Big Aaargh! for Dell's Della

The New York Times reported (in the technology section, not the style section) that Dell Computer opened a new area of their website aimed at women in What Do Women Want in a Laptop?. Dell calls the new section Della. If you go there now to take at look at it, you won't see what was originally there. Here's how the NYT described the original site:

The site originally featured tech “tips” that recommended calorie counting, finding recipes and watching cooking videos as ways for women to get the most from a laptop.

Yes, the tech tips were about counting calories and recipes. That didn't go over very well with the target audience: women looking to buy a laptop. Women looking to buy a laptop roared a response to Dell that the site was ridiculous and demeaning and sexist. A few responses:

Joanna Stern in Dear Della, Sexism Doesn't Sell Laptops said,

If a Web site were to be designed by a PC manufacturer to market its laptops and netbooks to men, what would it look like? Would the tips section be full of pointers on how to stream porn? Or how to check sports scores more efficiently on a shrunken screen?

Doubtful, because men already know how to use a laptop, right? It also would perpetuate a stereotype that all men partake in those activities at their computers. And of course, we all know that not all men spend their time at the computer scouring the Interwebs for dirty pictures of Miss California.

Andrea Learned in Della Disaster: What Makes a Computer 'For Women'? said,

Is the Della pitch stereotyped? Yes. Will some women still buy? It's possible. Overall, however, the core female customer they were trying to reach may instead be writing and talking about the irrelevance of all Dell's good intentioned, marketing to women efforts.

Yes, women are discussing Dell's marketing, and not in a favorable way. Learned also predicted that Dell would have to change what it's doing. She was right. More on that in a bit.

Vanessa at Feministing wrote Just add an "a" at the end, in which she made this point,

But regardless of what they've omitted, marketing a product to a woman by dumbing down the language and making it cutesy and fashionable isn't good marketing - it's insulting. The very pitch on Dell's homepage website featuring Della says, "Find out how technology fits your lifestyle." I guess in this case, "lifestyle" seems to be your gender.

Slackmistress wrote Dell Unveils New Site that Even My Dumb Vagina Can Understand to make her outrage clear.

Dell has launched Della, a site geared toward women. Because apparently I needed a penis to surf the regular Dell site.

Jezebel was a bit more polite in Dell Discovers Ladies Use Computers For More Than Diet Tips.

When Della launched earlier this week to promote the computer manufacturer's line of Inspirion Mini 10 netbooks, the site included a video on shopping for vintage clothing and "Tech Tips" explaining how ladies could use this strange device, as of course, we don't know how to use real laptops.

It wasn't only women taking part in the anti-Della firestorm. Here's a sample comment from the men, namely Matt Hickey in Dell's Della site for girls causes facepalmage.

You see, computers are computers are computers. They are gender-neutral. Your ads should be, too. The good news is you listened to consumer feedback over the past few days. Gone from the Della site are the tacky 1950s-style housewifeisms and the "shoe shopping" stuff. They've been replaced by more appropriate language.

Still, Della, your "site" for women, is still a little too Sex in the City and not enough "it's 2009 and we all have computers".

As Jezebel and Matt pointed out, Dell realized after a few days of this negative onslaught that they had been clueless, misguided, and downright insulting to the women they wanted to pitch. Dell tried to take it back.

At the Direct2Dell site, Dell's Laura B posted The Della Connection. Laura B explained,

For those who don’t find this convergence of technology, style and personalization appealing – well, there was obviously no intent to stereotype or otherwise offend anyone.

That said, we can do better and are already making changes based on what you’re telling us. For example, we’ve made the "tech tips" section, well, more technical. We’ll be incorporating more business-oriented products and information. And there’s less pink. We are listening.

Dell got a dose of what happened when Facebook redesigned recently. Or what happened when Twitter changed @replies. Corporations are no longer something "out there" that provides what they want which we accept without comment. We are interconnected, networked, personalized, optimized, and plenty capable of letting our voices be heard when things are not exactly the way we want them to be. The one way street closed some time ago. It's a two way street now. Merge, Della, merge.

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Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
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