NEW YORK, Sept 1 — Just as the diet soda industry has taken to creating gender-specific products, yogurt makers are following suit with protein-rich products and masculine packaging to appeal to the more macho sensibility.
While marketing pitches have traditionally been skewed heavily towards the female demographic (think slow-motion images of pretty ladies savouring spoonfuls of yogurt or dancing in yogurt-induced bliss), men are virtually left out of the equation.
But yogurt makers are taking cues from the diet soda industry which has begun to segment their consumers with gender-specific ads and products.
Earlier this year, for instance, Coke Zero launched a series of male-targeted ads depicting the beverage as a “guy’s drink” with spoofs on office basketball tournament pools and other sports-related male clichés.
Diet Coke, meanwhile, is clearly marketed towards women, with marketing campaigns that enlist designers like Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld to create limited edition cans and bottles.
Likewise, Danone unveiled a new line of dairy products simply called Danone for MEN in Bulgaria, supposedly designed and tailored to cater to male taste buds. Packaging is more sleek and minimalist and eschews the traditional round pots for more masculine linear square edges, says Danone.
Powerful Yogurt also launched this spring in the US to fill the major gender gap, targeting men with dark colours, a simple design, images of ripped, muscular men and a slogan that says, “find your inner abs.”
The protein-rich, non-fat Greek yogurt also appeals to men’s vanity by promising to aid fat loss and muscle gain. — AFP/Relaxnews
