I came across this book on Urban Outfitters today and it got me thinking. I don't know why it bothers me but it does. It possibly does bother me because of the culture of burgers, meat and men.
Nottingham has a ton of burger joints at the moment. It's become a real thing and all of these places focus on huge amounts of meat. I am not a vegan or vegetarian so I'm not ranting about that. I just don't know why this targeting men to be bros bothers me as much as it does.
I guess its playing on old school ideas of gender normality. It also means that instead of people opening cool alternative places to eat, we get more bro food. BURGERS. ALL THE BURGERS!
Also, why do we never see a book that openly states: EAT LIKE A WOMAN? Because the second sentence would be : THE COSMOPOLITAN GUIDE TO FAT SHAMING A CROWD. In fact, this plays on my other issue with cruising the internet this morning. There are pages and pages and pages talking about weight!!! This is another rant for another day however.
There is more to this bro culture though. They now have beards. It's super cool to have a beard at the moment. Personally, I am loving the man bun. I love a man who can tie (and wants to) a bun in his hair. I am not alone in this either. Nottingham has also seen a wave of barber shops opening as well. Including one at the top of Mansfield Road which looks super interesting. These shops are not run like a barber from the old days but they are more like hang out clubs with internet, laptops, djs and fridges stocked with beer. Once again - BROS.
I know a lot of my vegetarian/vegan boy-friends (not boyfriends but boys who are friends) are giving out about this meat culture bro thing as they feel it is placing the focus on an unhealthy bad for the environment trend. There is a massive amount of vegan/vegetarian boys in the UK. I was surprised by this when I moved here. A lot of people are.
I think it might be because it reinforces the ideas of what men should be then cunningly plays on it in order to sell you things. I think this idea of gender reinforcement in advertising and marketing would make me just as sick if it was targeted at women. Actually, a lot of the time, it is. I think the 'inclusion' notion within the advertising makes me feel uneasy as well. It's something that Guardian wrote about last month which I agree with. The friendly 'we are in this together' tone of advertising lately which talks to consumers as if they were ten year olds. Read an Innocent smoothie bottle to see what they are talking about. It's got to have a 'wacky' label on it now in order to get bought.
These wacky labels, bro culture (which seems to offer men a retreat from the world) and advertisers asking to be your friend not your drinks company is a bit awful as it masks a lot of harmful stuff that goes on underneath it. Example? Innocent smoothies with their colourful labels which are fun to read are distracting while you read about a couch being listed as an ingredient (one bottle I bought) or looking at the fun hat on the top - I bet you missed the part about the percentage of sugar and also missed that they are owned by Coke. A company which is a little bit morally bankrupt. So yeah, consumers will forgive a lot if you slap a wacky label on or a joke.
This is about dumbing things down a bit as well but then again, this is a rant for another day.
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