Marketing is targeted to
women and girls in a way different light than it is targeted to boys. I
have found that it seems that marketing focuses on targeting and hyping up
events in a girls' life--whereas with boys, it seems that more passtime
activites are marketed.
For instance, I remember
being so excited about being able to buy the Seventeen Prom Addition magazine
(at the age of 11....) and look through all the dresses, accessories and
'types of dates' that come with Prom and Homecoming. It got to the point that
by the time I was 13 (a freshman in high school) I was so focused on being able
to get to homecoming that it didn't matter who the guy was that was taking me,
I just wanted to go. Needless to say, prom and homecoming were over-hyped, the
experience was fun but not something worth dreaming about for years.
In retrospective, these
links are pretty disturbing....
http://www.prettyforprom.com/prom-planning.html
http://www.seventeen.com/parties/prom/prom-dress-finder
http://www.seventeen.com/fun/quizzes/love/prom-date-quiz
It seems to no one's
suprise, that guys (most) weren't into the prom and homecoming scene, and the
only guys that really wanted to go were ones that came from prominent families
in the community, just to get their moms to stop nagging them to ask a girl and
go....
I feel that formal dances
are just a big marketing scheme, and
I can't think of a single
event that's targeted in marketing to men. I don't even see advertisements
geared to proposing, college dorm 'decor', or home improvement really targeting
the male market... the only "event" I can think of being marketed to
men is retirement, and even that isn't targeted as an 'event' but more as a
passtime.
Christine,
ReplyDeleteYou're right, with women controlling 85% of the consumer power, the guys seem to come in second. As a mother of a young adult male, I am aware of a little bit of event marketing for men, but there is no where near the bombardment that there is for women.
Christine,
ReplyDeleteYou're right -- I had never thought of it this way, but no events are marketed toward guys. Women have weddings, proms, homecomings, bridal showers, baby showers, etc. Even as a girl, I remember looking forward to my first sleepover.
I think even the idea of “looking forward” to something -- planning it, feeling excitement about it -- is a female attribute. Why, I am not sure … I can posit two theories: 1. Looking forward to something involves excitement, and men are socialized to express emotion at a lesser degree than women. 2. Women, not men, give birth -- and pregnancy is the ultimate exercise in looking forward to an event.
Hayley
I love your theories, Hayley! Those definately make sense to me.
DeleteI love this response, Christine! Not only are we being sold events, but we are also being asked to participate in those events in certain ways. There are certain things one is expected to have/do at a wedding, a prom, a baby shower, etc. It makes me think about scrapbooking. Have you ever been in a scrapbooking store? It lets you document all kinds of things, but mainly the things society tells you are worthwhile - graduation, travel, babies, weddings. There's no divorce aisles or moving day icons or things like that. We are taught not only how to perform events but also which ones and how to document them.
ReplyDeleteHi Jen,
DeleteThanks!
And oh my god, yes, I am in constant horror of scrapbook stores! I am all about documenting things, and have started up scrapbooking as a new hobby and recently went to Hobby Lobby to find decorative embellishments for a scrapbook containing all my pictures of my undergrad years--I was in shock that all these stickers were either pink, talked about shopping, or had some overly cliched sentiment about friendship between girls. It seems that I had to dig long and hard through those aisles to find something that matched more my personality--ha I'd love to see a divorce aisle that'd be priceless!