Halfords - scare men away from your car cleaning products by making them pink!
By Jess McCabe | 4 March 2008, 12:22
Car parts and accessories store Halfords has put out a hi-larious press release, urging women (OK, “girls”) to buy its pink products.
The range is actually called “Car Cosmetix”, because clearly the way to sell bug removers to women is to compare them to makeup (“for head turning results”) and produce them in a sickly shade of our favourite colour.
Girls, are you tired of the boys in your household using your expensive face creams, body lotions or even your special bath oils? Fear no more, Halfords the UK’s leading retailer of car parts and accessories have introduced a fabulous range of girlie car cleaning products that will keep those ghastly boys away!
The new pink car cleaning range may scream out femininity, but rest assured all the products are 100% robust. However hush… don’t tell the boys, they might just decide to try these after all!
Patronising much?
Feeds
Leigh Woosey said:
True story- I was in Dixons (Foregate Street, Chester) at christmas and they were selling LCD digital photoframes. The silver frame was priced at ten pounds less than the other wise identical (same brand, same tech specs) pink version.
So: not only do they patronise the customer with a 'female' version of a product, but then nobody will buy it so they reduce the price!
But... did people refuse to buy it because it was a shade of pink that didn't match the average living room (it was quite a subdued tone, though) or did they instinctively not trust a technology product to work as well if it was Girly?
I believe it was this model:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/Photography/Digital+Photo+Frames/Logik/PF-A700P/572553
versus this one:
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1628724009.1204637089@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfjadedhjdmmmfcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=956014&category_oid=
but if I find out different I will post another comment correcting this know.
However to my hock and awe PC world are doing the same thing with the examples I dug up! Compare:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/Photography/Digital+Photo+Frames/Logik/PF-A700P/572553
with:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0273811415.1204637314@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccadedhjdmlglcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=956014&category_oid=
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 1:34 PM
Laura said:
So, the new range screams out feminity but rest assured it's 100% robust..... (what!)
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 1:35 PM
Leigh Woosey said:
Apologies for the awful appearance of the links up there, but if you cut and paste them they should be fine. Can someone post what HTML does and doesn't work on the comments?
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 4:11 PM
Eleanor T said:
Uh... why would someone steal your nasty, used bug cleaner from your car? Surely if they had a car they'd have their own cleaning supplies and wouldn't need to steal yours. Who in their right mind would do something so downright absurd? Pink, black or rainbow-coloured, 'stealing' a cleaning cloth from your mate's car is just weird, whatever the colour.
Who dreams this stuff up?!
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 4:14 PM
Jess McCabe said:
Links and basic formatting will work, Leigh.
Posted on March 4, 2008 4:47 PM
Amity said:
That's just gross.
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 5:18 PM
Em said:
"The new pink car cleaning range may scream out femininity, but rest assured all the products are 100% robust"
Argh, this made me so cross I had to email them.
Will let you know of any reply.
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 8:48 PM
china blue said:
I refuse - REFUSE - to buy the 'female' version of anything, which usually comes in a sugary pink.
Does it offer different or improved functionality? Do I require a vagina for it to be more efficient? Moreover, does it have to be in bloody pink? Then I'll say no. I don't want my technology or whatever to be 'feminine' or 'masculine', it just needs to fookin' work, OK?
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 9:03 PM
Danielle said:
I think Shelia's Wheels have a lot to answer for here.
"Buy our car insurance! Because... it's pink and sparkly!"
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 10:23 PM
Seph said:
Ugh x_x and I thought it was bad when they started making pink straighteners (the ad campaigns already made it pretty clear if you didn't have a vagina you have no business doing anything with your hair) but now apparantly because i'm a woman i'm incapable of cleaning a car unless the sponge is pink and fluffy and covered in kittens!
I like pink, but I also like cabbage, doesn't mean I want cabbage served on top of every meal I eat, so why should I want pink on everything I buy?
"will keep those ghastly boys away! "
I wonder if Halfords and the others would be surprised to know there's a large subculture that associates the colour pink with a male, hetrosexual rock star. The very thought of a man liking beer, boobs and pink would probably make their heads explode.
Posted on 05 March 2008 at 3:54 AM
Lindsey said:
Strange really, as you don't see that many pink cars about so you'd think these idiots would assume that women don't own cars
Posted on 05 March 2008 at 9:22 AM
Alicia said:
Reading your press release, I haven't felt this patronised in a very long time.
Do Halfords really need to stoop this low? It really just makes you look silly and uninformed.
This was my email to the address attached to said press release.
Despite being in the possession of a vagina I am more than happy to wash my car using black, silver, blue or even dayglo orange products. This is because there is no direct link between colour prefence and gender, and indeed no link at all between colour and product performance.
I will however be buying said products from a different supplier from now on.
Posted on 05 March 2008 at 6:28 PM