Dairy Queens and Taco Belles

Speaking of a different part of the spectrum, Dairy Queen seems to break the mold of gender stereotyping. The spokesperson for Dairy Queen in their commercials is a set of Rocky Horror-esque lips. These lips are clearly female as they are covered in bright red lipstick, but wait the voice that emerges from these lips is most definitely male. Is Dairy Queen actually representing transgender people or cross dressers? It would seem so, and through their subtle but provocative approach they have brought something into advertising that is rarely present.

Interestingly enough Dairy Queen itself came out with a new advertising campaign that rivals the gender stereotyping of Burger King. The commercial features a man and his girlfriend sitting on a couch watching television. The man is eating a gigantic meat filled burger and his girlfriend asks for a bite. After she takes a bite she starts to act like a man. The slogan for the commercial is "It'll Make a Man out of You."

Taco Bell is another fast food restaurant that gender stereotypes in their advertising. Recently Taco Bell has undergone a new advertising campaign that features only male celebrity athletes in their commercials (Collins 1). More often than not a woman is working behind the counter in these commercials, which is portraying women in a service position. There is a lack of any female celebrity athletes as the main focus of these commercials. This can be inferred in a few different ways. Taco Bell may think that showing a male celebrity eating at their restaurant will bring more business than a female celebrity.

Works Cited

Collins, Glen. New York Times. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Advertising; As Taco Bell puts its account in review, the question becomes: Where's the spice?" 6 July 1997. Accessed on 30 November 2010.