Dr Pepper 10: 10 Manly Calories

The newest Dr. Pepper drink on the market is very controversial because all the advertisements for the drink are directed only towards me, and the "manliest" men specifically. After market research showed that men tend to regard diet sodas as not manly, advertisers went above and beyond in their campaign to make it know that this new Dr. Pepper drink has "10 manly calories." 

I became aware of this because in one sitting of TV I viewed the commercial included above for the soft drink twice and became increasingly offended each time. In this commercial you see a scruffy looking man enjoying the outdoors and doing many adventurous activities like biting off a piece of wood, carrying a huge log, climbing cliffs and crossing a roaring stream. Is it portraying the message that these are the only things that make a "manly" man and these are the kinds of men who deserve to drink Dr. Pepper 10. It is obvious that the advertisers are trying to appeal to the men consumers who they were missing before with diet sodas but I believe they are just offending both genders in the process. 

Everything about the drink screams that is it not for women. As it is well stated in an article in The Week, "The can is gunmetal gray, and an extensive campaign for the beverage boldly declares that "it's not for women." Above even the advertisements, the can itself is not the usual metallic silver, it is a "gunmetal grey" which seems to fit their "manly" theme because I'm sure these advertisers wouldn't dare think of a woman holding a gun, would they?

But these advertisements will even offend the male sex because what if a man is more into theater or music or watching the football game on his couch than going outside and hiking in the woods. To me that is perfectly fine and they shouldn't be discriminated for their interests, however according to this campaign they aren't "manly" enough, and are not worthy of drinking Dr Pepper 10. 

The commercial ends with a a screen showing the soda can and these huge bold words, "The MANLIEST low-calorie soda in the history of MANKIND."  "Manly," according to dictionary.com is "having qualities traditionally ascribed to men like strength or bravery." To me I would think that this drink would offend men by questioning their strength and bravery and also would offend woman for being excluded. However, we cannot blame the Dr. Pepper advertisers for this because they do not care about who is offended in the end, they care about the profit. They are banking on the fact that because women in today's society are more concerned about diet or "healthier" sodas, this drink will draw more male consumers and that more people will want to buy the soda than will be offended. The only way we could change the way advertisers campaign would be to as a society break these gender roles that the men are the only strong and brave ones and if we could do that the advertisers would not campaign in this manor, because the advertisers play to what we as an American society want.