“It’s not for women.”

Dr Pepper’s diet soft drink, Dr Pepper Ten, is all about the manly man. Their television ad shows two muscular men shooting laser guns in the middle of a jungle, killing snakes and telling women to “keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We’re good.”

Dr Pepper’s admittedly sexist ad campaign, which debuted last October, is one of many sexist ads that stirs up controversy. One YouTube user who commented on a video of Dr Pepper Ten’s commercial wrote, “I’m a guy. I’m even a straight, white, North American, whiskey drinking, weight lifting, fight winning guy … and even I find this commercial offensive and stupid.”

This ad was not the first of its kind, and it won’t be the last.

“It’s always been there, telling men that they need to be men,” said Kyle Goethals, senior in Media and president of the American Advertising Federation.

Though most do not go so far as to insist their product is “not for women,” many other brands try to appeal to the macho man. Coke Zero’s 2008 ad campaign tried to break into the men’s market by giving their diet soda a more masculine image. Old Spice encouraged consumers to “smell like a man, man” in a campaign that began in February 2010. More recently, Miller Lite began a string of commercials that portrays a man who lost his “man card” because he drank a light beer other than Miller Lite.

“I think the diet type of soda is typically more associated with women,” said Shelin Mei, president of the American Marketing Association, “and so (Dr Pepper is) really trying to tap this untapped market of diet soda for men.”

In an effort to reach out to male consumers, diet products try to seem more macho.

Brittany Duff, assistant professor in advertising, also admits that there is a stigma attached to diet sodas. “There are women who don’t like to be seen drinking diet drinks either,” Duff said.

To remove the stigma attached to “diet” products, Dr Pepper, and many of its diet soda competitors, marketed a more masculine product and removed the word “diet” from their low-calorie sodas altogether.

Goethals takes the macho-oriented ads in a lighthearted way.

“I don’t think it’s a sexist ad or anything like that. It’s kind of in a sarcastic way, in a humorous way,” he said.

However, many consumers find these ad campaigns very offensive.

“I hate (the Dr Pepper ad) because it is one of a string of recent ads that, in order to sell these products, is emphasizing that the last thing a man would want to be like is a woman,” said Teresa Barnes, associate professor in gender and women’s studies.

Barnes compares this particular advertising strategy to the mudslinging of a political campaign.

“If you belittle the other guy, then people will flock to you,” she said when comparing the two.

Barnes also comments on the presence of chauvinistic stereotypes in popular culture, which she insists shouldn’t be there. Women are not only disrespected in macho commercials, but in ad campaigns that use a woman’s sexuality to sell a product.

“You know, women in low cut dresses or clothing that shows a lot of their body, exuding sexuality which is supposed to make you want to buy (a product) … this kind of misogyny is hopeless,” Barnes said.

Many ads target men with extreme measures, but ads that use tongue-in-cheek methods to attract women are less common.

“If you’re marketing something towards women, you don’t want to go over a certain line, that you might alienate men at the same time,” Barnes said.

Barnes believes these male-focused ads attract women as well, because most women do the household shopping.

However, Mei believes that diet soda companies have been pushed to create such straightforward ad campaigns because of a history of difficulty.

“It’s been an ongoing effort to sell diet soda to men,” Mei said. “Coke Zero launched in 2008 and they’re still trying to dig into that (male) market … for now, (ads that target women) are more subtle.”

Straightforward ads like Dr Pepper’s, though controversial, may be the key to its success.

“I think they’re successfully drawing the attention of men,” Goethals said. “So, regardless of whether or not people totally agree with the advertisement … it gets your attention. I know my roommate’s already gone out and got it. And it starts a conversation too.”

Many recognize male-oriented campaigns as a joke.

“I think that there’s also the stereotype that women don’t have a sense of humor and that also comes into play here when people say women don’t get this. If you’ve seen the actual ads it’s clear that it’s just sort of a joke,” Duff said.