Marketers know that if you want to sell a product to manly men, you have to make it look as masculine as humanly possible.
You need matte black packaging, references to lumberjacks and beer, and maybe some “tactical” details that make it look like a weapon. That’s how we ended up with “brogurt,” man candles, man soap that smells of bacon, and now man chapstick.
Dude Stick must be a parody of this embarrassing genre of gendered marketing. Made from ingredients like cocoa butter, peppermint oil, and beeswax, it serves the same function as any other natural lip balm. The key difference is that it’s tactical as shit.
Dude Stick’s Kickstarter page highlights its ideal design for Everyday Carry—the Internet phenomenon where people (mostly guys) take carefully arranged photos of things they supposedly carry everyday, usually guns, multi-tools, moleskine notebooks, and matte black “tactical” products.
Much like how chapstick provides a protective barrier between your lips and the elements, Dude Stick provides a protective barrier between you and any hint of femininity. Just swipe that Dude Stick across your mouth, allowing its sticky white substance to collect on your lips.
Dude Stick
A $5 donation to the Kickstarter will get you one Dude Stick, but the reward levels go up to $100, for which you 30 Dude Sticks, some homemade cookies, and “a color photocopy of my right hand to high-five when you get lonely.”
Masculinity truly is the most fragile thing in the world.
Photo via Dude Stick/Kickstarter