Beginning on October 10th, 2011, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group began their television ad campaign for their new product, Dr. Pepper 10. What started out as advertising for a more "manly" diet soda turned into a controversy concerning sexism. The tag-line for this new product reads "Dr.Pepper 10, It's not for women". Besides the slogan, viewers are also upset about the stereotypical inferences contained in the actual commercial. The short video depicts several men in the process of shooting lasers and doing other action-oriented things. During these visuals, one man makes the statement, "Hey ladies, enjoying the film? Of course not! Because this is our movie." Those who have been offended by the commercial argue that it reinforces the old-fashioned stereotype that women do not enjoy action, danger, or anything "masculine".
Just on the basis of this commercial, it is easy to counter argue that the makers of Dr. Pepper 10 have no intention to be sexist, but are rather just employing clever advertising techniques in order to appeal to men (who statistically shy away from diet soda). However, the issue goes past this particular television commercial. Dr. Pepper 10 also has a Facebook page which cannot be accessed if you identify as "female" on your profile. Anita Lederer with the National Organization for Women makes some especially interesting points concerning this controversy and actually visited the Facebook page through the use of a male friend's profile. She reports that the profile consists of even more "sexist nonsense" including a shooting gallery game where the targets are feminine objects such as lipstick and high-heeled shoes. To see her entire article on Dr. Pepper 10, visit http://tinyurl.com/6o43pcm.
So what do you think? Is the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group simply utilizing unique targeted advertising approaches or should we be offended by their sexist message? Obviously there has not been enough of an uproar to take the commercial off the air or ban the Facebook page. However, there is a petition going around to express your anger with the commercial. If you would like to see the actual commercial in question (and I hope that after reading this, you do!) then please visit http://tinyurl.com/6aubske.
I have been complaining about this commercial for a while now and had wondered if it had gotten any bad publicity. I never thought it was that bad that their Facebook page doesn't allow access to females! I understood the clever campaign style, however, do their target audience realize this or do they enjoy the misogynist message?
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