Toxic Masculinity - Products

Razors: 

All razors have the sole purpose of shaving hair, some are marketed towards men and some towards women even though they have the same purpose and resolution, to the extent where even the product is coloured differently to make it seem as a particular brand or type must be purchased if you're a particular gender. 

Kleenex 'man-size tissues':

Plain tissues from the brand, that consist of the exact same paper, and ply, are too feminine for 'male consumer needs'. Therefore men must only use 'man-size' tissues for manly illness'. Ridiculous. 

Bic 'for her' pens:

A prime and well-known example of a product used by both genders, which is both demoralising towards women and emasculating towards men. The pens do the same thing as all of their other competitors on the market and are no different other than the body of the colour of the pen. It is taking stereotyping that women's products must be pastel and pretty to a new level.

Not only does this show how companies are singling out particular consumers and only appealing to some people, but it released an up-rawr from the consumer the product was aimed towards e.g. “I was disappointed [sic] to find that only one-fifth of the pens I received were pink, or maybe more, I can't do maths” showing how the lack of feminist consideration within the packaging and marketing of all these products is unnecessary.

 

Yorkie: 

Probably one of the most famous gender specifically branded items in the world is the Yorkie chocolate bar with the bold statement ' It's not for girls' as the slogan. The packaging design is aimed towards men and physically the slogan itself discourages women from buying it. This is then further exemplified on the back with the further statement on the back 'Don't feed the birds'. When it initially launched and still today it received critique for gender stereotyping. The statement alone 'It's not for girls' doesn't only sway against a feminine market, but also plays on the idea of toxic masculinity language to boost males feelings of masculinity and therefore sell more product. Yet again another marketing technique that isn't needed and corners a market, not to males but only males who don't care about the sexism that is involved in this brand. 

Nivea Shower Gels:

Unilever products as a whole are multiple culprits for making different marketed products which have almost the exact same ingredients. An example of this can be seen above, to investigate my theory about this I looked at the products in more depth and the boots website. Below are the ingredients for each:

Men's Product:

Women's Product:

The ingredients are almost identical, apart from some things which have been changed to add the extra 'moisturiser'. this shows the way which a product really doesn't change, yet the branding can change so much to give each gender a sense of in fitting with the social norms of that particular gender when purchasing said product. Yet if they were to buy a the womens product and be a man, or buy the mans product and be a woman, you'd feel instinctively judged for that purchase.