Encounter at Sears (with Guest Poster, Gina, My Faery Child)

A Note before We Begin:

For this post, we have a guest! I asked her to help me with this post because I thought it might be interesting to see her POV as well as mine. Lucky for me (and for you), she had time between classes to write her bit, and share her ideas. 

Gina's Post:

So mother dear and I were wandering out of the mall the other day and found ourselves walking through the Sears tool section towards the exit. Suddenly, our eyes were affronted by a wall of bright pink. 

It was your average array of tool and tool kits, made special just for us ladies. Ain't that sweet?  They weren't smaller to suit our hands better, or in any way different from the men's tools aside from the color. I'm all for removing gender from color. If a man wants a hot pink hammer, good for him. My issue is that it was clearly marketed to women, as if we'd burst into flames upon touching a "man's tool" (if you listen to my old Bible teachers, we would, but I think they meant something else).

Not only was the color an affront to my Wednesday Addam's sense of aesthetic, they threw in a lovely caption for the toolbox. They suggested we use it to store make up and craft supplies! Possibly in conjunction with the tools, I'm not sure. Nothing says DIY like a mani-pedi break, right? 

Note how the identical men's kit beside this Barbie's-first-tool-kit display, lacks such a suggestion.

I'm not saying I wouldn't use the toolbox for an alternative purpose. It does look very suitable for my outrageous collection of embroidery thread and makeup, but I don't need some marketing team to sit there and tell me that they don't even believe I'd be interested in using the tools. I imagine they envision their market to be pinup girls who pose coyly beside the new entertainment center husband dear has erected, or who serves martinis on the new deck. 

I'm not bashing women who live that lifestyle, oh no. I sort of envy it. What I'm bashing is condescending marketing techniques. What's next? A pink lawn mower they advertise as a great way to get a tan? Come on. Some women (and men) like pink tools, some women actually use tools, and that's awesome. What's super not awesome is the assumption that I'll fall to my knees in ecstasy like a little girl who just got an Easy Bake oven because it's pink.

I have one thing to say to these poor misguided marketing people. Bite me.

My post is forthcoming...