Pink Product Overload: This Is What Women Want?

Anniekins
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 07:02 am: [report]

Okay, I’ll agree that Memorex is being completely obnoxious creating “cute” electronics for women. Maybe women don’t feel like electronics are geared toward them, because they never show a commercial with a woman wanting an awesome flat screen or sound system.  Just like I’ve never seen a man in a cleaning product commercial…

Bear in mind, though that lot of products come in a variety of colors, and manufacturers are now making pink an option because (SHOCK) some people like pink.  Additionally,  several companies offer pink lines of products, because some of the proceeds from the sale of those items go to breast cancer research. As long as your house doesn’t look like Hello Kitty threw up in there, it’s fine.

Ellis
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 07:16 am: [report]

Some good points made about simply making varieties of colors, and creating pink products for breast cancer.

Hearing that products need to be simplified and made pink to appeal to women makes me throw up in my mouth a little, though.  I do long to see ads in which women buy electronics not because they are easy to understand or attractive, but for the same reasons men supposedly go for them - quality, features, etc.  Or, come to think of it, ads in which they buy electronics at all.

DancerNinja
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 07:20 am: [report]

Ditto to both. And this Petpto pink crap would look ridiculous in my home. I’m pretty sure women want their electronic to blend in with the rest of the decor, and how many women past the age of 15 decorate in Disney princess hues?

Cables and instructions are difficult? Sorry, didn’t get that memo.

dandrean
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 07:58 am: [report]

eh. screw pink. give it to me small and compact in either yellow, electric blue, or light green. srsly. pink is so not a color i like very much. does that make me a boy?

miss game
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 08:37 am: [report]

I love pink!  They make this crap with people like me in mind… seriously, if there was a pink mac I would be in heaven.

But, I am also smart and have a degree in science/ work in a lab. I don’t think things should be simplified for us girls either.

Goldfinch86
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 08:54 am: [report]

I’m not going to lie I love some of this stuff, like the ipod the phone and the microwave. As much as I love pink I don’t own much of it and I usually go for a more coral color. And no, not liking pink doesn’t make you a boy. Being a boy makes you a boy.

Conyee West
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 09:35 am: [report]

My ex’s roommate covered their entire kitchen in pink/hello kitty stuff. It was nauseating. She had the microwave, towels, bowls, pots, pans, spatula, coffee maker, blender, sponges, knives, utensils. EVERYTHING was pink. She had a field day when it came to breast cancer awareness month, and I’m pretty sure it’s not because she’s a huge supporter. So glad when she moved out.

Humble Bee
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 09:46 am: [report]

A pink Playstation!! okay, now thats cute. Other than that, I wouldnt buy a pink lap top, a ps2 is still a toy.

Carrie Wasterlain
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 10:05 am: [report]

I’m not saying that a girl can’t like pink. I love just about every color in the rainbow. I just think it’s condescending that marketers think that just because a product is pink and purse-shaped, all women will go crazy for it, and will no longer complain that they’re being ignored by electronics companies!

Alison Wonderland
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 10:46 am: [report]

I want a pink Blackberry, so I guess I’m guilty as charged.

bellarose
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 10:49 am: [report]

It’s not condescending for marketers to use pink as a tool to get more business. Hello - the economy sucks right now, and I’m in sales and marketing and we use every tool possible out there to get more business. It’s not like there are tons big bad marketers out there saying, “Hmm, how can we make women feel inferior?” Most marketing managers are intelligent and understand how industries and products are profitable, and many of them are women! My entire marketing department is made up of women, very talented women. And pink does attract a lot of women, pink is cute, and I think the pink vaccuum and pink coffee maker are adorable, and I would have them in my house if I didn’t live with two guys!

But I also think items in lime green or aqua blue are just as attractive, like my vacuum, I bought it cause it’s lime green, and if they had a pink one there I would be debating which one I wanted more! ‘

I think you are kind of making an argument over nothing, just trying to make someone else in the world out to get you or degrade, when really this is the world we live in. Get a job marketing something and maybe your opinion will change a bit…

Ginger
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 10:51 am: [report]

“even if women are up-to-date with technology, they simply don’t have the energy to read long instructions [they probably won’t understand] and play with cables.”

I really wish I had a desk so that I could bang my head against it until until I forgot this sentence.

cjmar
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 11:16 am: [report]

Doh but I LIKE reading the instruction manual and fiddling with cables.

cjmar
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 11:18 am: [report]

To be fair, I think the pink household appliances are for breast cancer awareness.  I hate to be frank here, but microwaves and vacuums are already products “for women.”

katnohat
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 11:34 am: [report]

So, it’s okay that one of the main colors of the Frisky’s graphics is pink? What’s the diff?

Annika Harris
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 11:40 am: [report]

@katnohat No one said women shouldn’t wear pink or like pink. We just hate that “women-friendly” gadgets are usually pink just because they’re marketed towards women. I for one have never wanted to live in a jar of Pepto Bismol or Barbie’s Dream House.

Chebs
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 11:45 am: [report]

I own a few kitchen utensils and gadgets that are pink, all for breast cancer awareness.  Mostly everything else in the kitchen is blue or white, since that’s all I can get the bf to agree to.  The microwave is totally cute though; I’d break the one I’ve got to buy that one if I could.

But that Miss Army Knife I want for sheer lulz.  I would totally take it on base, bust it out, and see how many Marines would pee their pants laughing at that thing.  Perhaps the picture is bad, but that thing looks like it’s made out of cheap plastic.

Coral
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 12:23 pm: [report]

When I bought my laptop, the brand I chose came with covers that were either black, silver, white, red, green, or blue. I wanted pink. So I got a red one and bought a pink ‘skin’ that sticks onto my cover so I have my ‘pink’ laptop now. Of course if every kitchen appliance is pink, it’s a little over the top…but that pink coffee maker and/or microwave look tempting.

Anniekins
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 01:08 pm: [report]

Miss Army knives aren’t supposed to be like real Swiss Army knives.  They have a needle and thread, a perfume bottle, a nail file, and a pill box in addition to normal stuff, like a pocket knife and screw driver.

PinkRanger
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 01:18 pm: [report]

I dont’ really find any of these products particularly offensive, but it definitely pissed me off when they had that pink “designer edition!” of scrabble, with the little tiles on the box spelling out “fashion!”. It was exactly the same as regular scrabble, and trust me, I don’t need any kind of gimmick to want to play scrabble.

I was insulted by it simply because it implies that women only give a rats ass about something if we are assured that its “fashionable” or “designer”. Since when is hasbro a designer anyway?

Riley
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 01:24 pm: [report]

If Pink Ranger isn’t offended by any of the products, that is as good as the presidential seal for me. 

tishfish44
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 07:18 pm: [report]

Are we supposed to want entirely black, gray, and silver?  I love COLOR, any color.  As an aside though, I have a special affinity for pink and if I’m ever a widow, I am moving to Paris and my crazy ass is going to decorate the whole apartment pink!  But that’s just to be scary/quirky widow lady…

snap
wrote on July 13 2009 @ 07:22 pm: [report]

i love the color ideas, too!  black and gray get boring.  i think the pink trend is cute.  it doesn’t mean ALL women have to love it, but i think a lot of women are more likely than men to enjoy colorful products.  that’s not sexist against women—it’s the guys who have to deal with the gendered notion that real men only like black and silver!

PinkRanger
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 12:06 pm: [report]

@Riley: haha!

ayashe
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 06:58 pm: [report]

I hate being told that liking pink makes me less of a self-respecting woman, or a pink-loving princess, or a barbie or any of that crap. I understand the people who don’t like it just being marketed toward women, or that way it’s marketed, but every time anything pink comes out it turns into a hate fest for the color and anyone who likes it. Just because YOU don’t like the color pink, why does everyone else have to hate it, and why can’t you respect other peoples color choices as you would want yours to be respected. I find most of this sort of thing comes from “feminists” who believe in equality so long as you believe exactly as they do.

sonambula
wrote on July 15 2009 @ 04:07 am: [report]

I’d be wary of buying a pink product just because it’s connected to Breast Cancer Awareness.. Maybe do a little research first, and see how much of the profits actually do go towards good causes before making that the deciding factor. http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/

writergirl
wrote on July 15 2009 @ 05:15 am: [report]

As the only female in a house full of testosterone I would LOVE something pink—like the laptop.  There’s no way I could convince my husband to go for something like a pink coffee maker.  And I don’t know if I could look at a pink coffee maker every day anyway.

But a pink laptop, pink iPod—I would totally love something like that.  Indisputable proof that something was *mine*.

LiciMama
wrote on July 15 2009 @ 05:21 am: [report]

“even if women are up-to-date with technology, they simply don’t have the energy to read long instructions [they probably won’t understand] and play with cables.”  ummm last time i checked i am the only one in this house that actually even looks at the instructions before installing something is me. My husband is too stubborn for his own good.

That being said when I picked out a new desktop, the case looks like a car with blue lights.  I think women want choices, be it pink or something else. As a marketing unit, they should have artists come up with designs/ color combinations then use focus groups and/or surveys to discover which ones appeal to women most. They shouldnt slap pink on it and call it a day.

*sam*
wrote on July 15 2009 @ 09:34 am: [report]

Okay, I would *TOTALLY* go for the pink phone, laptop, and play station (and I confess, I already own a pink camera… and can opener [but, the can opener was a breast cancer thing])... That being said however, some of this stuff is just ridiculous. I agree that it almost seems like marketers are just slapping pink on it and assuming it will automatically be bought up by women. Moreover, I agree with a lot of the women on here a/b the color options for, mostly anything—black, gray, and white get *super* boring… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I want all of the electronics in my house to have a pink decor. Mostly, b/c pink can easily be over-kill, and secondly, I do have to concede to the wishes of my live-in boyfriend Personally, I think that if a company wants to expand their marketing through color, they should do more than just add pink (especially to things that multiple people will use or will be out in the open—the coffee maker, vacuum cleaner, kitchen knives, etc). Girls like color, not just pink you know!!!

dandrean
wrote on July 19 2009 @ 06:30 pm: [report]

breast cancer runs in my family, so if the item was pink and supported breast cancer, i would definently buy it… unless they had a color i liked better.