Products drive and mirror our culture's gender role expectations at a given point in time. Let's take a look at another classic commercial this one from the 1980s. That gives us a nice picture of society's gender role expectations at that time. I'd like to meet you a bet you're hoping for a hug. And boy, I've got to offer a sensitivity, intelligence and I'm drinking milk though. For the next couple seasons, I'll be working out milks about the best thing I can drink right now to help me build strong arms, powerful legs and a broad chest.

And when all my work is done, well you love me just for my body. Milk, it does a body good. Obviously, many products are intimately associated with one gender or the other especially if they link to a culture. definition of what is sexually appealing. That's the results of of recent French study shouldn't be too surprising. In a series of field experiments, men were more likely to complete a survey, or pick up a dropped glove if a female Confederate wore high heels rather than flats.

The higher the heel, the greater the likelihood of cooperation. As you might guess, this relationship did not hold for female subjects. A popular book once proclaimed, real men don't eat quiche. In addition to quiche, marketers promote many sex typed products. These reflect stereotypical masculine or feminine attributes, and consumers associate them with one gender or another. For example, the E pad FEM is quote, the world's first tablet made exclusively for women.

It comes preloaded with a pink background, and a number of apps related to yoga, grocery shopping, weight loss and cooking. So let's focus specifically on female sex roles and then we'll take a quick look at men's sex roles in the 1949 movie Adam's Rib, Katharine Hepburn played a stylish and competent lawyer. This film was one of the first to show that a woman can have a successful career and still be happily married. Today, the evolution of a new managerial class of women has forced marketers to change their traditional assumptions about women as they target this important market. Still, it's premature to proclaim the death of traditional sexual stereotypes. This is certainly true in Islamic countries that require women to be completely covered in Public and that prohibit them from working as sales people's in stores open to the public, even if that store sells female intimate apparel.

The recent controversy in France over the wearing of the so called burqini is a nice reflection of this tension in sexual expectations, especially as we move across cultures and subcultures. Let's look briefly at male sex roles and how they're depicted in advertising. A European ad for designer Dolce and Gabbana depicts a group of sweaty men and tight jeans who surround a woman wearing spiked heels who is pinned to the ground. Other ads featuring longtime household products folks character, Mr. Clean claim that only a strong man is powerful enough to tackle dirt To promote the Dr. Pepper 10 drink, the company sent a mobile man cave to US cities. The trailer parked in what the company called testosterone zones, such as ball fields or car shows, where it gave men a place to watch TV and play video games. The accompanying advertising campaign featured a muscled commando type who totes a space age weapon.

Hey ladies enjoying the film? He asks. Course not because this is our movie. And Dr. Pepper 10 is our soda culture stereotype of the ideal male is a tough, aggressive muscular man who enjoys manly sports. When global entrepreneur and CEO of Virgin Airlines Richard Branson lost a racing bet to the owner of airasia. his sentence was To dress as a female flight attendant for the winters airline.

The winter gloated, I'm looking forward to him sucking up to me as a stewardess. I study the tracked advertising and eight male oriented magazines with primarily male readerships that range from maximum to Golf Digest, reported that most contain many ads that can contribute to hyper masculinity, due to heavy emphasis on violence, dangerousness, and callous attitudes toward women and sex. Just as for women, however, the true story is more complicated than just being a man's man. Indeed scholars of masculine ism, study the male image and the complex cultural meanings of masculinity. Like women, men receive mixed messages about how they're supposed to behave and feel Let's take a look at a commercial for Chevrolet's guys night out campaign. The commercial depicts a new dad's night out with friends, where they wind up watching his toddler sing along CD.

Thanks Chevy Cruze speaker premium sound system, or whatever your one study examined how American men pursue masculine identities through their everyday consumption. The researchers suggest that men try to make sense out of three different models of masculinity that they call The breadwinner, the rebel and the man of action hero. On the one hand, the breadwinner model draws from the American myth of success and celebrates respectability, civic virtues, pursuit of material success, and organized achievement. The rebel model, on the other hand, emphasizes rebellion, independence, adventure, and potency. The man of action hero is a synthesis that draws from the best of the other two models. androgyny refers to the possession of both masculine and feminine traits.

Researchers make a distinction between sex types people who are stereotypically masculine or feminine and androgynous people whose orientation isn't as clearly defined. Clearly the normality of sex Type behaviors varies across cultures. For example, although acceptance of homosexuality varies in Asian cultures, it doesn't occur to most Asians to assume that a man with some feminine qualities is necessarily gay. A survey of Korean consumers found that more than two thirds of men and over half of women younger than the age of 40 were living self described androgynous lifestyles. Some companies that sell exclusively to one gender may therefore decide to test the waters with the other sec when they promote gender bending products. These are traditionally sex typed items that are adapted to the opposite gender, such as the recent profusion of merchants that sell pink guns for women.

Here are some other gender benders. Old Spice has had a lot of luck with selling their their fragrances females. Another is Rubbermaid, which introduced a line of grooming tools specifically for men, including tweezers and clippers. As a manager explained, most men don't want to go to what we call the pink aisle of the store to get tweezers and clippers that are made for women. They want products that look masculine, and are made for their specific grooming needs. Our definitions of gender continue to evolve as a global third gender movement picks up steam.

United colors of Benetton caused a stir when its product campaign included Leah tea I transexual Brazilian model the takeaway here is that to truly understand your customers You may need to learn more about how they think about their gender and their sexual identity. offering new products that are in sync with these definitions can provide you with a real competitive advantage.