I am Dell. Hear me stereotype.
I wonder if Dell was purposely trying to be amazingly condescending or if they’re just clueless with their new technology site for women.
First they call it Della. Aww… how cute and clever and retch-inducing. Then they only play up laptops with pretty graphics or stylish sleeves – because you know, there’s no way any woman would ever really care about the specs. Their first bullet point about most of the notebooks is how it’ll nicely fit in your bag. Jesus, why don’t they talk about how the keyboard won’t break your nails and how you can surf the net while ironing your husbands shirts or getting dinner on the table before he comes home.
They have ridiculous fake quotes throughout like “I have it in Cherry Red and I love the fact that is fits nicely in my tote or case. You Rock!!” -cherrydoll 3/30/09″
And just when you think it can’t get any worse, they offer “tech tips” on ways a netbook can change your life such as “Use your mini to track calories, carbs and protein with ease, watch online fitness videos, map your running routes and more.” and “Your mini can be your meditation buddy as you take mini-breaks throughout your day.”
They even have a tip that says “Use your netbook to plan your ovulation cycle and crank out more kids to fulfill your sole purpose as a woman.” Ok, I made that up, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it on such a ridiculous, stereotypical, insulting piece of marketing.
UPDATE: Dell caves and changes the site. Sort of. And just for you, Babe.
Filed under: Are you kidding me? | 9 Comments
Tags: ridiculous, website, women
*retch-inducing
You’re welcome. You should really try to learn to use the English language if you’re going to spend time outside the kitchen.
Oh wait, you’re a guy.
Whats wrong with marketing to women? Money is money and customer base is customer base. What I see here is a marketing ploy in the (lets see where this goes stage). I’ll go so far as to say its working and their sales have gone up. I have been one of the millions to receive Dells latest mini catalog with their cutesy affordable laptops. Was i offended….hell no. Women like attractive, efficient, compact tools to make their multitasking easier. Its a well known fact! Can you imagine how many men have had these items shown to them with her saying “i want one of these”. Just in time for mothers day and income tax returns. As well as a time when the economy needs people spending money on things like this. I must also add there are a ton of men who need those stereotypes to steer them in shopping for women. You wont hear us complain as we are handed our ultra cute laptop we can fit in our ultra cute purse.
Nothing is wrong with marketing to women.
What’s wrong is marketing that treats women like superficial idiots – only concerned about looks and dieting and things that are pretty. The site may as well be patting women on the head and saying “Oh don’t you worry your pretty little head about scary things like processor speed, wireless specs or memory – those are things for (smarter) MEN to worry about!”
I don’t know any women who enjoy being treated like morons. And I don’t know any who want to reinforce insulting stereotypes that women aren’t smart enough to buy a computer on its technical merits.
I guess there’s nothing wrong with marketing to women per se, but condescending to women is very different. The problem with the Della site is that it lumps all women into this strange category of know-nothings who only care about computers as fashion accessories and who only use computers for dieting, recipes, and other supposedly female endeavors. There’s a big divide in technology between people who are comfortable with it, and people who aren’t, and it’s not a male-female thing. I work in IT, and my ex-husband is a reporter, and he knows nothing about technology, and I know a lot. I’m sure there are many other people who don’t fit the stereotypes. Dell, and other tech companies, would do better to market also to non-techies, of both sexes. I don’t have a problem with pink computers; I have a big problem with assuming that women only use computers for dieting and stress relief.
Seriously? Are we really this one-sided in our views of stereotyping markets? How many thousands of ads portray men as fat, dumb simpletons? And how many campaigns are marketed to guys by showing them how to better “pick up tail at da club!”? Do they insult me? Yes. Do I ignore them? Yes.
Girls; eat a cookie, chill out, and realize that, yes, you are a target market. there are exceptions of course, but many of you DO count calories, do yoga, and monitor it all on your PC. That fits in your bag.
Yup, I agree that there’s nothing wrong with marketing to women. And while there are a lot of women that may want a cute, easy to carry laptop that counts calories, helps you do yoga and a lot of other stereotypical stuff, there are certainly enough tech babes, uh, er, women that want to peek under the hood, too, and see the specs (disclosure: I’m a guy and I do yoga. Every day.)
Witness the uproar a year ago over Apple NOT marketing the new iPhone to women. There were complaints that each TV ad for the iPhone showed a man doing something, and was narrated by a man. Like women didn’t exist. Now along comes Dell (okay, Della) to market a product that’s aimed RIGHT AT a woman. Hmm. It’s not groundbreaking but it’s an interesting move. Perhaps a recognition that women control a lot of the $$ that floats around a household.
And yes, I agree with D. Daper that most ads that are targeting products to men portray us as ‘fat, dumb simpletons’ who would immediately buy into the notion that having more of the right beer will all of a sudden make me attractive to several beautiful young attractive single women. As if.
If you don’t like the ad, ignore it.
Reminds me of the time I was in radio and an elderly female called up to complain about the music we were playing because it was too rockin’. I asked her if her radio had a station selector knob and an on/off button. She said yes. I told her that she was free to use them in any way she chose.
Wow. I’m a guy and I’m offended by patronising tone of the site. I showed this to some female colleagues and while they weren’t annoyed by the products, they were annoyed by the tone of the copy: “…your lightweight, adorable Mini…”? And why does the site assume that women only use tech to “Enjoy videos, music, email, chat..”?
It’s downright condescending…like most marketing towards women.
The most telling indication so far of the impact the site has had on its visitors, is that the only comments on the content are from DELL-GinaQ (the ham-fisted shill) whose militant-sounding, “Share your thoughts on the topic above” hardly encourages the warm fuzzies these guys were aiming for.
And to compound the insult, apparently “Dell recommends Microsoft Vista Home Premium”. I know my wife would have something to say about that. #fail.
Who cares if they talk down to women… They talk down to everyone… The Dell ads suck.. And this one, like the Adamo shit wasn’t even done by the “Agency of the Future” which is now the “Agency of the Past.” The whole thing is a fiasco.
Cheers/George