I know this Dr. Pepper Ten stuff is really old news, but I was thinking today about how oftentimes, people and businesses forget that women are people too and make up 51% of the population, so I decided to make a post about this.
Basically, if you haven't heard yet, Dr. Pepper Ten is a new diet version of Dr. Pepper marketed towards men (similar to Coke Zero), with 10 calories instead of 0. Its marketing campaign is focused on telling people that Dr. Pepper Ten is this super manly drink that's, in their words, "Not For Women." In the commercial, it literally says, "Hey ladies. Enjoying the film? Of course not. Because this is our movie and this is our soda" and "You can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We're good. Dr. Pepper 10: It's Not For Women."
Is it just me, or is this stupid as ********? Like, honestly. I remember my friend got a free Dr. Pepper 10 when they were promoting it quite a few months back when it first came out, and enjoyed it. But then she saw the advertising... "Dr. Pepper 10: Not For Women." Like, what? Really? Now she just isn't going to buy it. It's hard to spend your hard-earned money on a product when the product tells you directly and straight up that it's not for you.
It just gets me to thinking, like, do people really forget that women are people too, and they make up 51% of the population? Like, I understand that you can market towards different demographics. Coke Zero is marketed towards men. Salads and yogurts are often marketed towards women. But Coke Zero doesn't come out and say, "WOMEN, DON'T BUY OUR PRODUCT. IT'S NOT FOR YOU!" And yogurt commercials don't say, "Men, don't buy yogurt! It's girly as ********, and you don't want to be seen as that, now do you? This is our food."
Not to mention, the campaign just paints men as, well, dumb. "Hey men, this drink has 10 MANLY calories instead of zero! Now you better buy it because 10 calories is manly and 0 calories is feminine and stupid!!!!111!!" I'd feel pretty insulted if my masculinity was determined by how many calories I was consuming in a soft drink. lol
So, LD, what do you think? Is this advertising campaign offensive to you?
Regardless of whether it is offensive to your or not, do you think it's a good idea to tell 51% of the population that they shouldn't buy your product?
Where do you draw the line between marketing towards different demographics and telling a certain demographic that they straight-up shouldn't buy your product?
Do you think that sometimes people forget that women are people too, and make up a large portion of the population?
Like I said, there isn't anything wrong with marketing towards certain demographics. But it would just be stupid if Diet Dr. Pepper based their entire advertising campaign saying, "Men, this drink is really feminine. DON'T BUY IT!"