The other night, I was scrolling through my social media and I stumbled upon this video. Itās a clip from The Ellen Show where Ellen Degeneres uses her opening monologue to discuss the absurdity of a product from the company Bic. Itās a set of pens just for women, customized to fit womenās hands. As if all women are the same?
This kind of marketing, separating men and women by changing the color of a product and nothing more and selling it at a different (and often higher) price bothers me. Or, perhaps, bother is too forgiving. This brand of advertising irks me. So much so, I spent a whole English I paper pointing out the sort of social oppression this advertising delivers.
Yes, there are some products that can be branded directly to women, such as period related things. But for simple objects such as office supplies, razors, deodorant, soap, snacks, childrenās toys and so much moreā¦ Why must there be a delineation?
Often times, these products are some pastel coloring that not all women enjoy and they arenāt taken as seriously as their male-marketed counterparts. My post-its do the same job as regular not-for-her post-its and so do my soap, pens, razors, snacks and so forth.
What bugs me most is that they start this division of sexes at such a Ā young age. Little girls are pushed to their own frilly, watered down version of a LEGO set that has little to no building capability. A little girl is taught early on that she should only like certain activities and certain colors. She is socialized to become this fictional āweaker sex,ā even in our āprogressiveā times.
If this were truly truly the case, we shouldnāt be branding our products in such a way. When we do, we create barriers that prevent our movement to equality, no matter how simple.
What’s the stupidest “FOR HER” product you’ve ever seen?
All artwork by Pebbles.
I literally wait IMpatiently for your weekly posts.
Neffi! Thank you! This made my day!
I saw male/female yoga mats at Modells. I bet I could stretch and be very zen on either
Why not just roll urself into a comfort burrito?
There are times when a delineation between male and female products makes sense, but I totally see how annoying it can be when this distinction is made in areas where it need not apply, like simple office supplies. Certain things may generally appeal more to men than to women and vice versa, but at the end of the day, if it’s functional and gets the job done, it’s no big deal. I’d use “for men” deodorant if there was nothing else in the house, just saying.
I find it clever that you drew yourself in blue and the man in pink, was it simply to mix things up and show that colors shouldn’t be reserved to specific sexes? I’d love to hear your thought process behind it.
Ah! You noticed! Iām glad! When making this installment, i was thinking up color schemes and there will always be a cool and warm tone in each palette. I wanted to have a subconscious layer to the little comic to see if I could get you all thinking!
Usually, societal norms are associated with the āman in chargeā and if the man in charge says that Pink is for ladies, then he should be pink, too!