Like Water for Chocolate

Nearly half of women maintain they need chocolate to survive.

It’s no news that women love their chocolate, but a Canadian survey examining the differences between men and women revealed some other qualities that define the sexes. Discussing more than just women’s notorious chocolate predilection, the survey also questioned respondents about their shopping, grooming and other personal habits.

The survey was commissioned by Aero, a Nestlé-owned chocolate brand created in the UK and popular abroad; it is named and known for the tiny bubbles of air in each bar, giving the chocolate a unique texture. Leger Marketing completed the survey, which is cheekily entitled “Guys Just Don’t Get It.”

While nearly half of women surveyed (46 percent) asserted that there are some days that they feel they cannot “survive” without some chocolate, only one in five men (20 percent) agreed.

"The Aero 'Guys Just Don't Get It' survey gently pokes at some of the quirky differences between Canadian men and women," said Kate Beresford, marketing manager of Aero, in a public statement. "And as a woman who really can't go a day without chocolate, the results make complete sense to me."

The poll compared chocolate’s allure to sex and alcohol, asking respondents if given a choice among the three, to state which they would be least willing to give up. Survey results indicated that sex was five times more important to men than chocolate is, and four times more important to them than alcohol. Women, however, were equally as devoted to sex as they were to chocolate, with 40 percent least willing to give up each. Only one in five women (20 percent) chose alcohol as the indulgence from which they would least want to abstain.

The survey also explored how men and women compare as multitaskers. While nearly half of men maintained that they were natural multitaskers (49 percent), more than two-thirds of women (68 percent) disagreed, stating that men were not good at multitasking. Most women viewed themselves as naturally good at multitasking (85 percent), and most men (61 percent) agree.

How do the sexes compare when shopping? It’s no myth that women love their shoes, as well over one-third of women (37 percent) stated that “it is reasonable” to own more than five pairs of black shoes. Only fifteen percent of men agreed.

At the drugstore, men prefer to “grab and go” when shopping the personal care aisle; two-thirds spend thirty seconds or less getting their items. Eleven percent of men stated that they spend ‘zero time” in that section of the store. In sharp contrast, most women (81 percent) spend more than five minutes strolling the personal care and hair items aisle. Twenty percent of women (one in five) asserted that they “just love it there.”  One reason for the disparity may be that attitudes towards hair care differ between the sexes. Only ten percent of men stated that it is “reasonable” to use four products to wash and style hair, compared with one-third of women. 

While women enjoy shampoo and shoe shopping, bathing suit shopping was rated their least favorite activity out of four choices (including writing thank-you notes, seeing a musical such as Cats, and filling the gas tank). More than half (54 percent) of women ranked shopping for a swimsuit their strongest dislike, and a surprising one-third of men (32 percent) agreed. Nearly that same number of men (34 percent) disliked writing thank-you notes, while only 14 percent of women agreed. After bathing suit shopping, filling the gas tank ranked second for women, as nearly one-quarter (23 percent) ranked it as their least favorite chore, versus 12 percent of men. In contrast, nearly a quarter of men (22 percent) dislike going to a musical like Cats as much as women dislike filling the tank. Only one in ten women ranked attending a musical as their least favorite activity.