03.25“I fell off my pink cloud with a thud.”
One quick announcement: SciFi Dad and Multi-Tasking Mommy are expecting another beh-beh! Congratulations!!
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It’s no surprise that, over the past couple of years, many tech companies are targeting women. The Rise of the Pink Toys has gone beyond your usual findings at an adult store; almost every major piece of technology comes in some shade of pink: MP3 players, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, most cell phones available nowadays, laptops, you name it. Even the iPhone is going pink. (Supposedly.) If it’s not pink, it has some girlie twist to it, like flowers and rainbows.
GeekSugar covered the subject pretty well, pointing out that
[f]irst the New York Times confirms that in order to appeal to women, manufacturers need to go way beyond pink (we agree!), then people start talking about the fact that women may be hardwired to prefer pink (what?!) and now we are back at square one with a study that says women routinely say no to the color…
On average the women polled said they spend about £321 (or $651USD) on personal technology every year. Wired got a closer look at the study and noted that only 9 percent of the women polled want products that “look feminine,” like a pink Playstation or Hello Kitty keyboards. The remaining 91 percent said they like “sleek and sophisticated, more boardroom than teenage bedroom.”
Now, I don’t really mind the invasion of The Cute. I’m a big fan of appealing to the mass market, even if it involves playing on stereotypes and exaggerations. (I have a pink Nintendo DS so whatever. I kind of buy into it too, I guess.)
However, I think I’ve found yet another item that tests the limits of girlie and “fun”:
(ganked from shinyshiny.tv)
This is the Whirlpool Max Tattoo microwave.
Yes, it’s a microwave.
According to the folks at ShinyShiny, it “comes with a collection of transfers, which enable you to customise your microwave and add a personal touch.” (You can enter to win one by following the link should you be so enamored by it.) As someone who has a mango-colored stand mixer and an array of colorful accessories for my own tech toys, I can fully see their target audience — college girls who may or may not have coordinating tattoos on their lower backs, looking to gussy up their dorm rooms — I just don’t know if I personally would ever own one.
As I said, it’s neat that manufacturers are appealing to a younger crowd but grown ups need a little flair too. While I wouldn’t buy the Whirlpool Max Tattoo, something a little nicer than your average boring microwave would be pretty awesome.
That goes for all things.
Sometimes, being a woman interested in technology is frustrating because they think all we need is some pink and some floral decorations and we’re sold! But finding a balance between function and form — to be sleek and sophisticated and feminine without being too boring — seems to be difficult; I mean, it’s not like I’m asking for a lot, right? Just the perfect design!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to daydream about shipping my iPhone off to ColorWare to have it painted hot pink!
Don't forget your pink PS2 and e-reader.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Thanks for the link.
Personally, I've found that while my 11 year old niece likes the pink MP3 player, most adult women I know want something a little less ostentatious. However, that also depends on the device and where it sits. My wife, for example, wants a simple sleek looking microwave. But she wants a sparkly pink phone.
{shrug}
March 25th, 2008 at 3:42 am
that doesn't even look like a microwave. weird.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:42 am
What pink PS2? Both of them are black.
And the e-reader is a sticker, haha. I can ditch it when I get tired of it, thankfully.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:47 am
Oh, I agree. In the Geeksugar article, the pink stereo they showed was a bit much. I think household decor in general is held to a different standard than, say, personal items like a cell phone.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:48 am
I thought it was a rice cooker or something at first, haha.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:48 am
My bad. I thought you'd told me that your PS2 was pink… someone had gotten it for you even though it wasn't released over here? Oh well, anyway. I'm okay with some pink gadgets – I used to have a pink iPod mini but that's about it. If I one day (aka tax check) obtain an e-reader, I'd go silver with a pink cover or something. Some pink is good, too much = no thanks. Which is why I didn't keep that pink phone.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:59 am
My microwave is red. So is my coffee maker, my toaster, my teapot, and my drainboard and sink mat.
But the whole kitchen was such stark white that it needed something! It doesn't look nearly as crazy as it sounds.
I love colored appliances. I love having the option of something other than black, white, or stainless. But there's a fine line between tastefully fun and showy and gimmicky. And I'm so over the pink thing.
I agree with the whole “sleek and sophisticated, more boardroom than teenage bedroom” thing. Something sleek, functional, and interesting. Out of the ordinary but not off the wall. Fun splashes of color, subtle little details.
Colored KitchenAid mixers? Tastefully fun and cute. Tattooed microwaves? Not so much.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:20 am
My stand mixer and Senseo machine are red. I'd probably have gotten pink but I think that Ben's head would have ACTUALLY exploded.
And as the owner of a pink laptop and iPod, I still don't think that I'd do a pink iPhone. I mean, yeah my COVER is pink, but I like the sleek black and silver look of the phone itself. It's sexy.
And to your second to last paragraph: *standing ovation*
This is the one beef I have with places like ThinkGeek. Some of the GIRL geek shirts say things like "I love my geek", "GEEK LVR", "#!/usr/bin/girl", etc. Like, being a girl and a geek somehow makes me different because I have boobs instead of balls and just incase you couldn't tell, I am a GIRL and a GEEK, here see, my shirt says so.
Okay, I'm done now.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:43 am
Yeah, I mean, so many women are in the engineering field and we've come so far from the male-dominated industry that it used to be. Women are into technology; as the generations progress, we are creating vastly new gender roles, most of which involving tearing down old ones. People need to get with the program already.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:18 am
We have colorful appliances too — our kitchen is a neutral, bland range of colors inoffensive to tenants — so I'm all about having fun with your kitchen decor. But yeahhhh, a tattooed microwave just crosses that line into tacky.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:20 am