BlogHer - marketing to women - Comments

Totally geeking out!!!

Liz Rizzo — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:56:09 -0500

Awesome interview, Erin, and thank you so much for including my quote, you (and Sarah!) made my day. :)

All the questions were great, and I particularly loved the discussion about how advertising could make such great strides simply by acknowledging that men love Swiffers, too. ;) There really is a strange disconnect between reality and advertising. Strange because it's not like you actually *need* sexism to sell things.

Thanks again for a great interview! Off to tweet...

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

I love her humor

Erin Kotecki Vest — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:50:44 -0500

It stops me from getting all stabby at the issues she's actually spotlighting.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

Thanks for the introduction!

Kim Pearson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:14:02 -0500

I had never heard of Sarah Haskins before but she is smart and funny. Great interview, Erin!

KimBlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

GREAT to meet other girl gamers!

ImaGuysGirl — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:01:39 -0500

Maria- halo is a great game! Have you seen the wedding where a couple actually got married by Master Cheif and the girl walked down the isle to the halo theme music?!

JPeaslee- i feel your pain! When I tell people I write about/play video games, there is a look of confusion on their faces and I always have to immediately "prove my worth". At those times I wish I could pull out a portable xbox and commense the ass kicking. And I couldn't agree more with the statement about how video games have NOTHING to do with murders, violent crimes etc...That is simply a case of a parent not wanting to take responsibility for thier child's actions and trying to find other things to blame their bad behavoir (ala video games)

Glad to see other girl gamers out there. There is a great video called "Women in Gaming" that you should watc

Blythe Brumleve

http://www.GuysGirl.com

http://ImaGuysGirl.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Suzanne Reisman — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:51:05 -0500

You'll love my post on bikini waxing then! Probably you'd prefer it to my posts on the effects of foreclosure, why we need subsidized quality child care for all working families, or how to prevent rape. Those posts might upset your hypothesis about me, and I would hate to do that. I also won't bother explaining my career in community development, since clearly I am just a fluff head who worries about candy. Your assumptions really fascinate me, though, particularly because they are so hilariously off base.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Thanks for chiming in and elevating the level of discourse, Ken!

Mom101 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:51:52 -0500

Ironically, you've targeted a fantastically respected writer here who's known for posting thoughtfully and diplomatically about some of the most challenging issues of our time. And occassionally - marketing. (Oh, the horror.)

For you to presume to know her based on one anaysis of a buzzworthy ad campaign would be like me presuming to know you based on one misdirected rant.

I wish you luck with your situation. It can't be easy. And if you ever spent any actual time here, you'd know that we talk about that a whole lot too.

Mom-101

Hey, let's be fair here...

JPeaslee — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:46:47 -0500

...There's more to the Best Buy layout that ridiculous shopping carts. I, for one, think the new layout is cool - although I would shop there regardless, based on their superior pricing.

But when reading the article to which you linked, I noticed that they had a fair amount of women representation (not enough, but a good start) and that they spent nine months planning this. This is in contrast to the "Della" venture, which was quite possibly pitched by a middle school group of boys in a treehouse.

Among the reasons for the change was "that female customers
wanted more help seeing how products could work together and fit into
their lives...also that the term 'home theater' suggested
technologies suitable only for the very wealthy."

That sounds pretty reasonable to me. I would prefer to see how different products could work together, just like how a sports team will try out with the new recruits to make sure that they work together. Also, changing "home theater" to "family room" is a good move in this economy, where saving is overtaking splurging.

So yes, they did make some mistakes, but let's give credit where credit is due.

I am the opposite of natural

JPeaslee — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:38:52 -0500

I'm all about shaving my vagoo. I think it's gross when it's unshaved, and REALLY itchy. Oddly enough, I've heard other women complain that it's itchy when it is shaved. Each their own?

I don't have a problem with men being encouraged to shave; I would totally enjoy it if my boyfriend shaved his armpits, and he does trim the little monster from time to time. The thing that goes wrong is when we say, "This is the ONLY way." Ordering men/women to shave/not shave is wrong. We should have a choice - I shave. You don't. Big deal.

On another note, I visited a tattoo parlor once with a friend who was getting her good girl pierced. The artist mentioned that she's had to turn people away for being too untamed. She didn't make fun of these people to their faces, but she sure as hell did behind their backs. So maybe your OBGYN is making fun of you - but let's hope they're far too sensible and professional to partake in such activities.

Actually, on second read, I

Ken_Freedom — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:36:27 -0500

Actually, on second read, I realized the actual point of this post was for you to brag about your husband landing a job in London, and the candy bar thing is just a smokescreen to justify the bragging that proceeds.

Carry on.

FINALLY Another female gamer

JPeaslee — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:35:09 -0500

I get no higher pleasure than logging onto Call of Duty 4 and kicking ass. My clan name is "chik," just so there's no confusion amongst the poor men who fall prey to my black widow abilities.

Okay, I'm not that good. But it still annoys me when I walk into a room wearing one of my favorite gaming T-shirts, and I hear, "Oh, wow, you play real video games? Not just like Mario Party?"

Gee, thanks.

Even more aggravating is finding feminist articles on how video games are evil instruments of violence. In spite of my rather eclectic video game collection, which does include violent games, I've never killed anyone. Imagine that.

This may come off as

Ken_Freedom — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:34:10 -0500

This may come off as hostile, but I had to register just to let to say that as a blue-collar working guy dealing with LNI claims due to recent workplace injuries, a crappy job market where I can't get 40 hours in a week, no benefits, and my wife (who works fulltime) and I are facing losing our home, I read this ridiculously privileged whining nonsense and my stomach just started churning with bile. Really, reading this made me want to scream obscenties.

Seriously lady, if the only thing in your life of leisure -- do you even work or do you just live off the industry of your husband? you don't mention having to quit a job. -- that is worth complaining about is that some candy company is floating a low-calorie candy bar aimed at women with a less-than-stellar advertising campaign then you should be thanking God, or counting your blessings, or whatever you do to express gratitude, because you are leading a charmed life.

Maybe this is why I never hear about what feminism has done for me or my wife. Apparently feminism is about rich elites nattering about crap that does even rise to the level of trivia.

Three cheers for class warfare.

Glad that you like it

Suzanne Reisman — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:59:07 -0500

Diversity of opinion is welcome! Honestly, though, the ingredients scare me. Then again, I recently discovered that one of my favorite granola bars contains "shellac."

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Yes! The Yogurt!

Erin Kotecki Vest — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:56:57 -0500

good stuff. good stuff!

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

We got a chance to meet

evilslutopia — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:49:30 -0500

We got a chance to meet Sarah at the Women Action & the Media conference in March and she was awesome.

If anyone's new to Target Women, we have to recommend the classic Yogurt Edition. Who serves yogurt at their wedding?

The Evil Slut Clique

EvilSlutopia

In defense of the Fling

Mom101 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:55:49 -0500

It is awesome. Delicious. Better than Chunkies (which I never liked because of those damn raisins which have no business being in a perfectly good piece of chocolate). I just had a chance to try it and was seriously bummed when my sigOth ate the other one.

But then, what do i know - I liked the fling ad too.

Mom-101

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