You know, if we just stopped gendering things in the first place, we wouldn’t have to bend over backwards to get our products sold to the other 50% of humanity. Case in point…
Lucia M.M. sent in this effort to sell wine to the Monday night football crowd:
Meanwhile, seven of our Readers sent in the new female-branded beer “chick beer” (“just 97 calories and 3.5 carbs”):
Another reader tipped us off that Molson is in on the game too with it’s girly pink brand, Animee:
See also a long list of gendered/sexualized foodstuffs and other things that are gendered for no conceivable reason.
UPDATE: Several readers suggested that the Monday Night Football wine may actually be aimed at women who like football. There are lots of them.
Thanks to our readers for the submission!: Yvette, Kirsten O’N., Jayna T., Amanda S., Rosemary McM., Caitlin C., Andrew P., Tom Megginson (of Work that Matters), and Kjerstin G. (for About-Face).
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 20
jenna — September 13, 2011
One slight nitpick. A large part of the NFL audience is women. I, myself, look forward to NFL season, follow various teams, and most often watch Monday Night Football.
With the lack of explicit gendering, I'd push back a bit that the wine labeling is completely geared towards males. In fact, to me, the linkage of American football and wine is pretty unusual and might even hint towards a campaign geared for both males and females.
hopeless shade — September 13, 2011
Wow. The container is designed like a purse, the bottles are dresses, the negative space of these designs is pink, the fonts are variants on Curlz and Vivaldi, oh, right, and there are faux diamonds everywhere. And dieting information.
They certainly tried to hit as many bases as they could, didn't they? The others look positively unisex in comparison.
Kat — September 13, 2011
I disagree on the wine- fan of football and wine. And guess what, I have a clit.
Having said that: I HATE (so.much.) the chick beer. Animee is cool, but unfortunately men will not be allowed to drink it.
sarah — September 13, 2011
"Witness the chickness"? That doesn't even rhyme! That slogan sucks!
Frowner — September 13, 2011
When I see beer labeled "animee" I expect it to have Sailor Moon on it, or Ranma 1/2 or something.
Larrycharleswilson — September 13, 2011
All consumers need do is not buy either the beer or the wine.
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Anonymous — September 15, 2011
I'd like to echo some of the other comments about the wine. On the face of it, they are just marketing to football fans, which I believe is a rather large group in the USA. Or, possibly to people (as in men and women) who have nothing else to do on Monday while others are watching football.
The beer is really offensive, however. There's no mistaking the stereotyped marketing--especially with the "Chick" one.
Rebecca — September 20, 2011
Echoing the other comments. I'm a woman and a football fan and don't at all find the football wine offensive. Hell, I'd probably buy that.
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