Women and Philosophy: Commercials

Dr. Pepper anti-women campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iuG1OpnHP8

Watch the commercial before reading this. Can any of you believe this? Well actually, I can since I hate the media and advertizing but this is a bit too far. I commented on this commercial on YouTube already and what I will say here will be slightly similar. First off, you (Dr. Pepper) are trying to market a product that, thanks to already unfounded stupid gender stereotypes about men, would not normally sell to a male audience since real men eat and drink what they like and do not give a damn about their health or physical appearance. However, I would expect this more of an older commercial since we as a society have been breaking down these gender barriers and stereotypes slowly but surely over the last several decades. It is now becoming more “acceptable” for men to try to be healthier mainly in their diet since the gay-rights movements as well as the metro-sexual movement it should not matter as much. I am going off on a tangent here but only because this commercial pissed me off so much. I understand that most “light” beverages are typically marketed towards women and that Dr. Pepper is trying to tell men that this is not true about this product. However, when those sodas started gaining popularity in the early 80’s, men drank them also, Tab is a great example. I can think of a film example of this in the case of Marty McFly from Back to the Future drinking his Tab. This movement of corporations to try to get their products to be used by all is gone about in the wrong way. Take Dove soap for example. Dove claims to be the leading soap in the area of moisturizing and repairing skin. Now typically rugged outdoor manly men are men to be rough and callous yet the recent Dove For Men commercials convince men they should take care of their skin if not for themselves then at least for their female friends sake and as corporate America still assumes the best way to a man’s pocket is thru his penis. And even though Dove For Men is the exact same soap as the regular except for the box saying men and being grey rather than white, at least these commercials don’t exclude women from buying their product. It may say “men” on the box but never “not for women”. Are the CEO’s of Dr. Pepper that stupid? To tell more than 50 percent of the population of the world that they are not allowed to consume this product? How the hell is that supposed to give them more sales? You heard it the commercial says clearly “ladies this drink is not for you” This commercial’s theme is also an insult. It may be true that most Action films are marketed towards men, the best example of which is Crank which is a terrible movie comprised mostly of large loud explosions and lots of breasts, but that doesn’t mean “the ladies” as the commercial puts it, are not allowed to watch them. True they may not be expected to watch them, but they can do as they wish since they are equal to men. Furthermore, I know several girls who love the Indiana Jones films, which are considered action and these girls range from very feminine to very masculine proving the commercial wrong. I guess the commercial would also so a man cannot enjoy a romance. Well just for the record I own both “manly movies” like Saving Private Ryan and Gran Torino but I also own P.S I Love You and Definitely, Maybe.

I also request that each member of the class who reads this after watching the commercial write an email to Dr Pepper telling them you refuse to purchase any of their precuts or products from affiliated companies until they agree to cease airing this commercial because if enough people do this, they will become concerned about their bottom line. I know it is “just a commercial” and I know it is meant to be a joke but if we don’t take it seriously, all it does is perpetuate untrue stereotypes and clichés that have no biological base.

I would also like to take a look at a commercial that is also a bit extreme but is now focused on women.

Summer’s Eve: Hail to the V: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxW_ZCd64tg

On a lighter note, this commercial is funny and witty but it also goes a little too far. People did not worship Cleopatra’s vagina or even worship her because she had a vagina. Also, if this commercial were fully right, then there would have been more queendoms and less kingdoms--more matriarchies and less patriarchies. I do like this commercial however even though it is saying the only thing men want and care about is sex, and therefore this commercial also perpetuates negative gender stereotypes. At least is doesn’t really exclude or damn women. In fact, this commercial is way more suited for saying this product is not for the opposite sex at all since the product being marketed is for vagina’s and so it would have made more sense for this commercial to use the Dr. Pepper model and say “guy’s, this cream is not for you”. I would like to make it clear that my problem with this commercial is really only that it is too silly and goes a bit too far but I do like it and it really doesn’t do much harm to men or women.