Sexist Soda?

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Okay so I know this commercial is like a month old but I just saw it today and while I wasn't really paying attention to it the first time, My ear automatically tuned in when I thought I heard this coming from the TV:
"Not for women"
I saw the add again and I couldn't believe what I was watching:
www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/…

:wtf:

Okay so yeah yeah it's sarcasm and satirical and yada-yada, but here's my dealio...

What if a company that had a lot of minority drinkers and not a whole lot of majority drinkers made a soda commercial that showed a white guy playing golf and saying "you can keep your welfare checks and kool-aid, we're good." and said at the end of the commercial "Not for Blacks" or "Not for Hispanics"...

hmm... how would you feel about that?

And then that same company goes and makes a facebook page that only lets white people join and play games where you aim golf shots at tricked-out Ford Crown Victorians with spinning rims and taco shops and fried chicken Restaurants Complete with a list of "white people commandments"

Oh! but it's just a joke. Haha. So that makes it okay.
???
:sarcasm:NO.
But that doesn't seem to matter when it comes to the majority/minority relationship between men and women, because that is exactly what Dr. P has done. Yes, they have actually made a facebook page where only men can "like" it and play games where you shoot "girly" things like pink bows and purses, complete with a list of "Man'ments."

Personally, If I were a man I would be insulted by the intent of manipulation, and that Dr. P seems to think that the only way to get men to drink their drink is to exclude women. It shows what they really think of men: that they're just a bunch of aggressive beasts who like guns. Is this true? Of course not. But why else would they use these stereotypes for a commercial aimed at men? When companies target women, they may say it's for women, but they do NOT say "NOT FOR MEN." Is it because they know the majority of women do not need to feel as though they are better than anyone in order to be persuaded to buy something? Or is it because women are the minority and therefore the company feels they don't need to because only women care about "women stuff"? Sadly the latter statement isn't generally far from the truth.

My speculation is, even if they did include that line in women's ads, men probably wouldn't care because who would want to be a woman, right? believe it or not this is real and I have heard men say this. Same goes for the white attitude towards minorities in the example I gave. No one would DARE make an ad like that example, which shows that racism is obviously not accepted at all what-so-ever in the mainstream, but apparently sexism still is to some degree. The fact is there ARE people who really do feel that way, and while some may not take it seriously, there ARE people who are sexist or racist bigots, and ads like that only feed their egos. There are a lot of other funny ways to make a commercial that does not utilize erroneously offensive material that excludes a certain group of people, so why this? They were trying a certain tactic but it's clear that not enough thought went into making it. It's just bad advertising in my opinion.

The only way this kind of comedy can ever be totally acceptable is when everyone in the entire world understands that the erroneous claims are not entirely true and no one is racist or sexist, and therefore able to laugh at the once believed claims and hilarity of it. But in this day and age (yes still), that is not the case and until that day comes, I would consider it inappropriate.

But perhaps this is just a joke meant to use reverse psychology on women? Since the commando in the commercial deliberately says "Catchphrase:" right before saying that it's not for women. But if that's true then why would they make this ad in response to data showing that men tend to shy away from drinks that are diet? Were they hoping to draw in both crowds?

Is the company sexist? Probably not, but they should really re-think there marketing tactics. It only goes to show that they would rather risk the integrity of their company for the sake of profit.

What do you think? Especially if you think there's nothing wrong with the ad, then I would love to hear your take.  

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Writingtotheflames's avatar
I totally agree with you, when I saw it, I was like "Those sexist b*****ds!". But you know what, I'LL DRINK THAT DAMN SODA IF I WANT TOO! Who's going to stop me? Buahhahahahahaha! LMAO!