Not for Women

When I think of adds, I usually think about who they are marketing to. Usually adds try to target so many diverse groups: women, men, children, and families alike. As I was thinking about what to post for this new blog, I couldn't come up with anything interesting; it seemed to me that everything interesting had already been used. So I started going through adds, as I was talking with my sister back home in LA. Just as we were talking an add came on her television in Spanish from Miller Lite about a man regaining his manhood. It had been a while since I heard or saw an add like that, usually I don't pay much attention to them, then I remembered an add that came out last year that really struck a cord with me; the Dr. Pepper TEN add.

Usually Dr.Pepper, like most marketing companies, try to appeal to the general public, yet in this "new" add, they were only trying to appeal to the men who were being allegedly subjected by their girlfriends or wives to act in a feminine/express your feelings sort of way. The first time I saw this add, the first question that popped into my head was why? Why are they gearing this add to men only? No answer came to me then, and still no answer comes to me now. The add itself is full of condensation, generalization, passive aggressiveness, and of course, stereotypes. Nothing could upset me more than being stereotyped as someone who likes "romantic comedies and lady drinks" as the add put it. I fit neither of those categories, I like a good action film and I certainly don't drink any lady drinks; so why were they trying to make me feel as though I belonged in said category. Creating a separation among the sexes is going back to the days when male domination was supreme. Have women really become the dominant figure in our society that adds like these need to be created so that the male ego isn't extremely wounded? If this was the main idea behind this add and all those similar to it, than marketers need to find something new to attract their consumers with because this is beyond offensive. Men do not need any help regaining their masculinity because they haven't lost it. Being sensitive, watching your weight, even your hygiene is not tapping into your sensitive side, it's called taking care of yourself. Women are not your enemy, as this add is making it seem, we can both coexist in this world without being threatened by the other. Haven't we done so already? We are trying to create a world were there are no separations, however marginal, between people; thus nothing positive could come from this add. People need to grow up and realize that marketing to encourage male supremacy is a thing of the past. It would be a wonderful thing if for once I turned on the television and saw a positive add come on screen; wouldn't it?