EE1 Final: Food and Gender Go Hand in Hand

Advertisements for food appear everywhere. They are on billboards, in magazines, bus stops, grocery stores and even on Facebook. It seems as though we cannot escape these advertisements. At first glance we see something tasty and perhaps even want to purchase it. But perhaps these food advertisements serve another purpose other than advertising our food. Perhaps these advertisements are meant to police and reinforce gender stereotypes.

Fast food has long been apart of our food culture. Ever since the first McDonalds restaurant in the late nineteen fifties America has been hooked. Now on every major street corner the numerous McDonalds’, Burger Kings, Wendy’s, and Kentucky Fried Chickens haunt us. Fast food has become a staple in most American’s diets. For me growing up fast food was a treat. It was something we only had on vacations or the occasional busy Friday night when things were usually too hectic to cook. There are numerous appeals that fast food has. One such appeal is how quick it is. You simply pull up to the drive thru and order. Within seconds you have your food and are off on your way. Another appeal that fast food has is that it is inexpensive. Most of the major fast food chains have what they call a value menu. On this menu you can find things such as dollar hamburgers, fries and drinks. You are able to order a whole meal for less than five dollars. However there are consequences to fast food meals. One notorious consequence is how unhealthy fast food is. One burger from burger giant Burger King can have up to one thousand one hundred and forty calories, and countless grams of fat. This calorie count is without fries and a drink. Yet even though Americans know how unhealthy these foods are they still continue to consume it and are even influenced to do so through advertising.

            Sifting through the numerous fast food advertisements that Google has to offer I began to see a trend starting to form; high calorie foods such as hamburgers were more often than not marketed toward men. The backgrounds to these foods were usually masculine colors such as black, with big bold letters. Darker colors are often seen as more masculine as opposed to the brighter colors such as pink, purple and yellow, which are usually, viewed as more feminine colors. While scanning through the various advertisements that Google has to offer a Burger King ad caught my attention. The focus of the ad was a Burger King Whopper, which perfectly displayed the themes that I began to see. Upon seeing a ton of masculinized ads I went looking for ads specifically targeted toward women. Shifting my focus to McDonalds I began seeing trends in their advertising as well. McDonalds’ “healthy” foods such as salads were more than not targeted toward women than men. I noticed that salads and diet foods were marketed specifically toward women whereas high calorie fatty foods were marketed specifically toward men.

            As mentioned above a Burger King advertisement of their wildly famous and popular Whopper hamburger caught my attention. This hamburger ad particularly caught my attention because of its target toward males and how it was targeting them. The background of the ad is black with big bold white words that exclaim, “Silly Whopper That’s a Big Mac Box”. The ad is poking fun at how small the Big Mac is compared to the Whopper.

Society expects males to be big, tough, and muscular. However this advertisement has deeper implications.  By using pathos the advertisement is playing with the idea that the Whopper is the more masculine sandwich because of its size. The ad is meant to look daring through the all black background. Black traditionally is thought to be more of a masculine color as opposed to feminine. The color black is usually thought of as a very harsh and robust color. The main focal point of the ad is Burger King’s Whopper. The Whopper is so large that it simply cannot fit into the Big Mac box. Men in society are expected to eat a lot in order to be big and perceived as manly. According to C. Wesley Buerkle “As meal size increases women are perceived by others as less feminine whereas men are seen as just as masculine if not more so” (Buerkle 80). Buerkle’s quote on this matter only reaffirms this notion that to eat a lot earns the perception of being masculine. Men in our society are allowed to eat whatever they like and as much as they like without society questioning them. Buerkle backs up this notion by offering that “men participate in a performance of privilege in which they may eat expansively and without concern for social repercussions” (Buerkle 81). Seldom does society scorn men for eating a lot. In fact it is almost expected. Frequently men especially young men are praised for how much they can eat.  

The Burger King ad also implies that it is better to be big and not small. However what is interesting is that this ad appeals little to most women in American society. Women generally like visually appealing ads that catch their attention. This ad provides none of that. It is a simple background with simple words. By excluding women reinforces the idea that women do not have the privilege to eat high calorie foods like Burger King’s Whopper. Knowing that Men have the privilege to eat whatever they like they advertise their whopper to show this big burger that is meant to be eaten by men not women.

The next ad worthy of exploration was a McDonald’s salad ad. It is not hard to tell whom McDonalds is trying to target. The background of the advertisement is a visually appealing red-orange color. Within the background are sketches of shoes, flowers, purses, and people having a good time. These are all things that supposedly appeal to women.  In the forefront is a thin woman eating the new Southwest salad. From the plate there are numerous swirls coming off of it. The picture of the women only shows the top half of her body. She is eating the salad and looking off into the distance as if she is looking forward to the future. To the right of her is an image of her showing off what appears to be her “new” body. The picture shows her whole body, as opposed to just her torso. To the right of the advertisement are skinny white words, compared to the Burger King ad, which state, “ A Taste That Inspires”. Below those words is a checklist with the phrases, “New Hairstyle”, “New Outfit”, and “New Southwest Salad”. All three of these items are checked off. This ad uses logos to appeal to its female audience. The advertisement suggests that if you eat this salad you will be able to look great in that new dress that you just purchased. It also suggests that just by eating this salad you will automatically look better. This ad infers that women must look good and more importantly are thin. McDonalds through production of this ad is reaffirming societies belief that to be classified as a woman you have to look good, and that the only thing that matters is appearance. Buerkle suggests that advertisements much like the McDonalds’ ad “demonstrate women’s subjection to heteromasculine norms and the demand that they carefully regulate their bodies to those ideals” (Buerkle 81).  This is why health foods and salads are marketed toward women. Women according to this ad should be thin and are regulated to eat healthy foods such as salad to maintain a thin body.

By McDonalds using a skinny model in their ad as opposed to someone of average weight or overweight has deeper implications. In a Journal article entitled Women’s and Men’s Eating Disorders makes the claim that “undergraduate women exposed to thin, as opposed to average or oversized, models had the most negative subsequent evaluations of their own bodies, regardless of their degree of disordered eating” (p.3).  Women seeing the image of a thin model for a salad ad may look upon themselves in a negative light if they do not look like the model. Thus they will turn to healthy foods in an effort to achieve the “perfect” body like the model has.

What is interesting about both of these ads is the double standard that it promotes. McDonalds is portraying their salads to be healthy and thus will contribute to a woman’s perfect body. However this is extremely false. According to McDonalds’ website the southwest salad with crispy chicken in four hundred and fifty calories and twenty-one grams of fat. This is excluding the dressing, which adds another couple hundred calories on top of that. If a woman were to eat this salad everyday there is no way that she would achieve the perfect body as that of the model in the ad. Another double standard that is perplexed is the idea that a man can eat what he would like and not be judged. If a man were to eat the southwest salad it would be okay because it is high calorie. However if a woman were to go and order a high calorie burger with fries she would be looked down upon because these are not “lady like” foods. This idea relates back to Buerkle’s idea of males food eating privileges.

It is important to note that McDonald’s and Burger King aren’t the only one’s that target their products toward specific genders. Through scanning the numerous food ads you can clearly see what gender is targeted based upon the product. For instance healthier snack foods such as yogurt are targeted toward females. Yogurt ads like to play with the idea that you can eat the yogurt without feelings of guilt. The yogurt likes to tout that it comes in a variety of dessert themed flavors with all the taste and none of the guilt. The advertisements usually show women eating them with a visually appealing backdrop. It is clear through these types of ads that this food is meant to be eaten by women only. Food products that contain meat and are high in calories are more often than not targeted toward men. The ads usually contain wording to suggest that it is not a diet product and that it contains real meat. According to the article Prime Beef Cuts: Culinary Images for Thinking ‘Men” argues that masculine food ads “work to simultaneously reinforce and conceal traditional notions of masculine” (Brownlie and Hewer 243). Advertisements of high calorie foods marketed toward men only serve to reinforce the traditional ideals of what it means to be masculine.

The way advertisers advertise their products speak to how we as a society and culture view gender and food. Through the exploration of food advertisements we can see how food is valued in our culture and what it means to eat certain foods. Our society is very stagnant. We have set ideals of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. Food advertisements are just one facet of society that police how we perceive and perform our genders. It is clear through health food advertisements that women should constantly be conscious of their weight and their bodies. Food advertisements police men in that they should be tough and eat a lot in order to be perceived as masculine. However advertisements also create a double standard. It is interesting to see fast food companies market health food which in fact is very unhealthy in itself. McDonalds’ salads can pack just as many calories and one of their hamburgers. However the way they market it is that because it is a salad it is healthier than a hamburger. We also see the double standard where men are free to eat whatever types of foods they wish, while women are to remain in a very small tasteless food genre. We currently live in a body-obsessed culture, which oddly enough is policed through the kinds of foods that we eat.

Advertisement Links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66647783@N00/2180282600/

http://www.coroflot.com/melissa_hlebasko/Advertising/7

Citations:

Buerkle , C. W. "Metrosexuality can Stuff it: Beef Consumption as (Heteromasculine) Fortification." Text and Performance Quarterly 29.1 (2009): 77-93. Print.

Brownlie, Douglas , and Paul Hewer. "Prime Beef Cuts: Culinary Images for Thinking ‘Men’." Consumption, Markets and Culture 10.3 (2007): 229-250.

Burger King . Web. 29 Apr. 2012. <www.bk.com>.

coroflot.com. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.coroflot.com/melissa_hlebasko/Advertising/7>.

flikr.com. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/66647783@N00/2180282600/>.

McDonalds . Web. 29 Apr. 2012. <www.mcdonalds.com>.

"Really, I Couldn’t Eat Another Bite: Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and Text." International Communication Association Print.

Food and Gender Go Hand in Hand

Food and Gender Go Hand in Hand

Advertisements for food appear everywhere. They are on billboards, in magazines, bus stops, grocery stores and even on Facebook.  It seems as though we cannot escape these advertisements. At first glance we see something tasty and perhaps even want to purchase it. But perhaps these food advertisements serve another purpose other than advertising our food. Perhaps these advertisements are meant to police and reinforce gender stereotypes.

            Sifting through the numerous food advertisements that Google has to offer I noticed a trend starting to form. I noticed that high calorie foods such as hamburgers were more often than not marketed toward men. The backgrounds to these foods were usually masculine colors such as black, with big bold letters. While scanning through the various advertisements that Google has to offer a Burger King ad caught my attention. The focus of the ad was a Burger King Whopper, which perfectly displayed the themes that I began to see. Upon seeing a ton of masculinized ads I went looking for ads specifically targeted toward women. Shifting my focus to McDonalds I began seeing trends in their advertising as well. McDonalds’ “healthy” foods such as salads were more than not targeted toward women than men. I noticed that salads and diet foods were marketed specifically toward women whereas high calorie fatty foods were marketed specifically toward men.

            As mentioned above a Burger King advertisement of their wildly famous and popular Whopper hamburger caught my attention. This hamburger ad particularly caught my attention because of its target toward males and how it was targeting them. The background of the ad is black with big bold white words that exclaim, “Silly Whopper That’s a Big Mac Box”. The ad is poking fun at how small the Big Mac is compared to the Whopper.

Society expects males to be big, tough, and muscular. However this advertisement has deeper implications.  By using pathos the advertisement is playing with the idea that the Whopper is the more masculine sandwich because of its size. The ad is meant to look tough through the all black background. Black traditionally is thought to be more of a masculine color as opposed to feminine. The main focal point of the ad is Burger King’s Whopper. The Whopper is so large that it simply cannot fit into the Big Mac box. This advertisement because of the above components is explicitly marketed toward men. Men in society are expected to eat a lot in order to be big and perceived as masculine. According to C. Wesley Buerkle “As meal size increases women are perceived by others as less feminine whereas men are seen as just as masculine if not more so” (Buerkle 80). Buerkle’s quote on this matter only reaffirms this notion that to eat a lot earns the perception of being masculine. This ad is suggesting that males eating this burger will be perceived as masculine. Men in our society are allowed to eat whatever they like and as much as they like without society questioning them. Buerkle backs up this notion by offering that “men participate in a performance of privilege in which they may eat expansively and without concern for social repercussions” (Buerkle 81). Seldom does society scorn men for eating a lot. In fact it is almost expected. Frequently men especially young men are praised for how much they can eat.  

The Burger King ad also implies that it is better to be big and not small. However what is interesting is that this ad appeals little to most women in American society. Women generally like visually appealing ads that catch their attention. This ad provides none of that. It is a simple background with simple words. By excluding women reinforces the idea that women do not have the privilege to eat high calorie foods like Burger King’s Whopper.  Knowing that Men have the privilege to eat whatever they like they advertise their whopper to show this big burger that is meant to be eaten by men not women.

The next ad worthy of exploration was a McDonald’s salad ad. It is not hard to tell whom McDonalds is trying to target. The background of the advertisement is a visually appealing red-orange color. Within the background are sketches of shoes, flowers, purses, and people having a good time. These are all things that supposedly appeal to women.  In the forefront is a thin woman eating the new Southwest salad. From the plate there are numerous swirls coming off of it. The picture of the women only shows the top half of her body. She is eating the salad and looking off into the distance as if she is looking forward to the future. To the right of her is an image of her showing off what appears to be her “new” body. The picture shows her whole body, as opposed to just her torso. To the right of the advertisement are skinny white words, compared to the Burger King ad, which state, “ A Taste That Inspires”. Below those words is a checklist with the phrases, “New Hairstyle”, “New Outfit”, and “New Southwest Salad”. All three of these items are checked off. This ad uses logos to appeal to its female audience. The advertisement suggests that if you eat this salad you will be able to look great in that new dress that you just purchased. It also suggests that just by eating this salad you will automatically look better. This ad infers that women must look good and more importantly are thin. McDonalds through production of this ad is reaffirming societies belief that to be classified as a woman you have to look good, and that the only thing that matters is appearance. Buerkle suggests that advertisements much like the McDonalds’ ad “demonstrate women’s subjection to heteromasculine norms and the demand that they carefully regulate their bodies to those ideals” (Buerkle 81).  This is why health foods and salads are marketed toward women. Women are supposed to have bodies that appear in shape and trim in order to be perceived as desirable to society. Women according to this ad should be thin and are regulated to eat healthy foods such as salad to maintain a thin body.

By McDonalds using a skinny model in their ad as opposed to someone of average weight or overweight has deeper implications. In a Journal article entitled Women’s and Men’s Eating Disorders makes the claim that “undergraduate women exposed to thin, as opposed to average or oversized, models had the most negative subsequent evaluations of their own bodies, regardless of their degree of disordered eating” (p.3).  Women seeing the image of a thin model for a salad ad may look upon themselves in a negative light if they do not look like the model. Thus they will turn to healthy foods in an effort to achieve the “perfect” body like the model has.

It is important to note that McDonald’s and Burger King aren’t the only one’s that target their products toward specific genders. Through scanning the numerous food ads you can clearly see what gender is targeted based upon the product. For instance healthier snack foods such as yogurt are targeted toward females. Yogurt ads like to play with the idea that you can eat the yogurt without feelings of guilt. The yogurt likes to tout that it comes in a variety of dessert themed flavors with all the taste and none of the guilt. The advertisements usually show women eating them with a visually appealing backdrop. It is clear through these types of ads that this food is meant to be eaten by women only. Food products that contain meat and are high in calories are more often than not targeted toward men. These ads like the Burger King ad feature big bold words and a masculine color scheme to target males. The ads usually contain wording to suggest that it is not a diet product and that it contains real meat. According to the article Prime Beef Cuts: Culinary Images for Thinking ‘Men” argues that masculine food ads “work to simultaneously reinforce and conceal traditional notions of masculine” (Brownlie and Hewer 243). Advertisements of high calorie foods marketed toward men only serve to reinforce the traditional ideals of what it means to be masculine.

The way advertisers advertise their products speak to how we as a society and culture view gender and food. Through the exploration of food advertisements we can see how food is valued in our culture and what it means to eat certain foods. Our society is very stagnant. We have set ideals of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. Food advertisements are just one facet of society that police how we perceive and perform our genders. It is clear through health food advertisements that women should constantly be conscious of their weight and their bodies. Food advertisements police men in that they should be tough and eat a lot in order to be perceived as masculine. We currently live in a body obsessed culture which oddly enough is policed through the kinds of foods that we eat.

Advertisement Links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66647783@N00/2180282600/

http://www.coroflot.com/melissa_hlebasko/Advertising/7

Citations:

Buerkle , C. W. "Metrosexuality can Stuff it: Beef Consumption as (Heteromasculine) Fortification." Text and Performance Quarterly 29.1 (2009): 77-93. Print.

Brownlie, Douglas , and Paul Hewer. "Prime Beef Cuts: Culinary Images for Thinking ‘Men’." Consumption, Markets and Culture 10.3 (2007): 229-250.

coroflot.com. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.coroflot.com/melissa_hlebasko/Advertising/7>.

flikr.com. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/66647783@N00/2180282600/>.

"Really, I Couldn’t Eat Another Bite: Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and Text." International Communication Association Print.

Table Set For One

            Hortwitz’s article to me made a very interesting claim. She claimed that as Americans we no longer have a fixed mealtime. Because of our busy schedules it is hard for us to acquire a fixed mealtime that works for our schedule as well as others. As a consequence many American’s often eat alone (Hortwitz). As a result of this Hortwitz claims that many food companies have taken note of this and redesigned their food so that it could be eaten on the go. Hortwitz uses a couple of examples of this. Her first example was Campbell’s Soup at Hand (Hortwitz 42). Campbell’s realized that many Americans didn’t have the time to open a can of soup pour it in a pot and cook it on the stove (as if that takes a lot of time). Campbell’s created Soup at hand which essentially cuts out the stove and pot saving time and making it more portable. Now it is easier than ever to eat soup on the go. You simply pop it into the microwave wait a couple seconds and it is ready to enjoy. This is perfect for many Americans to eat in a hurry and by themselves. Hortwiz also uses Swanson’s TV dinners as another example. Seeing the growing trend of American’s schedules becoming more and more busy they created the frozen microwavable meals (Hortwitz 44). This allowed for many Americans to eat and watch TV at the same time. Hortwiz comments, “It was the taste of freedom” (Hortwitz 44).

            Being in college I can definitely relate to Hortwitz’s argument. Because I have a busy schedule I find it hard to synchronize my eating times with that of my friends. This leads to a solo lunch on most days. Since I only have a short time for lunch I need food that is quick and easy to obtain and can be eaten alone. Thankfully DU has Nagel, which offers “To Go” food unlike the dining halls. Fortunately though I have dinner every night accompanied with my friends. However when I am at home I do find that I have a fixed dinnertime. Monday through Saturday dinner at my house is always served by six o’clock. At that time it is usually my parents and I at the table. When I was younger my sisters were of course at the dinner table along side us. However due to the large age gap between my sisters and I, for the majority of my life the dinner table has always been set for three. Sunday dinners in my family are always early. We usually eat around four if not before. My parents usually cook a big meal for us all to enjoy. Once in a while my older sister and her family will pop in and join us.

            I like the idea of a fixed mealtime because you know when you are going to eat. Growing up I knew that I would be eating dinner by no later than six. Dinner in my family was always a time to catch up on the day’s events and a way to reconnect. Now that I don’t have a fixed mealtime I’m never sure as to when I will be able to sit down and eat a meal. Most of my meals are quick and easy to eat due to my busy schedule and are most often eaten in front of my computer. The only meal I actually get to sit down and enjoy with others is dinner, when my friends and I can reconnect at the end of the day.  

The Hipster's Paris (on the Platte)

Hipster: n. A 20 something white, upper-middle class suburban transplant to any gentrifying neighborhood in any major city. Disheveled, hand-me-down appearance to present the image that they are not a slave to trends or fashions(ha!) They typically wear thick, Andy Warhol-like glasses (whether they need them or not), unshaven, unkept shaggy hair and retro Converse sneakers sometimes with no laces. The term is often used as a pejorative considering a "hipster" detests being called a "hipster."

Upon hearing about the coffee shop Paris on the Platte I wasn’t sure what to think. Would the coffee shop consist of all the stereotypical things associated with Paris? Would there be an Eiffel tower? Do the baristas and wait staff wear berets? To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect. However I was pleasantly surprised the moment I walked through the door.

            Paris on the Platte is a coffee shop located on Platte Street. Upon walking there I couldn’t help but gawk over the cute brick buildings that surround the area. I arrived to the coffee shop around 11:30 on a Saturday morning. Upon walking through the doors I was greeted with the aroma of coffee and delicious food. I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that it did not resemble Paris in any way.

            The coffee shop consists of both booths and tables meant to seat two to four people.  The coffee shop also provides seating outside for those who want to soak up the sun while sipping coffee. Because I was with friends we opted for a booth inside. Upon sitting down we were greeted by a friendly waitress. The waitress perfectly fit the stereotype of a hipster. She was wearing black ripped up shorts; her hair was messy and even had a nose ring. I ordered a breakfast bagel sandwich and coffee. I then sat back and soaked in the atmosphere.

            Like many coffee shops Paris was playing moderately loud adult alternative music. This style of music is often associated with hipsters. This set the tone for a relaxed atmosphere. Upon looking around I noticed that half of the shop was brick while the other half was red with black trim complete with rope lights. The lighting was dim which made it easy to feel at home and relax. Hanging on the walls were paintings by local artists. The staff consisted of young twenty to thirty something hipsters.

            Upon looking around I began to assess the people who were patronizing this establishment. Observing people is a good way to tell a. what kind of place it is b. what is says about the establishment and c. what the culture is. Aside from the few oddball customers it mainly consisted of white twenty to thirty something year old hipsters. The people eating here were here either to study or to meet up with a friend or two to catch up. I observed that half of the people in Paris on the Platte had their laptops with them and were working on something. Many people were alone enjoying their coffee and light breakfast foods.  However the majority of the people were at least with one other person catching up on the previous weeks happenings. Based on the price of the menu I could tell that these people were of middle class status. The average sandwich ran around ten dollars. Coffee prices ranged from $1.75 all the way to $4.95 for a small cup of joe.

            Downtown Denver is a diverse place that consists of many different kinds of people and cultures. Considering that Paris on the Platte is tucked away in Downtown Denver it only attracted a specific type of people. Back when the Beat poets were relevant they often hung out on Platte Street. Because of this many of the people that frequent this area are of the twenty to thirty something hipster variety Many people walking outside were carrying yoga mats which also indicates that they are part of the middle class hipster group. Most if not all of the people in this area were white.

            Coffee shops usually possess a certain type of culture. According to Uloop blog writer Caroline Hughes who writes “In my years of traveling through coffee shops I have come to the conclusion that it is hardly even the coffee that patrons go to partake in; it’s the ambiance that a coffee shop offers, the soothing delight that a tasty cup o’ joe mixed with good music brings. It’s a change of scenery, a break from the norm, a chance to breathe a little easier”(Hughes 2012). I found this to be quite true from my experience. I came to the conclusion that the people who patronized Paris on the Platte came here to escape the busyness of life. Platte Street itself is a very relaxed non-busy street as compared to 16^th street in downtown Denver. The customers who came here enjoyed the coffee and the atmosphere. They were looking for a place to sit and relax awhile.

            I think the reason that Paris attracted the hipsters is because it is non-commercialized local coffee shop. Hipsters like to discover the “cool” places that not many know about. The website US News and Consumer report’s lends an explanation as to why hipsters flock to coffee shops. “Coffee provides people with a lot of vision and intelligence and enthusiasm. It gives people who are maybe oddballs a place to put their passion. That's definitely an aspect of the coffee culture” (US News and Consumer Report 2008). This is a valid explanation. I feel that the hipsters want a place that provides them with a space where they can go and fit in (if hipsters even want that). I feel that hipsters value coffee shops because they are unique like themselves. From my experience every local coffee shop is different, with its own unique flair. Paris on the Platte is unique in that not only is it a coffee shop by day but a bar and open mic at night. This could also be a contributing factor as to why the hipsters of Denver love it so much.

  

Citations

Bkog, . "Hipster ." Urban Dictionary . 11 Jan. 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hipster&page=4>.

Hughes , Caroline . "The Coffee Shop Craze ." Uloop . 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://blog.uloop.com/2012/04/the-coffee-shop-craze/>.

Explaining the Coffee-Hipster Connection." US News & World Report . 9 Sept. 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/alpha-consumer/2008/09/09/explaining-the-coffee-hipster-connection>.