Natasha Ali | Supplement Coordinator
Featured image | Courtesy of Pixabay
The latest Doritos product sent the internet into a frenzy and sparked a discussion on gender bias. Doritos recently announced its latest product: Lady Doritos.
The popular franchise pitched the “female-friendly” chips in early February and almost immediately, the internet was abuzz.
The idea is to create a product that caters to women’s perceived femininity and delicateness. According to PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, women “don’t like to crunch too loudly in public, they don’t lick their fingers generously, and they don’t like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavor into their mouth.”
So essentially, Doritos is preserving women’s palates, as well as their expected etiquette. However, Twitter users weren’t too pleased with the news, and the insinuation that women like to be treated differently.
This latest Doritos stunt is one of many ideas previously pitched by industries for the satisfaction of one gender.
There once existed a brand of Bic pens that was marketed as having an “elegant design and a thin barrel to fit a women’s hand.” Another gender-segregating product that hit the markets was Mansize Tissues, made for men by Kleenex because “plain old frilly tissues are too girly for a man’s needs.”
On a more serious note, gender-based marketing is a crucial part of advertising techniques that companies use to sell their products. Stereotypical conceptions are the basis of these tactics, as producers use stereotypical representations of gender to appeal to a certain sex.
Arguably, it can be said this is related to societal discrimination of men and women, where men are taught from an early age to be aggressive and vocal, and women are often expected to take a back seat and focus on their appearance.
It starts with the way toys are introduced and advertised to young demographics. In an interview with CBC’s Information Morning, Fiona Martin, a researcher at Dalhousie University, commented on the gender-centered separation of toys.
“The gendered marketing of toys using features such as colour and function—for example, cosmetics and dolls for girls; weapons and action figures for boys—seems to be intensifying,” she said.
In her view, the nature of toys shapes a child’s personality in terms of future vanity or defensive behavior. Another inconsistency in marketing is visible with video game advertising.
Generally, the main characters in video games are males, whereas females are marginalized to be victims that need rescuing. An example would be one of the most famous video game franchises, Super Mario Bros.
Its protagonist is a male, Mario, who uses his cunning tactics to save the helpless Princess Peach. The main goal of this and many other video games is to attract the male demographic by portraying gender stereotypes that just do not hold anymore.
Among the York community, students have contrasting views on discriminatory advertising.
Third-year Global Health student Frazielle Agtarap linked societal sexism to the yin-yang philosophy. He says: “In Chinese tradition, white was seen as the woman… and men were the black.”
Agtarap goes on to explain that these categories are simply obsolete and irrelevant in today’s world.
“Just because we got categorized into something, doesn’t mean we don’t fit with the other.”
On the other hand, Tom Granger, a third-year Computer Science student, has opposing views on the matter. He believes the gender bias in marketing is exaggerated among consumers, saying: “Just because a person can’t control their idiosyncrasies, doesn’t mean we have to make everything be pleasing to everyone.”
He further provides an alternate solution to the controversy: “It’s kind of ironic, because a guy will not eat these Doritos because they are for women, but if you really want to oppose the idea of gender based advertisement, then you should really go out and buy these and eat them, and maybe then Doritos will market it towards men too.”
It’s safe to say that at a time of social change, people do not easily accept the idea of separating products by gender. While some have strong, vindictive opinions about the recent Doritos advertising campaign, others seem to brush it off as a promotion stunt. However, the stereotypical notion some companies are making with their products is considered offensive and old-fashioned by many, and is proof there may still be much improvement to be made.
