Gender Bias and Advertising Trends
Do the varying biological eating habits of men and women make it acceptable for food advertisers to target genders? Why is it women are targeted with diet food commericials such as Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers while men are encouraged to eat meat, drink beer, and be a man because after all "real men don't eat quiche."
It is through marketing that men and women are conveyed the eating habits they must conform to in order to "perform" their gender. This gender socialization is how many individuals, often times without realizing it, develop their eating patters. All the advertising that appeal to a specific gender are conveying this idea that certain food and drinks crafts personal identiites. It is what you eat or drink that sheds light on how you identify yourself.
Below are some examples of how commercials target masculine and feminine audiences. It goes withtout saying that many people buy into these stereotypes and this is exactly how they continue to be perpetuated.
It is through marketing that men and women are conveyed the eating habits they must conform to in order to "perform" their gender. This gender socialization is how many individuals, often times without realizing it, develop their eating patters. All the advertising that appeal to a specific gender are conveying this idea that certain food and drinks crafts personal identiites. It is what you eat or drink that sheds light on how you identify yourself.
Below are some examples of how commercials target masculine and feminine audiences. It goes withtout saying that many people buy into these stereotypes and this is exactly how they continue to be perpetuated.
RESTORE THE BALANCE
The question that first pops into my head is, what exactly is the balance he is restoring by buying a hummer? It would seem as though he is restoring his "masculinity" by purchasing a manly SUV to make up for previously purchasing "feminine" food items. Advertisers are conveying this idea that men who eat "nonmeat" foods are not masculine but that can be balanced out if you go out and purchase are large manly utility vehicle. It almost appears as this commercial is suggesting that manhood is out of balance because many men do choose to eat tofu, vegetables, fruits and the like and that discredits strength and power that society defines as masculinity.
DRINK LIKE A LADY
Here it's obvious the commericial is targeting women and defining for them what it means to "be a lady." Funny, who thought a drink defines whether I am a lady or not? This one example where guys get his notion of what is a "chick drink." Drinking cocktails are made out to be a femimine attribute, one men should not possses, well unless they can "restore the balance" by buying a truck.
MANTHEM
This commercial is the epitome of the gender nature of food and drink. The men are protesing the feminine food that are threatening their masculinity. "I am man" reads one of the signs by the protester. Burger King is suggesting that to be a man you must eat meat, none of that "chick food" that is effeminizing masculinity. Yet ironically enough Manthem is based on a feminist song--Helen Reddy's I am Woman--that challenged the traditional view of gender roles.