The Dr. Pepper Snapple Group has recently launched an ad campaign to market a new iteration of Dr. Pepper for the health conscious American man. Dr. Pepper 10 is a ten-calorie beverage produced for those looking for a healthier alternative to the sugary, full-calorie Dr. Pepper, but find the Diet Dr. Pepper to be too “girly.” The international soft drink industry grosses $74 billion, but has started to slow as more and more consumers are turning to healthier options such as juice and water. Sales of sugary soft drinks have fallen dramatically in recent years, but the attempt to produce diet sodas has fallen short as the sugar-free drinks cannot match the taste of their full-bodied counterparts. Dr. Pepper is exploring a new niche in the market by offering a low calorie soda as opposed to a no calorie drink, trying to satisfy consumers with a sweet tooth and a New Year’s resolution.
While the Dr. Pepper Snapple group is a global force in the market, they have chosen to produce an advertisement targeted specifically at the young American man. The commercial shows a scene from a stereotypical American action film with a clean-cut, no-nonsense hero presenting this new manly soda for one to drink while maintaining masculinity. Even if this commercial had been aired in other countries it is still directed at teenagers. Teenagers in other countries are mostly exposed to American action films and just like those teens in America, they aspire to be the next James Bond. Dr. Pepper Ten however, omits the elderly and other races.
Various details can prove the target to American men. At the beginning of the commercial, the American man strikes back at a snake with his arm, showing his powerful and manly behavior. Then he easily escapes from gun fire and jumps into a car. In the end, the secret of his strength is revealed. The power from Dr. Pepper Ten, a new product designed for men with 10 calories. The Dr. Pepper Ten also “helps” him to stop enemies by virtue of blocking the way. The powerful man in the commercial is featured with muscle, guns and Dr. Pepper Ten to attract men who want to be strong like them.
The Dr. Pepper advertisement not only targets men, but also women. Many women have created Facebook pages and written articles in order to spur reactions to this “sexist” commercial. In the beginning lines of the commercial, the main character directly addresses woman by saying, “Hey Ladies, “ and then rapidly dismisses them by turning his back and yelling, “of course not!” Women take no part in the commercial and would not because of the largely held stereotype played upon in this commercial; Ten calories are too many calories for women, as they are responsible for maintaining a thin and sexy look. If this commercial had not characterized Dr. Pepper as being for an active, adventurous man however, Dr. Pepper Ten would have largely and solely appealed to women. In addition, in a world that is mostly run by women, although indirectly, Dr. Pepper ten shows the power of man. This idea creates tension as to who are the real leaders of the world and controversial questions as to what qualities are best exemplified by what genders.
Another effect of the Dr. Pepper Ten commercial brings is its remarkability, everyone who has seen this commercial remembers this product. This “Not For Women” commercial does a wonderful marketing job. The most successful thing about this commercial is the controversy of the content. Because of this, teenagers talk about this problem frequently. Since more and more people hear about the ad, people are more likely to purchase Dr. Pepper Ten. When people are in the store, they would say, “Oh, I remember that commercial, why don’t I try it?” Then, they will end up buying Dr. Pepper Ten. What this commercial really does is put the product in mind of the new consumer, a feat this advertisement does very well.
After watching the commercial, I agree with the sexism that it brings forward. Like Yao said, it is focused only on men and pushing the ladies aside to try and capture the male audience of probably around 8-50. A time period where guys are just started to get into Star Wars, to the age where they want to feel young and crazy again. Anyone who has had a younger or older brother knows this. They like video games, bloody movies, SYFY and scary books. As a girl I enjoy some of the same things, but also like shopping, getting my nails done, chick-flicks and all the basic things that many guys hate, however some enjoy. Yet, as a female member of society I fail to feel "hurt" by this commercial. Their are plenty of commercials that focus only on women and obviously cut out men, this Dr. Pepper commercial just did it in a way that was blunt, but funny. If a woman is watching it and laughs a bit she may go out and try it then instead of posting about how sexist it is. So, even though it is quickly and in a large way accurately sexist, it manages to target the men and women who find the commercial funny and adventure movies thrilling.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is in my opinion very convincing of the new Dr. Pepper 10. I feel that they way that they conveyed their commercial to a jungle scene and the fact that they are saying that the drink is very manly makes some people want to go out and drink it. However, it excludes woman. They occasionally mention woman, but they have negative connotations towards woman. In today’s society I don’t think that is the right thing to do. I understand that Dr. Pepper is trying to be bold and make more people to try their product and make it seem less girly, but they could have done it in a more polite way. I feel that this there was a better way to go about the whole situation. Overall this commercial catches the attention of the viewer and that’s the main goal for any company that’s making a commercial.
ReplyDeleteDr. Pepper is one of the first companies that is going out and working with the cutting edge technology. I believe that what they are doing is a good thing because many people who drink Diet pops are judged. If a man is seen drinking a diet pop many of the people would say that he is trying to lose weight, or that he is a homosexual. That is just a common stereo type. Dr. Pepper is trying to reverse that common stereo type by making a drink with real sugar but a few calories that still satisfies the taster of regular pop with little to none calories. The commercial makes this opposite stereo –type relationship by having the commercial shot in the jungle and only men in the commercial.
It's gentle to comment this commercial as man-oriented. The phrases in this commercial like "This movie is not for you!" "It's what guys want!" "It's not for women." can be certainly called "sexist" because it is not only shows the man-power but it stresses "not for women" which turns down all woman consumers. I think it's also sort of making fun of women for being so sensitive with their body image and so harsh to their diet that they wouldn't even tolerate 10 calories.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from economic perspective, this could be a successful commercial. As we all understand that women are the main consumer of diet soda, and there are already kinds of diet soda in the market. One good thing is Dr. Pepper has realized that men also want a healthy diet and the market do need a new diet beverage to satisfy men for both health and masculinity. I think Dr. Pepper is quite clever because they have a clear vision of the target consumer and they do the commercial in a straightforward way. The characters, the game, the car, the motorcycles, the laser guns, all of these indicate that both commercial and product are just for men and yes, it absolutely will be attractive to men. Also I agree with you that the commercial is successfully drawing public attention by causing the controversy.
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ReplyDeleteIt is apparent that this commercial uses gender stereotype as a mean to target a certain group of consumers. The targeted consumers, like what is written in this post, are teenagers and especially males. In my point of view, although the commercial projects its product as 'not for women', the overall presentation of the commercial somehow attracts the females' attention the most. Firstly, only males are involved in the commercial. In addition to that, the hero in it is featured as masculine,strong,smart, and heroic. It is a common strategy to use an opposite gender character in a commercial to attract targeted consumers.Secondly, throughout the commercial, the main character is actually engaging in direct conversation with the females audiences.The hero is telling women that the products is for men but not for women. The technique of catching the attention of women through the conversation is overt but it seems controversial as the product is claimed as 'not for women' by the hero.I personally think that this controversial part is however sensible because the commercial is targeting female consumers as well. Its main market is for the males but at the same time it tries to include female consumers. So how does that work? By explicitly noting the product as 'not for women', it somehow spurs the curiosity of women to try the new product that is not meant for them but does not bring much harm by just giving a try. Besides, even though females are not the main target for the product, there is big possibility that they are those who purchase or recommend the products for guys since the advertisement is attention-catching to them. So in short, this commercial that seems to be excluding the female consumers is actually trying to include them as buyers and consumers.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I find it very interesting how diet drinks with zero calories, zero sugar and other promotions like that are “supposed” to appeal mainly to females. It is definitely showing how we as a society put more pressure on females to be weight conscious than males. This product is unique as it is trying to appeal to male audience. I found it interesting how this group mentioned how this drink’s audience is white American teenage boys and “Ten however, omits the elderly and other races.” I personally would not agree with that statement as I believe that many societies young generations around the world are being introduced to globalization through the internet. I think the desire to westernize is still a major aspect of non-western societies. Therefore if this product was available in other nations and this exact commercial aired there, I still believe that there would be a high market for Dr. Pepper. I do agree that the elderly are not at all a target audience though.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the last statement that if one has watched this commercial, they will want to buy the product because of the memorable commercial. A commercial which appears to humor always gets me to talk about it and then show other people who show other people. The number of people getting informed about this new product is getting multiplied by the minute do to social media such as Facebook.
Dr. Pepper uses an extremely interesting sales technique for their newest soft drink, Dr. Pepper Ten. Most companies would not limit their target audience of a product. Most companies want their products to seem universal and necessary for everyone. Dr. Pepper ignores this and designs an advertisement targeted only to young men. “It’s not for women,” is their coined slogan. Based on this post’s argument, Dr. Pepper believes that the 10 calories in Dr. Pepper Ten is too much for women and they should be drinking the zero sugar, zero calorie, diet drinks. I most definitely disagree with Dr. Pepper’s reasoning for excluding women in their target audience. Yes, women are under extreme pressure every day to be beautiful and thin. However, a drink with great taste and only ten calories would most definitely appeal to women. I think Dr. Pepper made a mistake in only catering to men with this commercial.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this commercial is nothing if it’s not memorable. And this is the purpose of advertisement. Whether one view’s it positively or negatively, it is still on their mind. This is what makes a commercial a success. If people are commenting and talking about a product, the commercial did its job. Based on this commercial, I believe men love it, women despise it, but Dr. Pepper got our attention with Dr. Pepper Ten.
While this commercial does highlight the difference between men and woman, I don't believe that this is meant to bring forth sexism in the advertisement world, or as a response to sexism. The drink is clearly targeted toward men, but that doesn't make it sexist in itself. As Brenna pointed out, there are many commercials marketed solely towards woman, which a man would have no interest in, but not necessarily sexist. While this commercial is blatant in its target audience, that doesn't make it sexist.
ReplyDeleteI also take issue with the statement "In addition, in a world that is mostly run by women, although indirectly, Dr. Pepper ten shows the power of man. This idea creates tension as to who are the real leaders of the world and controversial questions as to what qualities are best exemplified by what genders." While men in society today may feel threatened by woman more and more, I would not say woman mostly run the world. Out of 192 Countries in the UN, only 14 are run by Female Heads of State (http://bit.ly/56zJVB), and there are only 12 Female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (http://cnnmon.ie/mtv9J5). While society may be more aware of female issues and equality that does not mean that they are running the world in any form of real power.
I find it very striking that Dr. Pepper would choose to eliminate almost 50% of their possible audience with this commercial, but it seems to me that Dr. Pepper only would have done this after some serious market studies that showed the product mostly appealed to men in the first place. A large company like Dr. Pepper would not choose to completely eliminate a significantly large market base because that would hurt profits in the long run. While it's true that this commercial actively tries to eliminate the female market base, it also does it's primary job which is to make the product memorable. Finally, I would also like to disagree with the statement, "In addition, in a world that is mostly run by women, although indirectly, Dr. Pepper ten shows the power of man." While it is true that women are definitely gaining a voice in global politics and business, it has not yet gotten to the point where women are significantly represented globally in either of these fields.
ReplyDeleteDr. Pepper takes a very unique stance with this commercial in completely excluding women from their target audience. This is mainly a result of women being the majority of the market already for diet sodas, while the male audience remains mostly untapped. With phrases like "This is our movie" and "It's not for women", it is clear that this commercial is banking on the fact that women already buy enough of their products. The commercial is trying to tell men that it is still "manly" to drink a diet soda in order to open the door for a new customer base. Although the commercial clearly uses some sexist remarks, it does so in a whimsical, frivolous manner in order to avoid turning off the women customers that they already have. It is a low risk high reward kind of advertising where they don't risk losing many customers, but if they can successfully tap the male audience the dividends could be huge.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the commercial, there are several blatant features that can easily be argued as sexist, however i do not think that Dr. Pepper Ten has any sexist or exclusive intentions. Rather than being directly sexist, Dr. Pepper uses the word "women" as a term to describe the attitude of people in general, both men and women. Characterizing an individual as a "woman" is not exclusive to only women, but can be attributed to anyone. The term is based on the stereotype that women are not as brave or strong as men, and it should be considered that saying "not for women" does not literally mean that women should not drink Dr. Pepper Ten but rather is presenting an attitude and image for the product.
ReplyDeleteDr. Pepper, in my opinion, has chosen an odd marketing strategy in this commercial. I can't see why they would want to limit who would be buying this product, as profits come from getting as many sales as they can. As the group states, it seems that it may have worked, being sexist, in that there is a lot of controversy by women who think this blatant sexism is wrong. Beyond this I don't find that many of the other elements of this commercial work as driving factors to buy the product, just to heighten the already obvious sexism. The commercial wants the men to believe that by drinking Dr. Pepper 10 that it's somehow just a healthier product rather than "diet soda" women drink on diets. On a whole I believe this is the whole point. Men don't buy diet soda because it's for those on diets, so they remake the product but re-brand it, removing the diet from the name, and sell it as something for men.
ReplyDeleteAs was mentioned several times so far, the fact that any company would target just males for an inherently gender neutral product definitely amazed me the first time I saw this ad. Without analyzing the actual effectiveness of the commercial, it seems like Dr. Pepper would drastically limit the scope of its target audience, but in actuality, the audience of both genders would have their curiosity piqued by such a message.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting point that has come up in the above discussion is the stereotype that diet pop targets female audiences. Personally, if I were to walk down the street and see a guy drinking a pop, the calorie content of his soda would not make me characterize the man as more or less masculine.
I think that this commercial definitely did its job and full-filled its agenda of catching the audience. In my own personal opinion, I think that making food and beverages gender-based is ridiculous, but nevertheless companies have to target specific groups of people in order to make a rise in sales. I think the advertisement was clever and eye catching by targeting men in an advertisement for a low calorie soda, because as stated many men like to refrain from "diet" beverages because of the presumed feminine quality they contain. So I think the logic behind this commercial, while it may be offensive to some, is pretty satisfactory. This product is in the same category as "Pepsi Max" and "Coke Zero" that contain little to no calories all the while avoiding the "diet" brand given to many beverages.
ReplyDeleteDr. Pepper really stresses out its target market which is men only as it is mentioned in "this is our movie" and "it's not for women". I find this kinda sexist as it excludes women and odd as company usually targets its market to a broad scope of audience, yet Dr. Pepper reduce the target audience of its products by half. However, this risky action in choosing the kind of product to sell has turned into a great work as it has lesser competitors in this field that can lead into greater chance of sales. We can see that there are many diet products for women already.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement that people will remember this commercial, especially for men. Seeing this ad, men may think that this product is specially invented for them and they want to be like one in the ad. The ten calories may attract them as men nowadays want to be strong and muscular. Therefore, they will be interested in buying the product.
This commercial does portray its sexist side. Dr.Pepper is not drink for men only. To be precise, it is not a men product. For instance, if is a men product like Gillette Razor, the stereotype of audience targeting on men is reasonable. But a drink like Dr.Pepper does not vary its preference according to gender. Secondly,women are more weight conscious than men and of course, calories is one of the main element to be concerned while purchasing a drink or food. However, this product main target is on men only despite the last phrase of the commercial, its not for women. On another point of view, because women are more concerned on their diet and health conscious, it is reasonable that whatever carbonated drink, nevertheless the low calories ones like this, will not attract their attention in anyways. All in all, I think this commercial will attract both genders despite its not for women phrase because the purpose of the drink is to gain energy in a healthier way.
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ReplyDeleteI think commercial maker of Dr, Pepper misunderstood of concept of diet or healty product. As mentioned above, Dr, pepper launched new product to cater to customers who are willing to find healthy product and beverage. That does not necessarily mean that new male customers concerned with healthy beverage want to be masculine even though they would be shy away from being considered as feminine. Then, they could have stressed out the healthiness as merit favored by all gender in the product rather than intentionally excluded women customers offensively to shatter the perception that diet pop is for women. Even if it succeeds in making buzz with controversy over sexism, it can hurt the potential brand value in the long run.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial uses the odd strategy to gain the eyes of customers. Although they may be offensive to some, but it is still quite benefit to Dr pepper. Because it attract both genders by using a very good reason, which is healthy.
ReplyDeleteThe commercial advertisement of Dr. Pepper focused on not only male, but also female. It claimed that females are important for the world but Dr. Pepper also showed the power of male. And another interesting thins is the commercial impressed the consumers deeply and they will remember the products of them.
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