Survey says women patronized by pink tech
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted Sep 10th 2007 8:36PM
posted Sep 10th 2007 8:36PM
Normally we don't go in for the whole "listening to what surveys say" thing, but when it comes to the cause of questioning the logic behind endless lines of pink gadgets designed to appeal to the female "market," we'll gladly pass on the criticism. There's a clear British slant to the story -- the survey was commissioned by Saatchi and Saatchi after all -- and it would be ludicrous to say that all women find pink / diamond encrusted gadgets and the atmosphere in gadget retail stores patronizing, but it's clear that the technology industry is tipped towards satisfying male buyers. To prevent this post from collapsing into a psychoanalysis of the gender associations with the color pink, we'll open this up to the floor. Gadgets + pink = perfectly ok, or totally patronizing?
hey... how often do you see a black mac? or a yellow mac? or a slightly dark mac?
its just a color why are people like this...
Actually, the MacBook does come in black.
Having watched one to many iPhone unlocking videos, I know that Veronica has a pink iPhone...
Who did the study and what was their agenda? Seems women are always being victimized. If the only choices were black and silver, we might hear that women are being oppressed by not having a feminine color choice available.
Every one knows that mostly girls buy pink, and with females controlling 60% of the wealth in this country and spending 85% of the money, I don't see why they can't have their pink gadgets.
I work in retail (not in the electronics area though) so I see a lot of people. I've seen everything from young teen girls all the way up to 80 year old women talking to people on pink RAZRs, I can't speak for them specifically, but I don't think they seem patronized. I think if they did, they wouldn't have bought that color device.
I wish more phones were available in more colors! I have a Samsung MM-A900M, which comes in any color you like, so long as it's black!
"females controlling 60% of the wealth in this country and spending 85% of the money"
Wow cool info... ill use that one next time a meet a feminist
Let's think of other things women buy, like clothes. Do you see a sea of pink everywhere? No, there are color trends which change with the seasons. Yes, you notice when women have pink accessories because it's a bright color, but not as much when they have black or white or silver tones because those are common. You'll notice a few companies (yes, like Apple) imitating fashion brands by changing the shades of their products every so often to keep up with the trends. We may think it's silly, but demand surges whenever they put out the same damn product in new colors.
I suppose pink sells fairly well because it's the most interesting of crappy choices, and I'll bet it sells better to 20-somethings and under than it does to the women who have much more to spend.
This is pretty much exactly how I feel. Kudos.
nicely put! and for the record i'm a teenage girl and i've never been interested in pink electronics, nor am i any less interested in my ipod than my clothes.
Not all girls like pink. I wish they'd use more burgundy myself (such as my Treo 755p). My teenager girls like pink, however.
I agree with you on the burgundy. I don't really like getting anything in pink, no matter what it is. Usually I'm forced to choose white or black, although I'd rather not have white or black.
If a company is going to offer a different color... offer more than just pink. I'd be more inclined to buy black or dark red--never pink for a gadget especially one that's going to be used at work. I don't find it patronizing just annoying that they don't offer more choices. Not all women are into pink. Blech.
Huuuuh! men and women like different things!!! Who would have ever known!??
gotta admit...i like pink stuff..it's my fav color. but i don't like all my electronics pink. i'd much rather have a black or silver or white than any of the colors.
well i certainly do not mind if they offer pink, some people like pink, like some people like orange and whatever else. i just think they need to stop marketing and pushing pink in such a way that i am a girl, i must buy the pink because obviously the red and silver are man-ish
Women will complain about gadgets being patronising because they are made in pink. Women will also complain that gadget manufacturers are being sexist by assuming that only men want to buy gadgets, and thus are only available in black/silver/blue/man colors.
Conclusion: women are never happy.
@Warwick
Now, THAT's Patronizing!! And also sounds like sour grapes. Are we still talking about gadgets are your personal life.
It was a joke, but feel free to read into it whatever theories you like.
My girlfriend has never and will never buy a pink gadget anything. My sister, however, wanted to order a Dell laptop in pink until I called her an idiot.
Nice brotherly affection. Did you call her and idiot, because she wanted a pink laptop, or was it becasue she wanted a Dell?
If it was because of Dell, then you did the right thing. That's being a good brother. But if you did it JUST because of the color, well then you're a dick.
I recently bought my 17 year old sister a pink Sony W-80, but a black 8gb Nano.
She likes pink (in moderation).
I had half-thought of getting the camera in silver/black for ease/higher value of resale...
I _really_ don't care.
Everybody needs to stop being so sensitive. That's all there is to it. Do people get mad when people release black, white, green, blue, red colors? No. Why do people get mad when people release pink colors? Its not saying that ALL women like Pink gadgets...and its not saying that ALL men like black gadgets. It is simply an option for those who want the pink gadget to get what they want. Same with black.
I don't care.. if my girlfriend likes it, i don't mind what colour her gadget is. (as long as she's happy with it...
besides.. a lot of gay friends of mine have pink stuffs around them too.
How about just plain tacky?
What's that supposed to mean?
Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I meant, I think most pink gadgets just end up looking nasty. It ends up looking like something you would buy for your Barbie because it's peptobismol pink and made of plastic. I dunno, just my opinion :P
"In addition, many women said that they felt patronized by pink digital radios and diamante-encrusted mobile phones." Translation: when we asked them a terribly leading question, a minority to small for us to report the percentage took the bait.
Granted, we are in the midst of a huge epidemic of pink electronics--I can't take a piss without tripping over a pink Blackberry. And how often have you heard that disgraceful anecdote about the career lady who goes into Best Buy looking for a N800 but all the sleazy salespig wants to talk about is the shiny new paint job and vanity mirror.
"Patronizing" is a strong word, I think. In fact, pink is a great idea because so far, most technology has a limited color scheme: black, silver, grey, and white. Customers will invariably be bored by this, because they want their own gadget to stand out rather than blend in. Now more than ever is that evident through the use of custom ringtones and backgrounds, and the gadget's exterior should be no different.
As great as it may be to offer a pink product to appeal to a single audience, it would be better to go a step further in letting the consumers pick their favorite colors. By offering a variety of colors, the company can capture every audience, not just the businessman who wants a sleek black, and not just the teenage girl who wants bright pink.
Take for example, the iPod Shuffle, or the LG Chocolate. Both products sell, not only because of good marketing and purportedly superior technology (compared to competitors), but also because they can be found in many colors. Most MP3 players are offered in only one or two colors (or, in the case of the Zune, three); the iPod shuffle is offered in a rainbow of colors, which appeals to boys and girls, young men and women, and older men and women. Regardless of age or sex, anyone can find a Shuffle in a color they like.
If other companies follow Apple and LG's lead, then maybe pink won't be the only option other than the ever-so-common black, silver, grey, and white. I know I'd like my phone a bit more if it was blue or green, instead of typical, almost boring, silver and grey.
Pink - Offensive to women
Blue - Offensive to men and sealife
Orange - Offensive to sunsets
Yellow - Offensive to asians and sunsets and the sun
Tan - Offensive to hispanics
Brown - Offensive to africans
Pale Pink - Offensive to caucasians
Red - Offensive to native americans and sunsets
White - Offensive to the moon
Black - Offensive to space
If you try hard enough, you can find offensiveness in anything, at which point you should just lay down and die.
That tickled me, good point, well made!
Right but, aren't you listing things that are almost inherently THAT colour? Whereas males are not inherently blue, and females are not inherently pink. And you also skipped out on the easiest "offensive" joke, with African Americans being offended by Black gadgets.
wtfc?
If they are just offering a long list of color options and one of them happens to be pink - then no. It's when the pink one is specified for women that it is. Most often the pink items are labeled as being for women by those giving out the item - not the ones who made it.
and personally - i very rarely like the color pink :-P
Pink's cool for some women and some of teh gheys I guess.
On a serious note, though, remember when the iPod mini came out. Silver and pink were sold out nearly everywhere, for a very long time. Pink sells just as well as any other color. Uptight people need to STFU, is all. It's like the women who complain about other women who want to be housewives. So what? They WANT to be housewives, leave them be and mind your own damned business.
Diamonds are NEVER offensive. Pink? Who gives a rat's ass!
True story- I ordered a Mercury Cougar in 1993 in gray with gray leather upholstery.
The car showed up at the dealership in Sunset Red (iridescent hot pink) with white leather interior. I was embarrassed all to hell driving that POS for a year until I couldn't stand it anymore and sold it.
Pink itself is not patronizing. What IS patronizing is assuming pink (or any other fashion color) is all to takes to sell a gadget to women. What is patronizing is the assumption that women aren't interested in gadgets -- and manufacturers that create a dumbed-down, old- or bad-tech gadget with a coat of pink paint.
What the study in the article showed was that a significant percentage of women ARE into technology and DO buy as many gadgets as men do (which any of us gadget girls could have told you any day of the week). We want good tech, we want well-designed gadgets that fit in with our lives and help us get stuff done. Just like men do. But most of the time we get electronics sales people who ignore us or treat us like morons and then try to sell us cheap stupid crap in pink.
If you give us the good gadgets AND you make it in a cool color (I'm partial to blue, personally), OK then. That's fine. But it all has to start with the tech.
Echoing what a lot of people have already said, it comes down to companies wanting to make more money. Pink gadgets aimed at women are no different from the thousands of ads with scantily clad women promoting products aimed at men. As a man, I know it’s easy to feel a little patronized when you see a body spray ad featuring bikini models. I am sure many women feel the same way about, among other things, pink electronics. I try to base my buying decisions on the quality/effectiveness of the product, instead of being swayed by clever ads. If you really think about it, almost all ads and product gimmicks are patronizing. Companies assume bright colors and flashy effects can influence potential customers to purchase their product. And obviously their assumption isn’t completely wrong. The entire marketing and advertising industries are based on this idea. So in the end, the only thing you can really do is research what you are going to buy and get what is best for you. Once you refuse to let companies make your purchasing decisions for you, how can you possibly feel patronized?
The difference between having a bikini-clad model appeal to men, and having the color pink appeal to women, is that most straight men like the bikini-clad model, while the percentage of women who like pink is much lower.
...or, at least, based on my experience being a girl and having many female friends.
It's rather interesting, I think, that some decades ago, blue was considered a delicate feminine color, while pink (since it's basically a lighter version of red) was considered a masculine color. Odd how society flipped the two over the years...
I agree. You bring up excellent points! It reminds me of how many people really are just interested in the color and flash of the product... that's why much of these marketing tactics work. People who are more swayed by specifications would naturally get annoyed by this... but sale figures dictate we are not the majority.
a color is nothing more now people have there prefered colors, i myself might shy away from those colors if i was to physically be using them or something in the real world simply because people ask stupid questions and i hate people speaking to me in the "real world" but thats another story lol i use a range of text colors for im conversations which have ranged from a nice light pink on a dark green background to white on black and teal on darker teal i dont really see the point in this... what you like you like but colors are only colors or different wave lengths on the spectrum if i remember....
I read a study done by, I think the Gartner Group, that had to do with theft of electronics related to colour. Pink electronics are the least likely to be stolen. If it comes in pink and it's a portable device, I buy it in pink. I like to keep my electronics MY electronics.
I love pink gadgets. If there was a gadget I liked and it came in pink I would buy it.
As a female, I don't really buy that many pink things. For gadgets, it being pink is just another color option, if it looks good, then I'll go for it - if I like another color better, I'll go for that.
You know what patronizes me in pink though? Power tools. Who cares what color it is as long as it works? If they really wanted power tools to be geared toward women, they could make some of the handles a bit smaller, or actually sell SMALL work gloves at Home Depot.
I like pink. I like purple. More gadgets need to be a nice deep purple.
My son wants a pink DS. He can't have one, cause he's already got a black one.
My daughter, though, makes my like of pink look mellow. Pink is, in all things, The Right Color. We have no idea why this is; her other mother hates pink. I love it. Clearly, she needs to more aggressively hate it so the kids learn proper hatred of the color.
This comment is pretty pointless... But hey, I'll post it anyway.
i live on the streets so black usually draws the least attention...
I like having a lot of options. Perhaps it is simply that companies who also make pink gadgets are taking into consideration that PEOPLE like gadgets, and lots of options -even when it comes to color :)
Liberals are a joke. Soon there will be no indivituality. All electronic devices, cars, clothes, will all be one color. How about this one - non-pink devices are patronizing to men....
I bought my daughter-in-law a pink hand-held vacuum cleaner, but I wouldn't be caught dead with one. I try to coordinate the colors in my home--don't have pink at the time. I think the color pink is marketable to the young girls.