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 ads 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. Shifting my focus to McDonalds I began seeing trends in their advertising as well. McDonalds’ “healthy” foods such as salads were specifically marketed toward women. Thus I chose to look at the ways in which fast food companies reinforce gender stereotypes through their advertisement of food.
As mentioned above a Burger King advertisement of their wildly famous and popular Whopper hamburger caught my attention. The background of the ad is black with big bold white words that state, “Silly Whopper That’s a Big Mac Box”. The ad is poking fun at how small the Big Mac is compared to the Whopper. 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. The sandwich is the centerpiece of the ad. The Whopper is so large that it simply cannot fit into the Big Mac box. This article is explicitly marketed toward men. It suggests that the Big Mac is the “wimpy” choice when it comes to fast food hamburgers. Today’s society tells men that if they are to be considered a real man that they are to be tough and masculine. The 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 are not meant to eat high calorie foods like Burger King’s Whopper.
The next ad that I decided to explore 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. In the forefront is a 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, not just her torso. To the right of the advertisement are skinny white words, compared to the Burger King ad, that 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. McDonalds also blatantly excludes men from this ad. It infers that men needn’t worry about their appearance. The advertisement also suggests that men don’t eat salads because it isn’t “masculine” enough by societies standards.
By examining both advertisements I realized that certain foods are marketed toward certain genders. The advertisements respectively used both logos and pathos to appeal toward their targeted audiences. Burger King used pathos in their advertising of the Whopper. They played off the emotions of men saying that they, don’t want the wimpy Big Mac, they want the tough Whopper. McDonalds chose a different strategy when marketing their new Southwest salad. They used logos to imply that if a woman ate their salad they would look fantastic in their new dress. The Burger King appealed toward men through its use of tough looking colors, bold words, and its high calorie burger. McDonalds appealed more toward women with its feminine design, skinny font sizes, and appealing words such as “new” and “Inspires”. Both these ads have serious implications not only about today’s gender standards but also the ways in which the different genders should eat. Both ads imply what it means to be masculine and feminine through their food. Burger King implies that only men eat high calorie foods, while McDonalds implies that women should only eat figure friendly foods such as salads. It is obvious that our food cultures embrace troubling gender stereotypes that are put in place by society. These stereotypes have troubling consequences. By media and societal standards men have to be hyper masculine to fit in, and that the only thing that matters when it comes to women is appearance. When food companies adopt these stereotypes, they are only reinforcing these ideals, which leads to violence from men and eating and appearance problems with women.
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