Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Cleaning up on the Gender Divide


So my dad has this friend that belongs to this snooty tooty gentlemen's club that lets women (only in wife form) in once a year. I pretend to be more offended by this than I really am, since as women, we have just learned to mention something men dislike, and we don't need to pay dues or make fake convincing arguments to be left to our own devises. Plus...I'm all for a little girl time...or a little guy time- they're different creatures and need to connect with those that understand them. The sexes tend to think differently, are conditioned to act pretty differently, and are drawn to different things. Yet, as is usually the case, marketing a-holes have inflated, twisted, and soiled a truth into total hogwash to benefit "the man" (ironic?), and the masses have fallen for it like smooth, scented, well coifed little sheep. Men's only beauty products...seriously?
I remember the first time I questioned this notion...Secret Deoderant. Strong enough for a man, but PH Balanced for a woman. Come to find out...there is not difference in the female versus the male PH! The ENTIRE advertising scheme for that deoderant is completely false...and has been for YEARRRRRRRRRRRS. Yet people not only accept it, but eat that &*(% up!!
Then came the Axe line of products. Starting with spray...acceptable since scents have classically been divided between the sexes. And from there, the phenom has exploded....no joke, the other day I saw a men's beauty product AISLE in the drugstore.
Perhaps this is a good thing...a sign of less division between men and women, but you gotta think that something is a little weird. Haven't men been using the same products (minus 12 billion or so) that us women have? Haven't our soaps and shampoos and lotions been good enough for them for decades? (Save for some bath and body works type products, but those are an extreme case). And I don't know about YOU, but I have never had a strong sense that a majority of the male population had clouds of femininity floating around them?!
So what's the deal? Is this a good thing or a bunch of marketing hype to fill our shelves and empty our pocket books?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag here. The "Men's" line of products is exactly the same as the women's stuff - PH balanced the same and all - but with one tiny difference. They each have a fascinating factoid about either John Elway, pick-up truck repair & maintenance, or John Wayne films under the label. That's it. That's all.

That reminds me, I'm stinky! See ya!