2004-01-30 5:00 PM
Say It With Stuff
Just for grins, I signed up a while back to occasionally fill out marketing polls online. I continue to fill out the polls for two reasons: one, I like to keep an eye on what the marketers are up to and how they try to appeal to women my age; and two, because I'm such an outlier in many respects, especially when compared to national rather than regional norms (female geek, long-time Internet user, childless at 34, only an occasional eater of prepackaged convenience foods, not losing sleep over whether my family is deeply fulfulled by what I serve them for dinner because, really, if TheCat doesn't like her kibble she's just going to have to cope) that I enjoy throwing off the results just by dint of my presence. On some level I'd actually like to believe this is punk, so shhh... don't shatter my illusions, ok?
So the latest poll has the dippiest title yet: "Women, Caring and Sharing." For real, kids. I couldn't make this shit up if I tried. It's all about women's gentler, nurturing impulses, as expressed through greeting cards, charitable giving and other forms of parting with one's money.
Sadly, the questions aren't nearly as funny as the premise, but it does lead one to wonder: what about male consumerist expressions of caring and sharing? Since men are only supposed to be expressing their emotions by buying flowers and candy and fixing broken gutters and raking leaves in the yard, at least if you listen to the kinds of magazines where women are agonizing over emotionally fulfilling dinners in the ad copy, where does this leave the men? Isn't spending wads of cash at Home Depot an important expression of love too? If they can't actually say anything about their emotions and big marketing companies don't give a rat's ass about how men spend to express emotions, what are the poor dears to do?
Guys, if you want to storm the offices of the big marketing companies and demand that this injustice be redressed, I'm with ya. I'll be the one raising a box of Hamburger Helper in solidarity.