Gender - Every home should have three!
THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS GENDERED?
By David Solomon
Earlier this year, there were various news reports regarding the controversy over free Yorkie bars being given out to men only. This involved representatives of Nestle Rowntree handing out free chocolate bars just to men and strictly not to women in various city centres across the UK as part and parcel of their “Don’t feed the birds” promotion. Why, one wonders, would Nestle want to alienate over 50% of prospective customers? Perhaps they forgot to remember that ‘birds’ can also fly away? However, it’s not only Nestle who are guilty of sexism.
For instance, I was in the city centre recently when free samples of a very well known shampoo were being given away, obviously in order to attract potential customers. Having long hair, I would have very much liked to try one of these samples but I was never offered one because seemingly it was solely female members of the public who were being targeted.
Just why is it that so many traders persist in the patronising practice of reducing us all to outdated gender stereotypes when it comes to marketing their goods? Ridiculously, they insist on trapping us all into neat, little gender boxes that contain grotesque caricatures of two, and strictly two, idealised and immutably polarized gendered entities. No doubt these perfectly gendered little packages are labelled Ken and Barbie and are protectively sealed against men who are outrageous enough to spend too much time washing their hair or women who are radically feminist enough to demand the right to enjoy the taste of chunky ‘man-size’ chocolate bars.
Don’t salespeople realise how much custom they lose by alienating prospective customers as a result of such crassly unimaginative overbearing tactics? Identifying specific groups of consumers and making presumptions about what their attitudes and needs will be, is obviously considered a crucial ingredient in the planning of any marketing campaign. However, as with much in advertising this idea is taken too far. For example, by not publicly admitting that it’s not only women who buy lipstick but also a large number of cross dressers, companies are missing out on business by not appealing to a group within society who are actually likely to buy more cosmetics than women.
Just how effective is gendered persuasion? Personally, I’ll take pains to avoid that particular brand of shampoo in the future and if, as they’re sure to tell me, this results in more bad hair days, then it’ll be their fault!
Copyright 2002 David Solomon
By David Solomon
Earlier this year, there were various news reports regarding the controversy over free Yorkie bars being given out to men only. This involved representatives of Nestle Rowntree handing out free chocolate bars just to men and strictly not to women in various city centres across the UK as part and parcel of their “Don’t feed the birds” promotion. Why, one wonders, would Nestle want to alienate over 50% of prospective customers? Perhaps they forgot to remember that ‘birds’ can also fly away? However, it’s not only Nestle who are guilty of sexism.
For instance, I was in the city centre recently when free samples of a very well known shampoo were being given away, obviously in order to attract potential customers. Having long hair, I would have very much liked to try one of these samples but I was never offered one because seemingly it was solely female members of the public who were being targeted.
Just why is it that so many traders persist in the patronising practice of reducing us all to outdated gender stereotypes when it comes to marketing their goods? Ridiculously, they insist on trapping us all into neat, little gender boxes that contain grotesque caricatures of two, and strictly two, idealised and immutably polarized gendered entities. No doubt these perfectly gendered little packages are labelled Ken and Barbie and are protectively sealed against men who are outrageous enough to spend too much time washing their hair or women who are radically feminist enough to demand the right to enjoy the taste of chunky ‘man-size’ chocolate bars.
Don’t salespeople realise how much custom they lose by alienating prospective customers as a result of such crassly unimaginative overbearing tactics? Identifying specific groups of consumers and making presumptions about what their attitudes and needs will be, is obviously considered a crucial ingredient in the planning of any marketing campaign. However, as with much in advertising this idea is taken too far. For example, by not publicly admitting that it’s not only women who buy lipstick but also a large number of cross dressers, companies are missing out on business by not appealing to a group within society who are actually likely to buy more cosmetics than women.
Just how effective is gendered persuasion? Personally, I’ll take pains to avoid that particular brand of shampoo in the future and if, as they’re sure to tell me, this results in more bad hair days, then it’ll be their fault!
Copyright 2002 David Solomon