Ew.

I saw this commercial ... my first thought was, "Well, that makes sense - I suppose the fact that REAL MEN have shorter life expectancy than women has something to do with their having to eat crappy food to reassure themselves they are REAL MEN."

Howabout this: REAL MEN are comfortable enough with their masculinity to eat whatever the damn hell they want.

I am so sick of the association of meat and masculinity, and by proxy, the suggestion that traditional female fare is salads, fruit and candy. Part of my graduate research is examining the gendered relationships we have with food throughout the twentieth-century. It's so disheartening to know that we are still today parroting the same kind of embedded gender definitions today that were said when women were viewed as little more than a piece of meat.

If by "new trend" you mean "since advertising began"... then, yeah sure, OK.

Also reminds me of the series for Klondike bars where men are rewarded for things like putting a glass in the dishwasher or not staring at a young (underage?) woman walking by while he's talking to his wife.

Well, duh. Women aren't supposed to eat.

Also, Rachel, don't forget yogurt!

LOL - that ad is ridiculous! If I didn't know better I'd have thought it was a parody from SNL.

Does this kind of ad actually work?!!!

david

Rachel- If you haven't read Perfection Salad, you should. It's primarily about the creation of domestic science and standardized food recipes during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Northeastern US. It covers gendered food expectations in some of the chapters.

David --

No. I would really rather starve than eat something called "Hungry Man."

Hey, "real men" don't wear sandals, either.

Seriously. I'm referring to the thread currently going at shine.yahoo.com, where woman after woman is lining up in the comments section to declare that men wearing sandals or flip-flops is so seriously un-manly that she would consider it a "deal-breaker."

Just sayin', advertisers aren't the only ones who enforce ridiculous and arbitrary gender stereotypes.

Gotta say, though, I am amused by what they've done with the color palette in that commercial: making the men and their environment drab and colorless, while enhancing the saturation on the pink and orange smoothies to near-neon vividness.

This reminds me of one of my absolutely favorite anecdotes -- probably fictional, I can't find a reference now.

A woman attends a dinner party hosted by a Spanish matador. The Spanish have really perfected compulsive masculinity, and the matador is the apex of the pyramid: this guy is a living icon of dark, swarthy, brave, testosterone-laden manhood.

It is a good dinner, and conversation is warm and friendly. But after dinner, the matador disappears. Our somewhat smitten narrator seeks him out, and discovers him in the kitchen, doing the dishes, wearing a pink apron. He is unperturbed and continues the conversation while he works; she is quite nonplussed.

Eventually, she can't help herself and asks how he can be doing such an effeminate thing.

He doesn't miss a beat.

"What I do," he responds, "...that is manly."

this commercial is ridiculous, from start to finish. but so is hungry man, and anyone with half a brain already knows that. if anything, the commercial is almost a pastiche of itself, in my mind . . . couldn't our energy be better spent on other concerns? maybe it's a way to start a conversation, but let's remember that a clearly extreme (and therefore marginalized) example like this shouldn't BE the conversation.

i'll definitely look into that book, frumious - looks interesting!

Ugh. I'm glad you posted this. I saw it on tv not too long ago and thought at first that it must be either a) a "comedy" skit or b) a parody. Imagine my disgust when I realized they meant it. No, I'm sure you don't have to imagine my disgust, I'm sure I wasn't the only one feeling it.

With the proliferation of the DVR (Digital Video Recorder) I hardly ever watch commercials anymore so this gave me a good laugh. I wonder if commercials get more and more ridiculous because less and less people watch them? I dunno.

I'm a man, and this is ridiculous. I've never understood the association of eating food that will kill you in the long term to being a guy. I guess it goes down to dieting being associated with women, and that because women do something we shouldn't.

It's funny because I eat quiche, and some guy actually told to me "what kind of man admits to eating quiche"?

i'll eat what I want to eat, vegetables and yogurt are good foods.

avast2006: Some words about "real men don't wear sandals"

Spartacus, Achilles, Samson, and so on.

Hell you gotta' figure both Gilgamesh and Enkidu wore them, at least after Gilgamesh brought Enkidu back to Sumeria.

I would wager that taking the entire breadth of history into account more "real men" (meaning macho, or tough I suppose) have worn sandals than have worn steel toe boots.

But plastic flip flops do strike me as tacky or low brow no matter what gender wears them.

Orchid: I have it. I'd also recommend Sherrie Inness, who has several works on the subject, as well as the intersection of food with race and class. Carol Adams also has a book out called The Sexual Politics of Meat. She has a slideshow for the book available free on her website.

Thats lame. I know a lot of men who love good food and eat healthy.

Long time lurker with a shiny new typekey account!

Why do some men feel the need to make jokes about women going to the bathroom in groups? It isn't original, and it certainly isn't funny. Maybe it plays into their conception of women as frail creatures with no sense of self-assurance, but it just goes to show you how out of touch they are with real women's lives and experiences. I've always thought group bathroom excursions are performed for the safety of the group--it is not unheard of for a woman to be assaulted in a public restroom, and "rape prevention tips" always include some form of "never go out in public alone." Problematic as such "advice" usually is, I feel that group bathroom trips fall in this category. After all, if I'm in a bar with friends and need to use the restroom, I would much rather do so in the company of another woman simply because there is strength in numbers against the slimy legions of gropers/catcallers/rapists (who probably make jokes about women going to the restroom in groups) who exist in the world. That some men and advertisers feel they can make light of this makes me want to throw things. It's not some "quirky" women's behavior, but something at least I do for my safety and the safety of my friends.

THANK YOU!

Amazing all these "real men do" such-and-such ads. Thank you, Madison Avenue, for memorializing these constricting gender stereotypes for our sons and daugthers to soak up. These ads generally tout things that most women wouldn't think are positives, and neither do I.

I suspect I will never see the day when men are free -- to skip "the big game," or to go see "Sex and the City," or to frequent the ballet, or to be stay-at-home dads with primary custodial responsibility -- without people looking at us as if we'd had our balls chopped off. It's getting better than it was, clearly (and thanks to feminism for that). But it ain't just men who hold us back, women are just as culpable (NOT the people who read this site, thank you).

Long time lurker with a shiny new typekey account!

Why do some men feel the need to make jokes about women going to the bathroom in groups? It isn't original, and it certainly isn't funny. Maybe it plays into their conception of women as frail creatures with no sense of self-assurance, but it just goes to show you how out of touch they are with real women's lives and experiences. I've always thought group bathroom excursions are performed for the safety of the group--it is not unheard of for a woman to be assaulted in a public restroom, and "rape prevention tips" always include some form of "never go out in public alone." Problematic as such "advice" usually is, I feel that group bathroom trips fall in this category. After all, if I'm in a bar with friends and need to use the restroom, I would much rather do so in the company of another woman simply because there is strength in numbers against the slimy legions of gropers/catcallers/rapists (who probably make jokes about women going to the restroom in groups) who exist in the world. That some men and advertisers feel they can make light of this makes me want to throw things. It's not some "quirky" women's behavior, but something at least I do for my safety and the safety of my friends.

I thought this was really funny, but I also thought it was a joke. I can't get really upset about this, especially compared to say, Carl's Jr.'s ads. I just think it's really stupid.

There's a similar, but opposite commercial that I really like on Noggin. The premise of the commercial is, wouldn't it be great if everything was more like preschool. It shows a group of large male mechanics unabashedly vying for a turn to hold and feed the shops pet rabbit.

Speaking of Noggin, does any one have any suggestions of feminist children's shows? I am appalled at most of the shows targeted towards 3 year olds (my daughters age). Fortunately she doesn't want to watch anything but Dora right now.

heller: How do you feel about Dora? My niece (3) and I watch her nearly every day, I don't see anything other than a bright empowered young woman on the show.

eh i cant remember who wrote the article right now but I remember reading something about -real men- eating meat and fried food and a ton of other crap playing into the disposability of the male, you dont really matter anyway so do whatever heck you want and showing others just how reckless, or manly, you can be only fuels the disposability but also has some rewards too, especially given the current dominant gender roles in our culture.

regardless, hungry man meals are really good.

But most commercials for dead animal foods are rather sexist when you get right down to it--he man eat meat, little woman eat vegetables. But it does seem that the unhealthier the food, the more sexist it is.

Noah:
“But it ain't just men who hold us back, women are just as culpable (NOT the people who read this site, thank you).”

I have to say that this struck a chord with me. I agree that men police other men on the concept of “manliness” but so do most women (and yes, obviously not the progressive people on this site).Yes, no doubt it’s because of the media, but it can be quite hard to get people to change their conception of what being “manly” is all about. For myself, I like to dress well and make sure I look good; as a result, I often have women asking me whether I’m gay, and I would never know how many women are turned off because of that too. Coming from a culture where the majority of women are considered beautiful and the majority men considered plainly average (I assume that Western culture has more or less the same paradigm working for it), it’s no surprise, even though the Manly Marlborough man is the apex of what being manly is about in the West.

What can we do to change that, I have no idea. Just keep doing the things we like, I suppose, instead of being bothered what society thinks about it.

LogrusZed:
“But plastic flip flops do strike me as tacky or low brow no matter what gender wears them.”

Ever been to China? = )

Yohan77:
“It's funny because I eat quiche, and some guy actually told to me "what kind of man admits to eating quiche"?”

I read an article recently that says quiche is actually very good for a man’s….vitality. Quiche all the way!

Ugh, who wants a whole pound of food for lunch?

More to the point, it's incredible how much commercials like these can affect people's thinking. Or maybe I shouldn't be speaking for other people, but I consider myself to be pretty conscious about dissecting media messages on gender. But then a couple of months ago I laughed at a male friend of mine for getting excited about how much he loves strawberry yogurt. And it wasn't until that "Target Women" video was posted here a few weeks later that I realized why I had laughed — because yogurt is "woman food"! I guess I'm not as aware and enlightened as I had hoped.

"Thats lame. I know a lot of men who love good food and eat healthy."

And I happen to be a petite (albeit tall) lady who loves to eat terrible food including large chunks of "manly" meat, "jumbo burgers", meat pies (in Australia considered a traditionally manly food) etc.. and I reject salad.. mainly due to my being a picky eater, not due to any saladism I may harbour, hehe

I used to eat those Hungry Man TV dinners when I worked double shifts. They were cheap, fast and edible (the fried chicken one is pretty good). However "cheap, fast and the chicken is edible" isn't as catchy as a joke about three dudes going to the restroom together.

I love grilling outdoors, but it has fuckall to do with being "manly" and everything to with the fact that I know what I like -and grilled meat rocks!

Yeah, real men eat artery clogging shit and die before their 55th birthday. Grrahh!

Suze:
“Ugh, who wants a whole pound of food for lunch?”

Uh….a pound of food isn’t really a lot of food to some people, myself included. Most of my friends who have big appetites (and almost all of them are men) can eat about 1 kg of food a meal (which is about 2.2 lbs) and these guys are usually on the slim/slender side. Any less and we tend to get hungry an hour later. I myself have been able to eat up to 3.5 kgs (7.7 lbs) of food without feeling any ill effects or the need to throw up. Different people need different amounts of food, depending on their activity.

Off tangent, I know.

What a great example of backlash comedy. I guess with a brand name like Hungry Man, your advertising options are fairly proscribed.

I can't really believe that insulting potential customers is an effective marketing strategy, but I suppose they wouldn't keep doing it if it didn't work. It's not like these goons are the only ones usin this approach.

Yeah, real men also sit on the toilet for hours (ok, not that long) reading the newspaper because they are constipated. Maybe they should put down the hungry man and eat some fucking vegetables!...or activia! These meals also produce alot of waste. Polystyrene in the microwave is terrible for your health. And where does the rest of the chicken go? Don't just say hot dogs or pet food, seriously, what company and place does the waste go?

I'm a vegan, so a huge part of my diet is legumes, grains, and awful girly vegetables! No yogurt here. But none of this has anything to do with gender roles. When I go out to eat and I do get something meat/dairy free and girly, I don't care if people think I'm anorexic (cause I'm tiny too). Whenever I find men who are veg/vegan (which is pretty rare) it's the awesome! But thanks to these commercials and men bashing eachother, (some) men who might have considered a meat-free life still eat it because it's what men do.

frijolera's right, this isn't a "new trend", but this type of advert seems to be on the rise. check out this little gem currently doing the rounds in the uk, and which never fails to get me yelling at the tv:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKw407nZENo&feature=related

Pannadol, I'm the same way. The stereotype is that men want to eat crap and their girlfriends/wives have to be good meal-time influences on them. Ehhhh, just the opposite in my relationship! My boyfriend is a creative cook who likes to make us healthy meals. Weekends at his place are much healthier than weekends at mine (we live an hour apart), and he has to remind me that ice cream after every meal is probably not the best idea.

Jerima, your comment reminded me of the BBC show You Are What You Eat. Ever seen it?

Death to the "real man." Long live authentic men.

As an aside, men's lower longevity than women has a lot more to do with lifestyle than diet.

Men are more likely to be murdered as a result of a crime. They are more likely to die from car accidents (due partly to riskier driving practices). They are more likely to die as a result of their work (Alaskan fisherman, cop, prison guard, etc). Men are more likely to serve in the armed forces and die in combat.

Men tend to engage in lifestyles that are more physical and riskier than women. It doesnt explain all of the longevity gap, but it does explain part of it.

That Daily Sport advert is truely terrible, thankfully I haven't seen it yet, but then again most my TV viewing is confined to the BBC. Then again, what do you expect from a 'newspaper' which seems to use breasts as a key feature? (Please don't think for a second this is a defense of the advertising, but consider it an attempt to extend the attack on the 'newspaper')

Another 'newspaper' had a similarly infuriating advert. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXBJ0pxVHe8 ) I was somewhat relieved when I saw the advert was for the Daily Mail, as it meant I didn't need to add anything to my list of 'things I hate.' The Daily Mail has been on there for years.

I'm quite far removed from the supposedly 'Manly Man' that I'm supposed to strive towards. And frankly I don't care, and find many of the traditional symbols of masculinity unappealing. I'm not sure how this ties in with my feminism, although I get the feeling that the two positions have some interconnection, although obviously nothing that is in absolutes.

I really wish we could wage a war on sexist media. I don't think these things are taken seriously by feminists but the truth is that they affect a HUGE number of people.

It seems to me that ads that use harmful stereotypes need to be taken more seriously (like the ones portraying men as violent and uncontrollable sex-hungry beasts).