I saw some earplugs for sale today… out of the 4 packages one was clearly designed to capture the female market, yet had no special draw… other than being pink. Did you see what I did there… designed to capture the female market – not designed for women. Capturing the female market is big business since women account for 85% of consumer purchases. That’s a lot!
I’m so tired of what passes as marketing for women. Ok, lets make it pink. Yeah, uh nevermind any of the unique features that women might want. Maybe it works? Maybe some women think: oh, it’s pink it must have been made just for me! Or a clever scheme to sell you one less set of earplugs for the same price. According to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association 59% of women don’t want pink gadgets. Whoops.
They could have used that shelf space to market to a new audience like concert or club people. That ringing in your ears when you leave – that’s ear damage. :/ Our earplugs protect you AND you’ll still hear the music! :) They could even put a few in the makeup section.
My name is Kelly Seiler. I'm an electrical engineer working in the defense industry. I realized that there was an undercurrent of sexism present at work... no one person or attitude seemed to be the culprit. I've decided to learn more about feminism to help me better combat sexism without damaging my reputation. I consider myself an undercover feminist. I'm a feminist, but I avoid pointing things out directly.
An excellent feminist primer! At 118 pages this one is a quick read, but still jam packed with information. It will change your perspective about what feminism is really about compared to the mass media portrayal.
While not a strictly feminist read, this books has lots of good tips to consider in an office environment.
8 Comments
There’s even a picture of a woman on the packaging. That’s how you can be sure it was made just for women.
You have a pretty interesting blog. Many of those companies want to get more of women’s dollars, yet they are too lazy to put in the investment money and effort to tailor make the product and marketing campaign to suit the target. Tailor-made marketing campaigns and listening to ladies’ wants on functionalities and form factor to improve their use of the devices would do much better for actually living up to the promise, although many of them are too risk-averse or lazy to spend the effort and investment.
I think in general, it works. Otherwise they wouldn’t market that way.
8 Words:
Never underestimate the stupidity of the American consumer.
I’m sure that making things pink works somewhat… the same way that not beating your children makes you a good parent. There is a lot of room for improvement.
I think the American consumer isn’t so much stupid as they are distracted… most of the time.
Ugh, I loathe pink things, as do many other women I know. I did hear a great story from one of my engineer friends, though, about the repulsive power of pink. Seems back when she was in school, and the only woman in her classes, everyone was always borrowing each others texts and lab books and never returning them. But when she cleverly disguised all her books in hideous neon pink covers, no one ever tried to borrow them again. Likewise, her normal looking (black or yellow or whatever) site radios would constantly wander off, never to be seen again, but the pink one, oddly enough, never got taken in ten years.
Pink: the color no one wants.
Not only are products marketed specifically for women by putting them in “feminine” packaging but they’re priced higher, too!
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/priceless/200912/the-gender-surcharge
I guess all that fancy-schmancy packaging is worth quite a pretty penny, is it not?
The Excedrin Menstrual Complete is especially infuriating. ” same active ingredients, in the same amounts” yet is more expensive. Way to target vulnerable women. Of course those companies would do the same to men any day (if the idea were proposed)… it’s apparently easier with women.
In the article, following an experiment where both women and men act sexist against women in money matters is this gem of a quote: “That underlying psychology poses some difficult challenges to our would-be egalitarian society. What’s to be done when people who aren’t sexist unknowingly act as if they were” Um, wut? THEY ARE SEXIST. People who are sexist generally don’t know they are sexist, duh. Even people who would loudly fight for women’s rights are often sexist in their everyday lives. Yes, women too. People don’t generally go around KKK style burning down people’s careers… things are way more subtle than that. Just look at what happens to female celebrities.
I think the American consumer isn’t so much stupid as they are distracted… most of the time.
Well, also, I’m noticing in that picture that the hideous pink things look a little smaller than the neutral types, which could incline a woman to buy it more because, well, yes they’re hideous, but they’ll probably fit better and be more comfortable. Their appearance tags them as something designed specifically for a woman’s build (whether or not it’s been effectively done), and if you’re a tired shopper who just wants to grab and go, and not spend precious moments of your life agonizing over ear plugs, you might be inclined to go for pink just using that heuristic .