Snickers and Gender

In class today, we discussed gender, and the various opinions that we have about what a man or woman could or should do. Even though it seemed ridiculous, it was easy to think of foods or clothes that were masculine and feminine. The attitude during this activity seemed sarcastic and comical, as many people in my class found it surprising that even foods had gender connotations. Even though that activity was entertaining and thought provoking, the commercial Mr. Heidkamp showed the class how problematic the media can be in redefining gender roles.

The Snickers Ad showed construction workers complimenting women in a non-sexual way, conveying that appearance was not important and character was. However, the tagline at the end, "You're not you when you're hungry. Snickers satisfies," completely ruined the positive message the ad was broadcasting. Instead of showing that men can and should be respectful and positive towards women, the ad argued that men are unable to be decent people, and must be hungry if they are acting in a nice way towards women. Messages like this are creating gender roles for us without our consent. Even though they seem to be satire when viewed with a critical eye, these ads can influence our behavior. Just in the past few days, I have identified countless advertisements and pieces of culture that create artificial gender roles. Anyone who consumes popular culture must be vigilant to have any attempt of keeping the media from constructing these artificial gender roles.