conscious. During grocery expeditions he
will look at the ingredients and sodium content of every jar and can before purchasing. "If
it says 'healthy' on the package, I don't have
a problem with that, but the word 'natural'
doesn't do anything for me," he notes. The
only online item he has shipped is coffee
beans from Peet's, his favorite roaster.
Low-cal and diet, which are popular
buzzwords for some female shoppers, are
a complicated issue for men, says Gwen
Sharp, assistant professor of sociology at
Nevada State College in Henderson, who
studies gender marketing. "We're seeing
more efforts to offer healthier, lower-calorie foods to men and figuring out how
to do that without talking about dieting,"
she explains. "There's a dialectic going on.
Klondike is making bigger ice cream bars
to appeal to men while other companies are
going with a more gender-neutral approach."
Behind the Numbers
Some pollsters theorize that more men are
food shopping and taking on kitchen duties
because of higher unemployment rates or
jobs that allow them to work from home.
The boom of food entertainment on television has also broadened its appeal.
"Men are getting married later in life
and spending more time outside their parents' home, so it's not surprising to see them
doing more shopping and cooking," Sharp
observes. "Also, to make ends meet, men
and women might be working different
shifts and have to share tasks more than
they used to."
Sharp sees food shopping and cooking
(as opposed to outdoor grilling, long a man's
domain) becoming less gender-specific. "I've
seen toy kitchens for sale with a boy pic-
MALE-TARGETED FLAVORS
AND INGREDIENTS
Bacon
Hot sauce
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Jalapeño
Pizza
Buffalo wing
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Beef
Beer
Whiskey
