Pepsi Max - I'm Good Super Bowl XLIII Commercial 2009

Tags: consumption/consumerism, gender, lgbtq, marketing/brands, media, sex/sexuality, social construction, theory, masculinity, 00 to 05 mins
Year: 2009
Length: 0:33
Access: YouTube

Summary: This commercial for Pepsi Max, marketed as the first diet cola for men, demonstrates how masculinity (and by implication, femininity) is constructed in western culture. Unlike the consumption of traditional diet cola which suggests a concern over one's figure and a willingness to sacrifice flavor in exchange for fewer calories (i.e., appropriately "feminine" concerns), the taste of Pepsi Max is the first diet cola that is flavorful (i.e., potent/powerful) enough for men. To demonstrate men's ability to handle most anything besides the taste of traditional diet cola, this clip portrays men claiming their tolerance for pain in the face of extraordinarily painful - and dangerous - events. Significantly, this unrealistic tolerance for pain is asserted exclusively by men in the presence of other men. This clip is useful for exemplifying Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and Kimmel's concept of masculinity as homophobia.    

Submitted By: Valerie Chepp

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