by Jessica Contrera<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end of \u2018shrink it and pink it\u2019: A history of advertisers missing the mark with women<\/em>, written by Jessica Contrera for the Washington Post explores the past and current examples of \u201cshrink it and pink it\u201d or when products that were initially for man or genderless are made smaller and in pastels specifically \u201cfor her\u201d. This article also discusses how marketing to women is changing, seeing them not as a special interest group, but as 50% of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrera gives examples in the modern era of the phenomena, \u201cDella\u201d Dell\u2019s netbook from 2009, Bic\u2019s \u201cfor her\u201d pens that come in pink and purple, and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers\u2019 website for women who like football, all of which were critiqued by women. In the case of the pens, Ellen DeGeneres remarked, \u201cI know what you\u2019re thinking, \u2018It\u2019s about damn time!\u2019 Can you believe this? We\u2019ve been using man pens all this time!\u201d which highlights the fact that in many cases the \u201cshrink it and pink it\u201d version was not necessary. Consumers are becoming wiser, and the method is falling out of favor; it can cause a backlash. High Heel Brewing experienced this. Many women were put off by the pink and green four-pack as they felt it was demeaning. This was not the intention of Kristi McGuire, the creator of the product. She wanted the packaging and name to celebrate the women who brewed it. She notes the color of the packaging was to help it stand off the shelf. Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women,<\/em> points out that \u201cAnything that says \u2018you women\u2019 is going to get a backlash,\u201d whereas consumers are more likely to listen to \u201cwe women.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As women entered the work, force advertising did change. Pink options of everything became available for women. Barletta notes in her book that \u201cWhen pink is a color women can choose, they will choose it. When it is the only color that isn\u2019t the \u2018normal\u2019 one, women will not choose it,\u201d highlighting that the pink phenomena are misguided marketing. Marketing has, however, gotten better, the article notes that more advertisements are less geared at women but are more inclusive of women. One example is the Coors\u2019 \u201cClimb On\u201d advertisement, where women are climbing alongside men. This is a positive thing to see in the movement toward equality in advertising. However, Jessamyn Neuhaus, pop-culture scholar and professor of history at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, notes that feminism \u201cdid a pretty good job of showing that women can do what men do\u201d but we also need to show that \u201cmen can do what women can do.\u201d if we want true equality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n