Selling Out: It doesn’t feel like very long ago that marketers were being admonished about their shallow perceptions of how to appeal to women. The assumption was that marketers, mostly being men, would make naïve and patronizing overtures to a female audience, epitomized by “pink think.” This is where you take the thing you made for a man and make it pink or in some other way, pretty and dainty. (Not that this has stopped entirely. The “Bic for Her” phenomenon is a recent example.)
3 comments:
The trouble with how this article was presented on the blog (through its title and the little bit of the article that is previewed) is that it's not clear that this article is actually connected to theatre. It may have been beneficial for the author to have indicated that it was theatre-related in the title. I chose to read it without knowing it was more specifically related to theatre, just out of interest in reading a perspective on products marketed specifically to females. But it turned out to be much more relevant to theatre specifically, as the main focus was on marketing Broadway shows to men. As the article explains, there is the same situation that always comes from gender-specific marketing. While companies approach it with the (likely) good intentions of trying to acknowledge and reach out to this other audience, the way in which they then try to appeal to them is based on stereotypical generalizations and just ends up isolating this other group.
I've seen so many unnecessarily gendered items for sale lately. Pens are just one example. Hardware stores sell tools "for women" by making them pink and flowery. In my experience, I don't want pink flowery tools, I want good working ones that will not make me look like a fool on a job. Trying to reach an audience by making changes can sometimes be offensive. I don't think that giving up on trying to reach straight men for Broadway shows is a good idea, but I think, instead of trying to make Broadway more "straight", we need to teach that activities and products are not gendered. If a boy wants to wear a skirt, he's wearing a skirt, not a WOMAN"S SKIRT. If a guy wants to see Broadway show, he's going to see a good piece of theatre, not going to do a gay or effeminate activity.
I think that this author is right about this ongoing trend of gendering items.I've never wanted to buy something more because it said for her in pretty letters on the box. I actually find it insulting and I think that the same goes for plays. I don't come to see plays because there is pink glitter on the posters and I doubt men will come if you stick random sports related things everywhere. At the end of day, I think it comes down to respect and great content, and any product that has great mix of both will probably sell well with any audience.
Post a Comment