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"Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
Carving Your Name On Someone's Skin While They Sleep: A Bad Idea
Twin Lifestyle
Barbie Bait

Everyone Sees Themselves In Hello Kitty • China Mixes Opera With Hip Hop For Olympics Cheerleaders
Rihanna Has "Totes" Sold Her Soul For Success

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Ultraprison!
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
They actually do the same thing when they expand a "women's" product to target men. They make a "PedEgg for Men" that is the EXACT same product, just slightly larger and made of black plastic instead of white or pink. And black/blue packaging.

Men's moisturizers and shampoos/conditioners are the same way - things can only come in manly shades of black, arctic blue, Irish Spring green, and possible Old Spice red.

Product packaging and marketing is generally pretty insulting to both genders.
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betty.black
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
"For some strange reason, companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on market research, only to ignore the data in favor of their own long held assumptions about a market."

i.e.

"You know how this works."

"Leave some tools in your toolbox."
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Suffragettestream the Office Hussy
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
I was so mad when Degree went from being a gender neutral deodorant and made men's and women's, the women's being smaller, more expensive, and "feminine"
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Le Kangourou de Kataroo
09/28/09

@Office Hussy: Until Dove started making their awesome clinical protection deodorant, I only wore men's deodorant. My boyfriend had no clue until I told him.
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pear.shaped.Sara
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
I'm pretty sure my DivaCup came in pink packaging but it's so freaking awesome that I don't even care!
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PrisonBreakShaker
09/28/09

@pear.shaped.Sara: AH! I LOVE my Diva cup! I cannot freaking convince any of my friends to try it! I was somewhat freaked out by the idea of it too, but it is the tits! I DO hate the way it's marketed though. Like, I GET it's for women- it goes in my vagina! it doesn't need to be packaged like a Bratz doll! Ah well, probably better than the hippie marketing of the "Moon Cup". I just don't trust it- maybe because all those earth-mother type references to the lunar calendar remind me of the "calender method" of birth control- which I also don't trust.
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samarkand
09/28/09

@PrisonBreakShaker: That's why I always preferred The Keeper. It does what it says on the tin (made by the same company as Moon Cups but of rubber rather than silicone).

Also, the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness does actually work, if you know what you're doing and do it correctly. It's got an effectiveness rate in the 90s , percentage-wise, same as other popular methods. It's just more difficult to do correctly.
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morninggloria
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
A good way to market to me is to make your product the cheapest.

I don't care if it dries my skin out and makes me a little itchy. If it is the cheapest, I will buy it. Even if it's called "Pussy Blaster."
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dj
09/28/09

@morninggloria: let's be honest: especially if it's called the Pussy Blaster.
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jenalicious
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
i have a confession to make. i am the proud owner of a pink blackberry, a pink digital camera, and am currently hoping to get a pink daisy rock acoustic guitar for xmas. and i dont feel bad about it.

but of course i do agree its a completely silly idea that all women would want such items, and its awesome that people are beginning to realize there's more to making something female friendly than making it pink and sparkly. (such as the scrubs.)
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Dictator for Life
09/28/09

@jenalicious: You're not the only one! I am typing this on a Mac with a pink cover, I have a pink cover on my phone, a pink camera, and a pink water bottle. My watch face is also pink (but I got it b/c it's a Zodiac, like the serial killer, so obvs pairing pink and serial killer is the way to get to me). You're not the only Jezebel who has lots and lots of pink stuff!
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cherrycocoapuff
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
I once was lured in by the oh so appealing and colorful pink toolkit. I mean comeon - it was pink and supported breast cancer. It is the shittiest toolkit I have ever owned. My 3.5 year old cousin's Bob the Builder set was better. How come tools designed with a women consumer in mind have to suck so bad?
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Le Kangourou de Kataroo
09/28/09

@cherrycocoapuff: Your first mistake was actually trying to USE the toolkit. That's what the menfolk are for. And the lesbians.

Obvs.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
But wait, if it's not sparkly/pearlescent or pink, how am I supposed to know it's designed for ME?
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boobookitteh
09/28/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: cuz it's smaller and costs more?
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
09/28/09

@boobookitteh: It's got a picture of titties on it.
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rednrowdy
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
as a rule, i avoid any and all things that are colored pink to be specifically marketed to women. i don't care how cute it is. i don't care if it's on sale. if it's pink, the part of my brain that says "ha! y'all did that just so i would buy it thinking that i'm a sucker" kicks in, and i walk away.
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linnyt is a walking cliché
09/28/09

@rednrowdy: same here. i will buy something else in black, white or silver before i buy pink. i won't even buy the pink thing if i really like it and it only comes in pink. i hate pink. i'm insulted that product developers and markerters will reduce me (as a consumer) to a color.
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Blueberry26
09/28/09

@rednrowdy: Bleh. This is my problem with the breast cancer stuff. I know it's for a good cause, but pink? I am a grown ass woman, not a my-size barbie.
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rednrowdy
09/28/09

@Blueberry26: as for the breast cancer, 9 times out of 10 the money that goes to breast cancer research is less than 10%. i mean, why bother? i could write them a check instead and not buy some crappy thing that's colored pink. marketers FAIL.
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
I'm at the point where I just don't buy the pinked-out version of a product. I'll go to another brand entirely.
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Kivrin
09/28/09

In reply to "Shrink It And Pink It" Gets Slaughtered By The Femme Den
Edited to remove mini-rant. I just realized that I'm not part of the majority of women who apparently want "intuitive" products, so I'll just respond to the detail-oriented "male" advertising. Whatever.
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Edited by Kivrin at 09/28/09 2:54 PM Kivrin was starred Kivrin was unstarred

lizdexia
09/28/09

@Kivrin: I don't think they were saying you should skip the info on tech specs when selling to women. I think they were saying that for a lot of us, the niftiest specs sheet in the world won't sell us on it if we don't have an idea about how to use the darn thing by looking at it.

I need both. I want a piece of electronics that I can figure out by playing with, and I want a spec sheet to tell me whether it's a piece worth playing with.
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linnyt is a walking cliché
09/28/09

@Kivrin: if the specs aren't listed, i assume the product is a piece of crap and they were trying to not tell me. back on the shelf it goes.
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fuzzylizardkitten
09/28/09

@Kivrin: Haha, I'm incredibly skeptical and defensive if I immediately perceive instructions to be less explanatory and simpler than I'm used to. It just makes me ITCH that there's more to it and they're hiding something (which is why I have my lovely troves of thick manuals).

It's funny though, since I'd most certainly count myself with you, the percentage of detailed-oriented women out there, I'm also highly visual based. I guess I'm a crazy hybrid. Wonder what percentage of the female demographic that describes =P

Suffice to say, I'm glad these ladies are stuffing this whole "shrink it and pink it".
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linnyt is a walking cliché
09/28/09

@fuzzylizardkitten: i'm really visual too. i NEED instructions like IKEA's because they are in pictures. some words would be nice, but i'd take all pictures over all words every day. it takes me three times as long to set something up if there are no diagrams.
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msAnthrope
09/28/09

@Kivrin:

ahhh~~ i'm not sure what your career is, kivrin, but if you're involved with engineering of any kind, it's a trap to expect everybody to have the same kind of literacy with the "cues" we take for granted.

example: my husband who can figure out what's wrong with any computer, take it apart and put it back together so it runs 10x faster etc., consistently can't navigate himself through the typical website, particularly those that sell anything.

i design digital interfaces, and websites since mid90s, so i just kinda "know" where the usual spot is for various functions (plus i buy everything~~ Everything! online). he does not, yet is by no means technologically illiterate. "intuitive" is actually a fine line, depending upon what product or service you're talking about.
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penguins268
03/20/09

In reply to Carving Your Name On Someone's Skin While They Sleep: A Bad Idea
"Carve your name into my arm, instead of stressed, I lie here charmed."
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Brigit
03/20/09

@penguins268: Do you have nothing else to do? Every me and every you?
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lindaroo
03/20/09

In reply to Carving Your Name On Someone's Skin While They Sleep: A Bad Idea
Am I the only one who thought this was a picture of the guy's ass before reading the article? I can't be alone here, right?
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Brigit
03/20/09

@lindaroo: No, but I saw it as soon as you mentioned it. Very optical illusions.
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par3
03/20/09

In reply to Carving Your Name On Someone's Skin While They Sleep: A Bad Idea
what happened to carving park benches or trees...cmonnnnn.
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Brigit
03/20/09

In reply to Carving Your Name On Someone's Skin While They Sleep: A Bad Idea
Huh. Never thought that doing drugs was reason enough to fucking mutilate somebody, judge.

Also, the friends I've had with substance abuse issues could beat each other up when high, not stencil each other with their knives. It takes some extra mental issues to do that.
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