New Books In Communications

In Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture (UNC Press, 2020), Emily Contois argues that the figure of The Dude was invented (or perhaps only capitalized on) by marketing and advertising firms to combat “gender contamination” and sell what may be perceived as “feminine” foods to men. Contois suggests that this figure coalesced in response to the 2008 recession and the “gender crisis” that it created. Not only were job losses higher for men during this “mancession,” but struggling companies sought to improve sales by marketing products to men that had previously been targeted exclusively at women including diet sodas and low-calorie yogurts, as well as cookbooks, food television, and weight loss programs. In short, The Dude – represented by Jeff Bridges’s famous character in The Big Lebowski – is a male figure who “resit[s] the demands of manhood like competitiveness and breadwinning” by “simply opt[ing] out of the struggle.”  Contois devotes an entire chapter to the fig