Energy drinks are traditionally very male gendered products, most obviously in terms of slogans, packaging, visual advertisements, and corporate sponsorship. While some focus more on sports others focus more on sexuality, but what they all very adamantly portray is masculinity. Monster is one of the most over-masculinized brands of energy drinks. Montser Energy utilizes violent depictions of masculinity and the sexualized passivity of women to clearly portray idealized masculinity to its consumers in order to sell its products to men.
In its endeavor to sell products based on masculinity, Monster employs the use of violence depicted in words. When discussing the genderedness of Clinique toiletry products Kirkham and Weller state that “language undoubtedly plays a role in the gender coding of Clinique products” (Kirkham 272). The same applies to Monster as it uses rough and violent language as the basis for the names it gives its products. Drinks such as Assault, Killer-B, Hitman, and Ripper help male consumers see that the products are in fact powerful and aggressive as they themselves should be.
Monster is depicted in a violent manner while the women marketing the products are depicted as sexually passive and available to the male consumers. When going over the opposition between masculinity and femininity Katz states, “One of the ways this is accomplished, in the image system, is to equate masculinity with violence, power, and control (and femininity with passivity)” (Katz 352). Looking at the juxtaposition of both masculinity and femininity as portrayed by Monster, it seems to be story lining sexual violence and control over women.
Works Cited
Jay. "Baby Monster – 3 Oz. Energy Shot." Weblog post. A Case of HANS: Monster Energy & More. 22 Sept. 2008. Web. monsterfinance.wordpress.com.
Katz, Jackson. "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity: From Eminem to Clinique for Men." Gender, Race, and Class in Media: a Text-reader. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. 349-58.
Kirkham, Pat, and Alex Weller. "Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study." Gender, Race, and Class in Media: a Text-reader. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. 268-73.
Monster. Advertisement. Kustom. Web. kustompcs.co.uk.
"Monster Assault Calories + Nutrition Facts & Information." Calories in Drinks. Web. caloriesindrinks.com.
"Monster Energy." Weblog post. Follow the Money. 22 Dec. 2009. Web. seeker401.wordpress.com.
"Monster Energy with a with Nitrous Oxide Launched." Popsop. 6 Aug. 2009. Web. popsop.com.
