Fifteen or so years ago on Saturday Night Live, there was a parody commercial called "Chess For Girls", which parodied children's toys being specifically geared towards specific demographics. In recent years, as the gender gap between males and females has shrunk, we really don't see many products modified to draw in a specific demographic.
Bic is not joining in that new style of thinking, and is now selling "Bic For Her" pens…in pretty colors like pink and purple. A recently released commercial advertising the pens plays on that campaign as well.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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Yeah, that really happened. The female student wants nothing to do with the black or blue pens, but is all about the pink one. Another ridiculous part of this advertising: the color of the ink is the same as the other Cristal pens! The ink in these Bic for Her pens is either black or blue, depending on the package you get, and the only difference is the outside shell of the pen…and that apparently makes it "for her"? There's nothing different from these Bic Cristal Pens for Her and the standard Cristal pens.
The funny part is that Bic has had colored versions of their Cristal pens for years. They have Bic Ultimates and Bic Shimmers (which have colored ink). Tacking the "for Her" on the end of these pens, when the only difference is the color of the outside seems like an un-necessary risk and a plea for outrage among women's organizations (which has come to fruition).
You don't need to be so blatant in the year 2012. Look at what Gillette does with their razors. You have the Venus for women, and the Fusion for men…and everyone knows that. Gillette doesn't tack "FOR MEN!" or "FOR WOMEN!" onto the packaging…they just let the advertising campaign speak for itself. If Bic rolled these pens out with a tag like "Bic Uniques" or something inoffensive along those lines, would anyone even look twice? I highly doubt it. Bic didn't need to be so blunt with their advertising in the case of these pens.
