In the Pink? There are Healthier Ways of Marketing to Women
If my screen is awash with pink, Women’s Day must be around the corner. I was kind of hoping that with the downtime many brands have had in recent months, they would have been able to approach this day of commemoration with a little more imagination than usual.
Alas, no. We’re rolling out the pink logos, again.
And I find it a little insulting.
Do all these companies assume that women will respond with surprise and delight at their clever little trick? That we are so one-dimensional? It’s not just that women collectively are multifaceted, but on any given day any single one of us is layered and complex. Sometimes we’re the caregiver, and others we want to be the outlaw; there are occasions we must be the hero and those that require us to step into our inner sage*. And we vacillate between all the different parts which make up our own, unique wholes.
And we expect the brands we use and love to see that; to recognise us women for who we are in all our varied glory.
The reality is a little far off the mark. As women, our experience of being seen by brands is often simply being seen as an easy target for profit, as evidenced by the pink tax. It’s not enough that women earn on average $0.81 for every $1 a man makes, but we’re expected to pay more for similar things, too.
In the personal care category, there is no notable difference in the products being peddled to men versus women, save for the colour signaling its suitability to the intended audience. Think of those cheap pink razors. The near-identical blue ones almost always cost less. And that’s just one example of the many things we need to spend our harder-earned bucks on each time we head down the supermarket aisles.
The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs released a study a few years back comparing the prices of over 800 products. In summary, they found that products targeting women and girls cost 7% more on average than comparable products for men and boys – and in some cases, as much as 13% more. Today, it seems nothing has changed. A quick search of a popular local online retailer reveals a 16,5% discrepancy in the price of a man’s versus woman’s razor. The purple backpack costs 15,3% more than the blue one. I could give many more examples of how this difference continues to play out, but you’ll most likely do your own search and see the facts for yourself.
In a world where it’s thought that women are responsible for as much as 85% of purchase decisions, perhaps brands should pay a little more attention on understanding us, in all our multi-colour splendor.
Join Jack Be Nimble’s for a moderated conversation at our next #marketingopenmic. We’ll talk about how we as Marketers can market to women with greater depth to achieve improved resonance and better results.
Image Credit: Jason Leung on Unsplash.