Lately I've been hearing rumors about a certain soda that had presented a new advertising tactic. However, I did not believe it until this sunday when I was obliviously watching the football game and an add popped up in the bottom of the screen. "Dr Pepper 10-Not for Women." I don't know about you but I think this is seriously offending. I mean seriously, how stupid can you get? How can Dr. Pepper believe that advertising such a sexist soda could possibly go over well with the general public. Especially with all the laws America has these days preventing just that sort of thing. Quite honestly I'm surprised they haven't gotten their butts sued yet. If someone can sue over a spilled cup of hot coffee I'm pretty sure they can take someone to court over a very sexist soda advertisement. Did Dr. Pepper have a death wish here? I don't even like the drink very much (23 flavors my butt, it tastes like cherry coke) but I would still drink it but after their little stunt going on now I'm certainly thinking about boycotting it. Women all over America are pissed and it's not just them. Men aren't happy either.
Since the commercials first started airing at the beginning of October the perception ratings of Dr. Pepper have decreased detrimentally and not just from women although their ratings went from 32.9 to 18.4 (which if you didn't notice is almost a 50% decrease.) Men aren't taking to kindly to the sexist advertisements either their ratings went from 21.5 to 16.4 and this was all on the same day the advertisement premiered. I'm pretty sure as the word was further spread the ratings have probably dropped more. Now of course some people get the 'joke' and say Dr. Pepper is just poking fun. Of course that's what the company itself is saying to. They said before the advertisement even aired they tested it on the two different genders and said they reacted well to it although that seems unlikely now. On the Dr. Pepper's facebook page a few commenters also agreed it was all just fun and games and women would either drink it anyways or drink it just to prove the commercial wrong. Either way it appears to me that the majority of the world is unhappy with this new advertising tactic the suicidal company had come up with and something tells me soon it'll be Dr. Pepper 10 - Not for Sale.
I did not hear about this/see this commercial, but judging off of your description about it, it sounds awful! It's crazy how the Dr. Pepper company thought they could use that slogan without causing controversy. Maybe the advertising team was a little slow that day? Or, maybe they were trying to push the boundaries and get people talking about their product? Either way, they took it too far.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe they would use that kind of advertisement. As a woman, I'm not that angry because I just could care less about Dr. Pepper, but I was shocked to hear that they would do that. I just don't know how they would think that advertisement could be a positive thing whatsoever. It frankly is just stupid. Even if it was meant to be funny, it clearly isn't. I also think that there will be a lot more people mad about them discriminating toward women than toward men. Men would just take it as Dr. Pepper being for women if it said it isn't for men and would just not want to drink it because they would feel it is girly. Women get upset because they are being discriminated against. It was just ignorant on Dr. Pepper's part, and frankly, no one drinks Dr. Pepper anyway. So I agree with you, Dr. Pepper 10 certainly won't last.
ReplyDeleteI think its just Dr. Pepper’s loss. They are intentionally eliminating their part of their consumers in order to gain a commercial that people will remember, but no one will care about in the long run. All it will do is make people angry and Dr. Pepper will receive a bad name for making a sexist drink. The company did this to themselves and they will eventually see how this will affect them later.
ReplyDeleteI'm very offended by Hardee's commercials. Several years ago I stopped patronizing Hardee's because of an advertising campaign that showed two teenagers making out on a sofa in a dark living room where a tv was playing. When the Hardee's commercial played on the tv, the guy jumped up, knocking the young woman to the floor and left to go to Hardee's. The newest Hardee's ad on tv has reinforced my feelings about the company. They have scantily clad, buxom young women in sexually suggestive poses. I will not buy anything from Hardee's and in fact, I sent them a letter stating my reaction. What I would have spent at that restaurant won't make a bit of difference to it's bottom line, but for me it is the principle.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh. I had to look up the commercial because I had never seen it before. I cannot believe they actually made this commercial. Maybe instead of saying "not for women" they could do something like the "man card" act. I don't know because it is so easy to offend people, especially when it is about "manly men" or women. If a guy needs to prove his manliness, he's lacking in other ways.
ReplyDeleteI don't like Dr Pepper, I don't like Cherry Coke, and I don't like soda much but I absolutely agree.
ReplyDeleteIt shocked me when I first saw the commercial. It was an "Are you kidding?!" moment because it was ridiculous. To hear that and every time that commercial would come again while I'm watching television, I'd race to turn the channel. It is unnecessary.
It reminds me of Heart of Darkness and not being "man enough" to do something. The way the author portrays the men as sexist just as the company uses sexism to advertise to more men. Even if they were trying to sell to more men by trying to make a more "manly" commercial, they went at it the wrong way, with total disregard for the other sex.
They're not selling something exclusively for men here; it's soda, not athletic cups, and those, too, have versions for women.
If they lost customers from this adverse advertisement then they deserved it.
I am just as offended by the new smart phone commercial for I believe it is the Samsung III where the husband/father is leaving for a business trip. The children 'magically' transfer their video to Dad's phone, then Mom does the same this but advises Dad NOT to watch it on the plane. REALLY - sex to sell cell phones.
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