Really?

That's the initial reaction given from anyone I've been around while watching Dr. Pepper Ten's new "It's Not For Women" ads.

If you haven't seen the ads, they feature a group of soldier-esque action heroes engaged in a firefight in a jungle while driving a Jeep. Then, one of the men turns to the camera and says, "Hey ladies. Enjoying the film? Of course not. Because this is our movie and this is our soda. … You can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We're good."

The tagline then follows, "It's Not For Women."

But the campaign doesn't end with the ads. They have a male-only Facebook page, complete with manly games that let you shoot items like heels and lipstick. The packaging even comes in gun-metal grey, laden with bullet decorations.

Some view the campaign as an example of blatant sexism by corporations and advertisements. Others say that they simply won't buy the drink.

Overall, I can't find a man or woman who seems to think the ads are a good idea.

Oddly enough, the people most outraged usually weren't outraged for themselves, but for all women who might to be offended. Still, I couldn't find someone who was really personally offended.

That's because this ad campaign is inane, but not terribly offensive. Or at least no more offensive than all advertising in general.

The campaign is supposed to be poking fun at the typical male advertisement while also attracting men who don't like to drink diet sodas.

The way I feel about the advertisements is the same way I felt about Don Imus during the Women's Basketball debacle at Rutgers State University on New Jersey, where he referred to the team as a bunch of "nappy-headed hos."

I never felt like he was actually racist, just that he tried to make an edgy joke, but awkwardly and tastelessly failed. It's the same as hanging out with friends at Brandeis and hearing an off-color Nazi joke made that sends cringes through a room.

I

don't think that the people at Dr. Pepper are any more sexist than other advertisers; they just awkwardly failed at trying to make a joke.

This campaign will eventually subside into the vaults of pop culture's past, only to be brought up every now and then as a "remember when" when someone drinks a Dr. Pepper. But that doesn't mean the sexism will diminish in advertising.

My issue with people getting offended by this ad is that those same people often fail at being outraged at every other company. While Dr. Pepper is telling us exactly what they're doing, other companies assume that we're so oblivious that we'll fall for every one of their ploys. Diet Coke and Coke Zero are practically the same drink.

But no one makes a fuss over Coke advertising a drink purely because the corporation knows that removing "diet" will make more men drink it, after their marketing research revealed an association with diet sodas and women.

Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max have separate ads, with the majority of Pepsi Max ads running during sporting events and playing up stereotypical American masculinity. That men need their own version of the same drink is insulting and condescending, but no one brings that up.

Hair products, beer, sports, cars, clothing and just about every product's ads are guilty of sexism.

Companies want to make money and they want to appeal to their target audiences. To do so, they play up the sex divide as much as possible, but would never admit it. Some products are obviously going to be geared toward one sex and that's fine.

However, the extremes can be insulting; I personally feel embarrassed for all men every time I see an ad that makes it seem like the only way to be a man is to objectify women, drive trucks and drink beer.

Sure, some are pretty funny, but the canon of these ads produce an insulting stereotype of men.

Axe body spray shows me that the key to an attractive woman's heart is to smell as good as a four-dollar can of spray can make you smell. Budweiser taught me that the only thing I want more than beer is attractive twins of ambiguous sexuality.

Burger King made me realize that eating copious amounts of meat (read: bacon and beef) is the only way to align myself with the rest of the male population.

Plenty of advertisers make ridiculous generalizations to sell a product; Dr. Pepper just made the mistake of being the only one to admit what they're doing.

Dr. Pepper shouldn't be given a free pass, and no, there aren't larger implications for their ads. But more importantly, people should be annoyed with all advertising, not just Dr. Pepper's ads.

Taking issue with these ads alone is way too easy and is a shallow way of tackling a larger issue. If anything, Dr. Pepper's newest ads are less condescending than those other ads who try to do so secretly.