Cereals just for real men'? Food becomes the new battleground of the manosphere

Man Cereal is a cereal brand built around hypermasculine packaging and product positioning. The design avoids colorful boxes common in cereal aisles and instead uses a “manned up” identity. The brand includes creatine and extra protein, aiming at gym-focused consumers. The branding strategy connects to toxic masculinity by framing brightly colored or skin-related products as embarrassing for men. Similar products use aggressive or macho themes, such as hand cream with a fistfight implication and grooming products with bloodied flag imagery. Man Cereal extends the same logic through flavor labels like dominant, self-assured, legendary, and sigma. Creators claim men had abandoned cereal due to sugary children’s options or bland, unhealthy alternatives, leading to a natural, high-protein, low-sugar cereal enriched with creatine.

"Cereal Finally Manned Up. That's the slogan of Man Cereal, a cereal brand that not only contains creatine and extra proteina gym bro's dream but also stands out for its packaging design that appeals to hypermasculinity by eschewing the colorful boxes that characterize most cereals on the market."

"Ashburn argues that toxic masculinity has forced men to feel embarrassed about buying or using products with brightly colored packaging or those marketed as good for the skin. That dynamic has created a niche for very manly products items that turn polarization into a marketing strategy and promote an outdated, toxic idea of masculinity."

"One example is Bloody Knuckles, a hand cream whose name suggests the user has been in a fistfight. According to this narrative, the only plausible reason for a man to take care of his hands is if he's injured them in a fight. There's also Dr. Squatch, a brand of gels and soaps whose packaging features a bloodied U.S. flag and men smoking pipes."

"We realized that most men had given up on cereal; they were left with only sugary children's boxes or bland, unhealthy versions that didn't live up to expectations, say the creators of Man Cereal. After months of testing, adjustments, and tastings, we created a natural, high-protein, low-sugar cereal, enriched with creatine."

Read at english.elpais.com