Dr. Pepper Ten: A "Manly" Campaign That Promotes Gender Stereotypes Instead of Health for Men

Yesterday while on the elliptical machine at the gym and watching ESPN (surprise! women watch ESPN), I had the displeasure of seeing the new commercial for Dr. Pepper Ten no less than five times.

Dr. Pepper Ten is a new 10-calorie drink being rolled out by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc after their client research revealed that men are hesitant to drink diet drinks because they aren't "manly" enough.

The TV commercials that I watched showed men with huge muscles driving through the jungle, shooting guns, and battling snakes. The men say things like, "Hey ladies. Enjoying the film? Of course not. Because this is our movie and this is our soda, you can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We're good."

According to several online reports (e.g., the MSNBC link above), the campaign also developed a Facebook page which contains an application that allows it to exclude women from viewing content. In addition, the page includes games and videos aimed at being "manly." Several twitter users also report that the campaign encourages viewers to "rat on their friends for not being manly". If true, I have no idea how "unmanly" behavior is being reported.

My analysis:

It is great that advertisers are using focus group and other data to develop products and ad campaigns. They taught many of us in public health the importance of these strategies and we are forever grateful. However...

This campaign promotes strict gender stereotypes: Men act like this and women act like this- no exceptions! This dangerous norm contributes to serious public health problems. For example, the traditional ideology of masculinity has been explored for its relationship to negative outcomes like bullying and high risk sexual behaviors.

This campaign attempts to encourage men to drink a "healthier" soda (less calories, real sweeteners) without making them feel like they are dieting...because after all- dieting is only for women. Too bad the obesity rate is hovering between 32-35% for both men and women.

I have seen weight loss/health for men done much more effectively by other companies without insulting viewers. For example, after they saw their services being utilized by more men, Weight Watchers and NutriSystem rolled out men's programs. Weight Watchers presents strategies for making healthy choices in settings where men may find themselves socially (e.g., at a BBQ or at the bar). To reduce the social stigma around participation, they recruited strong male role models like former NFL quarterback Dan Marino. An ABC story on the companies' programs says "Calorie Counting Can Be Macho".

The strategy used by NutriSystem and Weight Watchers to reduce the stigma around healthy behaviors will be much more effective long-term than simply tricking people into being healthy.

For those readers who think I'm only offended by the campaign because I'm a woman, please see a few tweets from Tuesday night...authored by men. The first by my husband, who wrote multiple posts on Dr. Pepper Ten before I ever voiced my disgust with this campaign:

@jeff_underscore: "Dr. Pepper 10 - I think your ad campaign is insane, insensitive and sexist and unfortunately everywhere".

@sorryeveryone: ".@drpepper i really liked your soda but you know what I like more? treating women like they're human beings and letting men be themselves".

Readers: What do you think of this campaign? Do you think it will be effective in getting men to drink these "healthier" sodas?

Kids, Gender Identity, and Bullying: Moms Fight Back

Last week on Facebook, no less than ten friends posted a link to the Nerdy Apple Bottom website post "My son is gay". The post was written by the mother of a 5-year old boy who dressed as Daphne (from Scooby Doo) for Halloween. She talks about his arrival at school in his costume and the harsh reaction received...mostly from other parents. She documents her internal reaction to this reception, which prompted much discussion and cheering among my Facebook friends:

"If you think that me allowing my son to be a female character for Halloween is somehow going to 'make' him gay, then you are an idiot. Firstly, what a ridiculous concept. Secondly, if my son is gay, OK. I will love him no less. Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off".

As of tonight, this post had 41,311 comments.

Coincidentally, the November 15th edition of People Magazine runs a story called "A Tale of Acceptance". The story profiles a Seattle mother named Cheryl Kilodavis who also has a 5-year old son that likes to dress up as a girl character. When the behavior began three years ago, she and her husband discussed it and decided to let him dress how he liked. In order to help other kids accept him, Cheryl decided to write a children's story. She calls her self-published book, "My Princess Boy".

Cheryl first shared the book at her son's school. The vice principal loved it and put copies in all the classes. Cheryl soon had orders from nine other schools and now that there has been so much press coverage, the family is searching for a publisher and trying to keep up with the book requests.

Of course, not all of the press has been positive. A New York Times article late last week discussed some therapists' concerns about these young boys being "outed" by their parents by having their pictures posted on YouTube, blogs, and talk shows. Some commenters wonder why these mothers do not protect their children from ridicule by making them dress in costumes that are more gender appropriate.

The discussion of bullying and suicide over the past few months has seemed to provide a real "teachable moment" for this country. People want to talk about it (as evidenced by the 41,000+ comments on the Nerdy Apple Bottom site). People want to teach kids how to respect themselves and each other. Therefore, they seem fascinated by "My Princess Boy", which uses words and illustrations that can allow even the youngest children to participate in the discussion around personal expression and acceptance. These blogs and books and support from children's schools can really help to change the social norms around what is "normal" behavior and dress. We must be creative in designing a way to evaluate these normative changes. Hopefully we will see a reduction in negative outcomes for students (e.g., reports of bullying, rates of depression, and suicide). But hopefully we will also see a reduction in risk factors further up stream, like attitudes around acceptance and gender roles.