EE1

Sarah Heermann

Writ Extended Essay 1

4/30/2012

I’ll Have the Salad

If you see a woman order a salad, do you think much of it? Do those feelings change if you see a man order one? The different values we hold for each gender as an American culture affects how and what we eat. This bias can be seen easily through the media and ads for food, a bias that we see every day but no longer recognize the influence they have. Women and men strive to be portrayed differently in our society based on different values we associate with each gender.  The marketing industry and companies understand and focus on these to use them in a way that best benefits them. These different values are so strong they affect what we chose to eat, especially in front of others. Each gender is targeted differently in ads, and attempt to attract the gender that is not associated with a certain type of food in order for the company to gather more customers. In this essay I will analyze two ads that exemplify the values our culture places on gender and how these affect what we eat.

In the American society, women are traditionally thought of as eating healthier, fresh foods that will allow them to keep a slim figure, while men are thought of as eating a diet mostly consisting of fatty foods containing a large dose of protein.  Theses cultural values are shown through our advertisement and portrayal of the two genders in the media. The characteristic associated with females the most is attractiveness level, and this is based mostly upon physical physic and thinness. Models are often looked at as the “ideal” female, and desirability equates to thinness. According to Alternet.com, nearly 25% of models are underweight. This website also displayed the following statistic.

 A study by the American Psychological Association found that after three minutes spent looking at a fashion magazine, 70% of women felt "depressed, guilty, and ashamed." Vogue and its ilk are banned in most eating disorder clinics because they know it sends their clients spiraling. The magazine has done real harm to ordinary women. It super-charged the trend for bone-thin models with Twiggy in 1965, and it popularized the bogus idea of "cellulite" in 1973: before then, it was just considered normal female flesh. (Hari)

The rate for eating disorders among teenage women are on the rise, and in the past few years there has even been an increase in teenage men eating disorders, however on a much lower frequency. (Hari)

This bias can show up in what we feed our children even as young as a year old. According to a study done by Cornell University, gender bias affected the weight of children and how they grew:

 Gender bias in energy and protein intake favored boys; the magnitude for ages 2-5 y was 247 kJ/d. Analysis of subsequent effects showed that boys had higher rates of weight gain due to gender bias in energy intake than did girls for ages 1-2 y (0.27-0.97 kg/y), when there were no differences in illness rates due to gender bias in energy intake. For ages 1-2 years for weight and stature, the growth rate for boys was faster than that of girls by 6-49% due to gender bias. (Frongillo)

By raising our children under this bias they become accustomed to this norm, and are conditioned unconsciously to make choices for meals that are gender biased, just as they were fed growing up.

            The influence the media has on each gender has promoted advice on weight control to be a prominent topic, especially among the web. The difference in our eating is also seen by the type of advice on eating we receive and the bias in this advice.  In a website of tips for healthy eating for women, HelpGuide.org, they advise that women eat mostly fruit and vegetables, to cut back on coffee and alcohol, and to not eat much protein. (Smith) The suggestion to the lack of protein and conscious eating is opposite to the advice given to men on a different website, MedicineNet.com, which actually suggests that men worry less about losing weight and should focus on cutting out junk food and trading water for their usual beverage to lose weight. (Sorgen) In the website for women they also stressed looking good to feel good; suggesting that eating healthy will lower your weight, make you thinner and simultaneously raise your happiness level. Such a suggestion and connection to happiness was missing among the advice to men, where the advice given was presented with an almost apologetic attitude that a man would have to resort to such feminine and drastic measures as dieting.

                        Marketers and all kinds of businesses associated with the food and drink industry are wise to take this gender bias that has become a part of our society and use it to their advantage.  One struggle for food companies is to sell their products to the opposite gender that is traditionally associated with their type of food. The following adds attempt to make their products seem more appealing to the gender less likely to buy their product.

My first advertisement is a unique Dunkin’ Donuts one.

This ad focuses on feminizing donuts, considered an unhealthy and masculine food, and making them appeal more to females. The coloring alone, all pink, instantly gives the feel of femininity, alone with the close up of the models face. An interesting aspect of the add was the instant attention to the mouth of the model and how her lips match the donut, but what was odd was that the mouth looks bigger than the donut. Perhaps they wanted to focus the attention away from what society and most women consider “sinful” food and instead draw the eye to the more glamorous portrayal of the donut with the mouth imitation. The intense eye make-up also has a purpose. It makes the model seem glitzy and thus the product they are selling seem more glamorous and fashionable, and in turn more feminine. The model has her eyes shut from what seems to be an overwhelming sensation from the donut. Her looking down further draws our eyes to focus on her lips otherwise we may be distracted looking into her eyes, which is what we instinctively concentrate on.

            The two simple words in this advertisement say a lot. Although they are small, they carry a big message. These simple words insinuate a sinful nature of giving into temptation. Since a fatty food such as a donut is not associated as a female food, eating such a donut could be considered as “giving into temptation” and falling off the beaten track of eating salads. A woman eating a donut doesn’t seem glamorous, and would likely not reflect positively on her in a social situation. Although many people would not have a problem or comment on a woman eating a donut, advertisers and the values our society hold makes a woman eating healthier foods seem more appealing. This social value is what this Dunkin’ Donut add is trying to cover up and fight in order to sell more product. As a result of this ad, woman may feel less scrutinized against or less guilty eating a donut, however the lengths the marketers go to make this product seem so feminine point to the deep rooted value of women eating healthy.

            This social assumption is one that I have felt and has affected how I have ordered in the past. Sitting in a restaurant with someone new I always struggle in thinking what to order, since I feel it reflects upon me. Women often go through an internal struggle of whether ordering a salad would make one look too self-conscious or a steak would make one look not conscious enough, especially on a first date. However, the trend from the 1930s of women ordering salad on the first date is fading, according to a New York Times article restaurants are finding that more and more women are eating steak on a first date than ever before. (Salkin) Men typically have the opposite problem. In a writing workshop for this research paper, a male classmate commented that as a man, he has worried that ordering a salad as a main dish was unacceptable.  

My second add I chose focuses more on how the masculine side of advertising is portrayed. Here the product is Pocky, an originally oriental snack that has a thin biscuit covered in chocolate. It usually is portrayed as a treat for women to indulge conservatively in. Pocky’s purposeful targeting of males is obvious (as seen in the photo below) in this instance since the original Pocky (the red package to the left) and the men’s Pocky (the green one to the right) have no difference in ingredients, but are packaged and sold as separate products.  Pocky uses the harsher words associated with masculinity to advertise their product as fit for manly consumption. The men’s version boldly state’s “The Super Snack” with the package explicitly stating Men’s before a thicker and straighter font of “Pocky”. The possessive form of men before the product name insinuates it is owned by men and is not for women.

As with the Dunkin’ Donuts ad, this Pocky ad is persuading its target audience to disobey the typical gender expectations. Here they attempt to make Pocky more masculine, but also appear like a fun snack to indulge in. The result is a mock-sophisticated kind of look. They dress the model in a tie and button-down shirt and have him drinking alcohol, a sign of wealth with his glass raised as if in mid-toast with you. The model’s raised eyebrow and smirk express his sarcastic attitude as does his messy and long hair, undone tie, and facial hair. This relaxed and casual feel makes the snack more appealing as one you could just sit down to eat casually without being judged, while the dressier aspects make Pocky appear to be a slightly classy snack. With the text “a serious snack at the bottom” it also seems to be making the statement that men are allowed to not be serious just as men are allowed to enjoy a feminine snack. Ironically, this can make one wonder why men were not allowed to eat Pocky or be goofy in the first place. This may make their audience in turn more conscious about the “social rules” and inadvertently undermine their attempt to make their audience rebel against these cultural values.

Even in food ads, the difference between how genders are presented can be seen. Women generally are associated with foods that are healthier and more self-conscious as an attempt to remain thin, while men are generally thought of as enjoying foods that are full of fat and meat and ooze hardcore masculinity. Food ads show us the values that we as a society have, and the dietary standards placed on genders in our culture controls the media. These values can affect what and how we eat when we are consciously aware of them, and what we order at the dinner table can reflect this cultural gender bias. This is especially true when we eat in front of others, as we become self-conscious about how others view us. So at your next social meal, what will you eat?

Resouces

Frongillo, Begin. "Gender bias in food intake."Pubmed.gov. Cornell University, 1993. Web. 24 Apr 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8429367>.

Smith, Melinda. "EATING RIGHT TO LOOK AND FEEL YOUR BEST." Nutrition For Women. HelpGuide.org, 2012. Web. 24 Apr 2012. <http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_women_nutrition.htm>.

Sorgen, Carol. "Experts offer some easy ways men can start making better food choices." Healthy Eating for the Average Guy. MedicineNet.org, 2012. Web. 24 Apr 2012. <http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=60537>.

Salkin, Allen. "Be Yourselves, Girls, Order the Rib-Eye."The New York Times. The New York Times, 2007. Web. 24 Apr 2012. 

Hari, Johann. "Our Thinness Obsesed Culture." AlterNet. Independent UK, n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2012. <http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/142682/our_thinness_obsessed_culture_is_destroying_women/>.