Wednesday, December 15, 2010

on pink

(100 years of pink, click for detail)

While I'm aware of the color's history, I can't help but laugh at women who insist that pink products are somehow demeaning and condescending. Sure, there's a subset of women who live to be perpetually offended about every damn thing you can conjure up, but for real women? Ones that have managed to escape the self-perpetuating grrrl power vortex of rage? (note to self: stop reading feministing.com)

It's just a color, ladies - mixed pigments, light reflected, that's all. If you don't like it, don't buy it. The laws of economics work.

What is condescending, though, is when companies take a man's product (gun, hammer, camouflage overalls, whathaveyou), scale it down, produce it in a rosy hue and proclaim it For the Ladies, AKA the "shrink & pink" method of marketing. I can imagine some of these R&D meetings - a few bored salesmen, a couple of lazy designers and then suddenly, one of them gets an idea. "Hey, we have this best selling widget...let's make it pink! Women love pink! This will sell like hotcakes! Pink hotcakes, yeah!" The result is stupid things like pink bubblewrap, pink colanders, frilly pink realtree window treatments (yes, really) and pink guns named "Bitch."

But at the end of the day, I suppose all these pink products are a sign that companies - and gun companies, specifically - are thinking about what women like and would be willing to buy. I just wish they'd think outside that (pink) box.

Full disclosure - I just bought these:
Hot pink gun socks. As a GenXer, I felt it necessary for me to get them and wear them as ironically as possible.

27 comments:

Mike W. said...

Next thing you know they'll be telling us the color "white" is racist......

Oh wait.

Awesome socks by the way! You should wear em' to the range when it gets warmer.

ViolentIndifference said...

"A pencil pouch? What am I? A 4th grade kid? There is nothing cool about pencil pou... Wait! Here is one in camo! Now THAT is cool!"

Teke said...

Did you get the shoes too?

Ace said...

Camo pencil pouch?

Meh.

I'll take one in black with Cthulhu on it.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE PINK and I'm proud to say it outloud! I'm a big Kahr fan...have you seen the limited edition Kahr 380 in pink. I don't really need it but I've been so tempted to get it.

David Neylon said...

Yea, I think you need the shoes. Although I imagine you'd need something special to wear them.

Sabra said...

My simmering hatred of pink did not begin until the third daughter. In my case it's 90% overload and 10% stupid stuff that happens to be that color. Pink gun? Cool. Pink-and-purple "pet groomer" kit right beside the red-and-blue "vet" kit with a little boy's picture on it? Not cool. (And a great way to get me to refuse to buy either.)

JD said...

As a total geek I have to say the Pink packing foam and bubble wrap is usualy for electronics and ESD safe. . . nothing to do with you women folk = )

Yes, I am an engineer and I have no life. . .

ViolentIndifference said...

JD - yup. Static dissipative bubble wrap. Enginerd, too.

Mike W. said...

ESD safe = anti-static?

Also. If you open carry in pink gun knee highs no one will notice the gun. Just a thought :P

ViolentIndifference said...

ESD = ElectroStatic Discharge.

Concealment by distraction? Yeah. I'm with you on that.

WV: buggin. :-D

TBeck said...

My two girls are still into wearing pink. I'm trying to steer them towards Flat Dark Earth and Marcam but it's a challenge.

Mr Evilwrench said...

You could have a pink breast cancer cure pistol with ribbons on it. Reckon that Susan G Komen outfit would endorse that? Hehe got my own bag full of pink & silver ESD bags, & plenny stuff to go in 'em.

Tam said...

Mr Evilwrench,

Yes.

http://www.tactical-life.com/online/products/smith-wessons-mp9-jg-julie-goloski/

:)

Unknown said...

Those socks are awesome.
Yeah, I appreciate that the gun manufacturers are attempting to think about the female audience, but you;'d think they'd get an actual woman in there to ask rather then just make a pink version and call it good.

TheAxe said...

Jennifer beat me to it, they're freaking awesome.

OrangeNeck said...

The fletching on my arrows are pink. They really stand out against the green grass or the white snow. That's when I get a pass-through on a deer and not because I missed.

ASM826 said...

I don't care for Pepto-Bismol pink. Don't think it's ladylike, just sort of overwhelming, on a gun, a car, or a website. I am ready to abandon the color to Code Pink and let them run with it.

From a different side, guns are functional tools, and can be painted any color people are willing to pay for, but painting them to look like toys is not a choice I would make.

Anonymous said...

Breda - [C]ompanies take a man's product (gun, hammer, camouflage overalls, whathaveyou), scale it down, produce it in a rosy hue and proclaim it For the Ladies, AKA the "shrink & pink" method of marketing.

I suggest that they do this because, on the whole, it works. How many women make firearms purchases with little or no research? The pink color makes the decision easy for them: "Oh, those are for women, so I don't even have to look at all these other black and grey ones."

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

And the converse is true for the boys, Doc Jim, the vast majority of whom make firearms purchases with little or no research. The scary black color and large size makes it easy for them: "Oh, that looks COOL! That's for me. Plus the Israelis invented it I think, so it has to be good."

Hil said...

My motto is: I love pink. I love camo. But I hate pink camo.

To each their own, but pink guns are not for me.

Mike W. said...

How many women make firearms purchases with little or no research?

This is just as true of men as it is of women.

Tam said...

docjim505,

"How many women make firearms purchases with little or no research?"

Having sold thousands of guns in my life, I feel qualified to comment on this:

In my experience, first-time women buyers are far more likely to ask extensive questions and peruse catalogs.

ViolentIndifference said...

"In my experience, first-time women buyers are far more likely to ask extensive questions and peruse catalogs."

[pig]Because they don't know what they're doing.[/pig]

be603 said...

3 teen or young adult daughters.
4 Shotguns.
Cheer dad survivor.
Man enough to wear pink.


...and if my wife of 27 years walked into the room in those socks... =8-P

Anonymous said...

Thank you to New Jovian Thunderbolt and Tam for their good responses.