There is a beautiful lake in the background of a photograph and a man in a canoe, but this is all blurred and fuzzy with a soda can as well as the words in bold and comic sans font: “The MANLIEST low-calorie soda in the history of MANKIND”. A close examination of the Dr. Pepper Ten advertisement show its appeal to men, exclusion of women, and card-stacking to promote the diet drink.
The first marketing device is the appeal toward men. Claiming that this manly ten calorie drink is not like any other diet soda made by competitors, including diet Dr. Pepper, is feminine and girly. Dr. Pepper Ten’s catchphrase is “It’s not for women”. This sounds like a boys-only clubhouse with a sign that reads “No girls allowed”, which is another of their catchphrases, appears a bit immature and childish.
One of the television commercials show a white, bearded outdoorsmen in flannel enjoying the ten calorie beverage. Suggesting that only the most masculine can drink Dr. Pepper Ten, is not a clever way to advertise. The advertisement also has an…show more content… This easily takes away half of the market to advertise. However in studies and polls taken, forty percent of women have claimed to have tried it at least once. Telling women that they can not drink their special manly soda gave a reverse psychological reason for women to buy the drink. Since when did beverages become gendered specific?
Dr. Pepper even created a Facebook page for the beverage. It has a men-only exclusive trivia game about hunting and fishing. As well as the ten “Man’ments”, their own “brocode” to help prevent men from acting feminine in any way. Things like limiting the posting photos of pets online, saying text slang like “OMG”, or even sharing your horoscope is called as unmanly. This tells men and feeble-minded boys that there is a right way to be male, by avoiding anything feminine. Telling them that feminine is less, feminine is evil,