I think that the companies target women because they think not enough men care about their GI tracts to bother marketing to them. How many guys do you know need half an hour to do a number 2 (my boyfriend read all of twilight on the can to spite his sister somehow).

Men obviously have the same problems they just don't care.

I don't really think yogurt can be equated to laxatives, the products don't actually have laxatives in them but active bacteria cultures you'd find in any yogurt. Nutritionally yogurt is really great, for women in particular because of the calcium and protein.

I had seen this as a good thing - women and poop is often problematic, and it's good to talk about it openly - but you're right, it's definitely a lot more complicated than that.

if companies are getting comfortable with talking about poop, maybe they will be comfortable with representing menstrual blood correctly, instead of using some windex blue liquid.

The reason these products aren't marketed to men is because of the way they're marketed. The commercials are women talking to women. Sarah Haskins explored this phenomenon too. Men supposedly don't talk to other men about their digestive health. It's a personal matter that's kept to themselves. Like that commercial for Flomax, I think it's called. You know, the prostate shrinking drug. The guys just excuse themselves from their friends or slip away unnoticed to the bathroom, presumably because they don't want their friends to know that they have a pee-pee problem.

As for the weight loss angle, Activia and YoPlus would probably have some weight loss effects. Having a healthy digestive system is part of good weight management, since having extra waste stuck to your intestines is going to cause bloating and add a couple pounds. But I don't think the yogurt could be used as an effective laxative, because it takes too long to make one regular. It's impossible to abuse it.

really it's all just going along with the newfangled research on people seeking help for things like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which is seen more often in women. remember those Zelnorm ads that were all women? (the drug was later pulled off the shelves for serious side effects...). so it's marketing to the target audience that chiefly complains of the issue to their physicians.

and the only thing these yogurts have 'added' is extra pro biotic bacteria found in yogurt sort of like an extra dose of it.

p.s. THIS: I'm not a player, I just shit a lot.

made me burst out laughing

As a mom of a boy with constipation...I think constipation is a huge, hidden problem right now, along with all the junk food we eat and obesity. If you look at parenting sites, there is a lot of talk about "potty problems." I think it's just that women -- and moms -- are more aware of "these things."

"Irritable bowel syndrome mainly affects women age 30-50, and can range from a minor issue to a life-altering condition."

http://www.christianhospital.org/ch_content.aspx?id=5538

"A decade ago women weren't included in clinical trials. It was assumed that diseases in men and women were the same and that women would react to medications the same way men did. This was a very wrong assumption to make, as researchers found out when they began including women in studies.

The National Institutes of Health now have an Office of Research on Women's Health that funds studies performed exclusively on women. As a result of these pioneering efforts, researchers have gathered a significant amount of evidence delineating differences in GI function in men and women. Women are unique. And there is a definite connection between a woman's reproductive tract and her digestive tract."

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553588750&view=excerpt

I agree, the commercials are dumb, but perhaps there is some validity in the notion that the target audience for this yogurt (women over 30) do have unique digestive issues, not to mention the fact that they account for 80% of household buying decisions all while making 78 cents for every $1 a man makes.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/feb2005/nf20050214_9413_db_082.htm

These commercials are equally annoying as the penis-pill commercials with the aging, salt-and-pepper hair, male baby boomer who is desperately trying to recapture his youth through muscle cars, electric guitars, and most importantly, sex.

Fiber's great. Lots of people can use more fiber.

But what bugs me about these commercials is the idea that we need to have food move through faster. Jeebus. Faster than what?

And the idea that there's some sort of extraneous crust waste in there that needs to be removed? Oh please.

Read here for more info: http://skepticzone.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/debunking-the-detox-myth/

http://www.livescience.com/health/060808_bad_colon.html

What, slow news day?

Geez, what's with the conspiracy theory? What are we distant cousins of the "Birthers"? Why market a digestive aid to men? I know men who brag about having a pound of undigested meat in their colon! It's seen as "manly"!

The manager of Activa is actually one of my best friends. I can assure you she is not trying take advantage of women's eating disorders. All she's doing is trying to make an honest buck addressing a legitimate need. My mother has faced digestive issues for 30yrs. She also has osteoporosis. I wish we had had this 30yrs ago.

lol. Actually, if you look at health care advertising in general, it is often geared to appease women, because researchers recently discovered that women make the majority of decisions concerning "health care expenditures." (Restated: women make people in their family consume things like yogurt and go to the doctor when they are sick.)Most likely, the characters in these commercials are women not because women having more potty problems than men, it is because some marketer found out that the type of consumer who will force feed people in their family runny yogurt likes Jamie Lee Curtis.

It's all about the target market and making money.

I'm ok with talking bluntly about bodily functions in commercials, but I really don't want to see them.

I still don't know exactly what the problem is that these products are trying to help. And why only middle-aged women have them. And why only women like yogurt.

Did you guys catch the Fiber One commercial with the construction dude? It's freaking filled with brown stuff coming out of stuff. EG, some logs fall out of a chute, etc. It's freaking hilarious.

I've wondered about the eating disorder angle, too. Primarily because there are a few laxatives out there that focus on the "low-calorie" angle. I spent a good half-hour in the laxative section of my CVS last Passover, comparing products. I find it really disturbing that a laxative would need to advertise that it's "low-calorie" or "fat-free." To me, that screams, "People with eating disorders: use this product!"

I'm with William on this one. We discussed some gastrointestinal issues that are more frequently found in women in my Women & Health course this past Spring, and I think that this important (albeit a bit... smelly) women's health issue needs more attention (although through a vehicle of yogurt commercials? classy!)

The Mayo clinic website says that twice as many women as men suffer from IBS
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/irritable-bowel-syndrome/DS00106/DSECTION=risk-factors

And that "Women are also more frequently affected by constipation than are men"
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/constipation/DS00063/DSECTION=risk-factors

I bet they don't market these yogurts towards men because yogurt isn't a "masculine" food.

This little parody is talking about just this --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9fFOelpE_8

It's really amusing. I watched it twice.

This little parody is talking about just this --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9fFOelpE_8

It's really amusing. I watched it twice.

I seriously do think these commericials are more targeted towards women with IBS and other digestive ailments. I will admit activia has more than helped me with mine. I still find that these commercials try to tiptoe around the "have trouble sh*tting? Take this!". I know a lot of people find such ideas or even taking about it offensive, but if your body does naturally... there's nothing wrong with it. It's better to be open about it rather than hide something until it becomes a serious medical condition. And trust me, some bowel upsets can get nasty if not treated when they need to be.

Metamucil was definitely a trailblazer in this area - they were telling us way back in 2007 that we had to use their product to "beautify our insides" so that we could have "drop dead gorgeous guts".

It's marketed at women because women are, commonly, in charge of "healthcare" for their households - whether their own digestive issues, or persuading their costive spouse or offspring that "enhanced' yoghurt is a suitable breakfast food.

I DO mind that the yoghurt section at the grocery stores has been entirely replaced with a "yoghurt-like weight loss and digestive aids" section. Only the fanciest shops here sell plain old, just milk and traditional yoghurt cultures yoghurt anymore.

I've been wondering why they are always women too. I did see a commercial today for Tums but he needed it because the manly man was eating manly foods!

"but is there some nationwide scourge of constipated women that I don't know about? Is there any reason that products like these would be marketed specifically to women?"

Well the only three things I can think of off the top of my head are A)IBS which occurs more frequently in women; B) Menstruation can mess with your regularity for some women (and ooooh can it ouch); C) Pregnancy (and the iron supplements many women have to take during it) can REALLY mess with your regularity for many, many women.

But I agree it is a bit ridiculous that fiber/laxatives/etc are pretty much exclusively marketed towards white women.

Mmm, yeah, the eating disorder angle is, I think, really interesting. Sounds like some muck-raking (shit-stirring?) is in order.

I can also see how it's marketed to women as a sort of "household" thing, like food and cleaning products are. It seems like the job of a female care-giver to buy things that will help the household shit regularly. As another commenter said, mothers probably deal with the lion's share of children's poop problems.

Someone figured out that a group that has yet to be tapped for this product/service should be advertised to or the market could be stimulated via targeted advertising.

Know how many prostate exam reminders I've seen? I know as I approach 40 it's a big deal, but apparently my demographic as a whole needs more encouragement.

Anyhow, yogurt is good stuff and if it's good for your poops then cool.

Hey, feministing, what's up with choosing the "un-gayed" version of the yoga commercial?

For the gay version (in which one woman calls the other "honey") check out current's segment "That's Gay" (with the hilarious Bryan Safi).

I have MAJOR intestinal problems when it is that time of the month, as did my grandmother and all of her female relatives. I just assumed that was why it was marketed to women: because our intestinal tracts need more "regulating".

I know that women are a lot more likely to have irritable bowel syndrome than men, and as a woman who has suffered with IBS for as long as I can remember, these commercials SHOULD be aimed at me as a woman. I am even taking a drug meant specifically for women for my IBS. Unless I'm way out of the loop, I don't think these products are meant for women trying to lose weight. I know when I buy Activia it's so I can go a day without constant stomach pains and actually take a shit for once.

My thought was always that they say it will take 2 weeks to fix mild to moderate irregularity. If it's mild to moderate, I would think most cases would work themselves out in 2 weeks anyway, making this yogurt pretty much moot and unnecessary for most people.

But I'm not a doctor.

Why is the "grandma" in the second ad 38 years old? And why is her "husband" 70?

Don't know if this has been touched upon, but if there is one thing that women do more than men is dieting, and I've heard that it causes constipation, there's more info here:
Low carb diet and constipation. In other words, I agree in seeing something gendered and related to body imperatives. Someone mentioned bloating earlier too, and that is something that women with eating disorders are VERY aware of (read that in Bordo's
Unbearable Weight, among many other things, she discusses how girls/women police the shape of their bodies, including the exact days of the menstrual cycle in which they will have 'peaked,' after which the unbloating will begin).

Yours truly (having All-Bran-packed breakfast accross the Atlantic!)

(I feel like I keep sharing more and more about myself the longer I'm on here.. jeez)

The Activia commercials originally intrigued me because I have some digestive irregularity issues that I've had since childhood. Nothing severe, usually, but I can occasionally use a lift to get back to normal. I think pro-digestive yogurt is a really good idea since it's not something like a fiber supplement that's like "OH HAI I HAVE POOP ISSUES!"

As the continued, I realized they were being marketed to women with normal systems who thought they had these problems. The "sometimes it just doesn't feel right when I go" crowd.

It also concerns me a bit that there's no mention of this as a medical product -- probiotics or not, it's designed to change something in the way your body functions. If the FDA can slam down on Cheerios for its advertising about cholesterol, Activia also needs a look.

It seems that some posters have mentioned this already, so my apologies if this is being repeated, but women do suffer from (and/or complain more vocally to their physicians about) digestive issues, such as diarrhea, constipation, and bloating, more than men. It's also probably true that it's not considered "manly" to buy digestive yogurt, as it implies having a "sensitive" system, so marketing to men may be less profitable for cultural reasons in addition to physical ones. I know my GI (yes, I have digestive problems!) saw a lot more women with digestive issues, even though men are definitely not immune.

I wonder what percentage of medical commercials in general feature women over men?

I understand these products to help with problems like IBS and the recovery from laxative abuse, to be honest. I'm in recovery for an eating disorder and I have several friends who are as well. I've never heard of anyone abusing yogurt like we've abused laxatives. Maybe I'm missing something here (which I could be), but I'm confused about the "eating disorder" angle on these products. The marketing of laxatives (and diet pills) toward people with eating disorders I get, but these yogurts? I'm not sure. It was products like these that helped me during the first two years of recovery when my body didn't like food.

I agree that maybe the trend is problematic and should be examined, but the eating disorder angle doesn't sit right with me. Or I could just be defensive.