As an avid Diet Dr. Pepper consumer, I have to ask why Dr. Pepper would create such a polarizing ad? The polarizing nature of this ad is not that the ad is targeted at men. There are plenty of products that are meant for men including razors, clothing, sporting goods etc. However, never have I seen a commercial that blatantly stats "Not for women."
This is offensive for many reasons. This is not a masculine running shoe, a razor specified to your face or a cologne - it is a soft drink. Soda, regular and diet, is consumed by both men and women. This soda is targeted for men because it only has 10 calories. Diet soda that does not taste like diet soda is commonly targeted to a male audience. For instance, Coca-Cola's Coke Zero line of soda is arguably targeted for a male audience. Compare their commercial to Dr. Pepper Ten's commercial:
Coke Zero will appeal to men without offending women. While diet soda that doesn't taste like diet soda may appeal more to men than to women, why would you risk alienating potential consumers of your product? There is a very large contingent of women who drink regular soda, and would probably appreciate a diet soda that tastes like regular soda. However, if I were a woman I wouldn't go within a ten foot pole of Dr. Pepper Ten. Not only should women boycott buying Dr. Pepper Ten, but men should boycott it as well. Why would you support a non-gender specific product that is sexist? It's offensive, it's sexist and it's further evidence of the stereotypes of men and women in the media.
I think the best point here is skirted (no pun intended) around: The ad's really not degrading to women, it's degrading to men. But ultimately (and I realize my own hypocritical upcoming paragraphs), I think feminist-types talking about this campaign is in a way more detrimental than it existing. Think of it this way, too: Why on God's green Earth would Herman Cain promote an ad featuring his campaign manager smoking? Because any press is good press. In all due respect, I feel that the uproar fueled by well-intentioned women against this blatant satire is anything but productive in the face of the real, every day, tiny-but-hurtful ways gender inequity really damages women and men. It reminds me of the difficulty I and many in my cohort have with the label "feminist" -- part of it is the genuine bad press that comes from too much screaming on the bold, little things like flash-in-the-pan ad campaigns, not enough on the quiet, little things that add up to real harm in our lives. Perhaps this isn't an argument that most or even many gender-issues-concerned people would agree with -- the idea that one person's discrimination is every person's discrimination. But I stand by it because I just don't believe that's how it works. I'm not blind to all media's need and hunger for sensationalism, I'd just still rather talk about women's 77 cents to men's dollar. Diet soda is just so not even near my radar of gender politics priorities.
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