Check out what HP thinks women want in a computer.
Their Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam is a laptop that looks as “stylish and alluring” as a clutch. A combo computer/clutch? Hmm. And stylish is okay, but alluring?
The women I know don’t buy computers that entice while dangling from their hand but computers that are as smart and hardworking as they are.
And lest we think it’s only the laptop that allures (which means “to bait,” by the way), HP dreams up a marketing message that tells women they can play the temptress.
Their ad shows a model in a vampy pose wearing a thigh-skimming dress and go-down-on-me stiletto heels. The small print says this is “the first designer notebook to dazzle runways – and boardrooms.”
Gross.
I guarantee you some guy dreamed up this marketing concept, because it reads like a blatant male fantasy. I also guarantee you HP lost a lot of savvy women who might have bought a small, flowery laptop had it been positioned differently.
Besides, baiting men in the boardroom? HP, women own the boardroom.
Hey, Lynn.
Just reminds me again why I’ve been a Mac lover all my life. Still love Apple’s old campaign, “Think different.” No sexism there. Just images of Einstein, Jim Henderson of Muppets fame, among others, with a fair number of women thrown in (Rosa Park, Lucille Ball, Joan Baez, Maria Callas and other “crazy ones,” as the ads called them.) A brilliant campaign.
The commercials always started out with a voiceover by Richard Dreyfus, “Here’s to the crazy ones…” a reference to those who think differently, including, by association, us “crazy ones” who use Mac. Because we’re brilliant and think differently, too, right?
I am surprised that the ad agency HP hired to do this promotion took the low road and risked offending so many women. Hadn’t seen this campaign yet.
Thanks for making me aware.
Go Macs! : )
Hey Lynn,
I love your comments here and the wisdom of your experience. You make me feel hope for a smarter future — where women aren’t just carbon (consumer) cut outs but “deciders” for themselves and producers of products or services that fit and feel “just right.” When advertising reflects us rather than tries to define and thus limit us, everybody wins.
Thanks for keeping your integrity high as a marketing professional.
~ Jennifer Manlowe
I love your comment, “When advertising reflects us rather than tries to define and thus limit us, everybody wins.” Bravo!