foo food

Didjever notice? You got your TV on and that annoying yogurt ad is running again -- the one with the gal in her wedding dress petting a kitten while she reminisces with her BFF's as they all sit around consuming yogurt.

Yogurt, it seems. like that other famous "Yo" word, the one that ends in "ga," is generally perceived as "a chick thing," like movies starring Meredith Baxter. Public perception of it labels yogurt a "feminine food," and one has to wonder whether any yogurt maker has ever made an effort to appeal to men, in hope of doubling sales.

Well, not quite, but there is new yogurt aimed at men only. "Powerful Yogurt," a truly macho treat, makes a guy want to head for the forest to hunt feral pigs with a crossbow, or at the very least, go out in the driveway and kick the tires.

So now they got their yogurt, which is submissive, gentle, sympatico, and full of caring, sharing and relating. Our yogurt, on the other hand, is hard and chewy, may contain barbed wire, and a printed warning on the package cautions users not to discharge firearms in the house. Segregated yogurt.

Sometimes I think the ridiculous gender roles and rules we've concocted for ourselves are a product of advertising, with about a teaspoon of tradition added in.