooters and it results in an embarrassing burning and odor i would love a medicated wipe for such a time but no all you women keep the things for your self. shame on you!
The commercial is pathetic, and after reading the ingredients listing I say let the idiots who buy it enjoy it all on their own. 2nd listed ingredient is HFCS. In a diet soda. Aspartame is in there too, just like their regular Diet Dr Pepper, but HFCS is unnecessary in diet anything. And quite frankly, I want to see more companies start using truvia/stevia in diet sodas.
I havent seen the ad yet (we dont have cable) but I had seen an online ad around and thought it was ridiculous. Why couldn’t they use the slogan, “Its for Men” or something, instead of, “its not for women”. Thats just absurd. And I especially agree with the point that if they were marketing to a certain ethnicity they would NEVER be allowed to slur other ethnicities in this day and age. This is just wrong.
We have the above campaigns in the UK too. One was for this uh-mazing chocolate bar, when I saw the advert it didn’t create much of an impression on me at first. However, when I went to my local shop for a much needed dose of ‘woe is me’ chocolate I stumbled across the said chocolate bar called Yorkie.
I was instantly offended by the ‘O’ in the title, it had a woman inside with a red cross over beneath stating “NOT FOR GIRLS”. I just picked up that chocolate marched to the till just WAITING for the assistant to give me a look of disapproval. Even if his eyes lingered for a millisecond too long or made any mouth movements to indicate a frown, I would’ve, without hesitation gone Jackie Chan on his ass.
I feel your anger though and yeah, I probably played right to their hands too.. Great post!
Plus, Dr Pepper tastes like fluoride anyway.
Thank you for writing this! I was absolutely appalled when I first saw these commercials. And disgusted to hear that Dr Pepper and Snapple are partners because I’m obsessed with Snapple. Ah, well. They’re not getting any more of my money. Really, someone tell me, is it 1950 again?
That stupid commercial re-affirms why I choose to drink delicious Mr. Pibb!!
That ad is completely offensive. It’s not funny in the least. The company is probably getting a lot of flak for this and for the “manly” campaign. I hope they pull the ad.
My mouth literally fell open when I saw this commercial and its tagline for the first time. I couldn’t believe that we are in the 21st century and something like this is being broadcasted on television. It’s offensive and not funny and I’m glad you took time to write about it.
Diabetic men, of course, Just Don’t Exist.
I think they are just trying to have fun and ruffle some feathers. It’s silly. Of course you can buy it if you want, just a sales ploy. As a woman, I am not offended by this. Plus my boyfriend got me some the other day before seeing these ads because I love dr. pepper and this product tastes like butt anyways.
i think this ad is equally sexist to both genders…who’s to say all men like scifi/action movies? and that they’re even watching this sports game to see the ad for that matter? not all men are embarrassed that they don’t want to OD on sugar every time they have a beverage. i think (hope) that dr. pepper is using this hyperbole in a kind of joking way, but it still seems ridiculous.
I thought the actual commercial was pretty funny (in the style of “Real Men of Genius”) but then it got to the catchphrase. I don’t think that’s ok. I also don’t think it’s cool that they created a Facebook app that excludes women from viewing certain content. I’m definitely not buying Dr. Pepper anymore, there are sodas that don’t go flat as fast and aren’t as blatantly sexist.
I haven’t seen this ad yet, and I don’t really want to. I’m still weirded out about Weight Watchers for Men. I understand that certain products have appealed more to one gender than another without any fault of the company and they need to find a way to combat that, but does Weight Watchers really need a whole separate thing for men? I can see that these 0-10 calorie drinks have gravitated towards more women than men and Dr. Pepper wants to balance that, but they definitely took it to an extreme. Didn’t buy their product before, definitely won’t buy it now. Their loss, because I love me some soda.
I was also super annoyed by this ad. I love Dr. Pepper. The diet version is definitely my soda of choice. So when I saw the ad for this drink, I was offended, and I’m not offended easily. I know it is stereotypical to assume men don’t like diet sodas or, at least, don’t want to drink them because it says something about their manliness, and the ad is trying to kind of make fun of that while also giving men a supposedly manlier option of 10 calories v.s. 0 calories. But they didn’t have to put down women in the process. The ad would have been much funnier if it had left out all of the negative comments about women and focused instead on the illogical choice men make to drink 30g of sugar instead of 0 just so they aren’t made fun of by their friends. It’s kind of offensive to men too, though – if they really want to show their power, they would drink whatever they want, diet or otherwise, without caring about what anyone else thinks. My boyfriend always gets diet whether his friends are there or not.