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So you think pink is for girls? Find out the real price of pink products for women and girls!
So there I was at the checkout counter at the supermarket eyeing the razors hanging from the racks next to the cashier. There were the standard blue and yellow ones in non-descript packing, promising a close shave and smooth skin. Then there were the pink ones. Attractively encased in superior packaging (which by the way, would do nothing for the quality of the shave) they winked at me as they outshone their ordinary looking compatriots.
Against my will, as I have problem with gender specific colours I inched towards the pink. This was the month to go pink after all, what with it being breast cancer awareness month. And while we are on that topic read this article by a breast cancer survivor on whether the colour of the disease is actually pink. Also this one on whether the pink products you buy this month are doing anything for breast cancer awareness or any other sort of social awareness other than making more money for the companies.
So the pink razors yes. I picked up the packet. Apart from the colour they didn’t seem all that different from their manly versions. I picked up the blue and yellow ones too to compare. I was wrong, there was quite a major difference between the two. This being the price. The pink ones were 30% more expensive.
I checked the packet to ensure that the women’s razors were not being made from precious metal mined on planet Venus. But no, we were just paying for the pink.
A little digging on the grand-daddy of all search engines proved that ‘pinking a product’ helps companies raise the price quite a lot. Take a look at the case of the pens here – Special, read snazzily coloured pens for women that cost more than regular pens.
‘Cos women cannot hold the same pens mens can, being differently abled and all that. (Please read with heavy sarcastic drawl, raised eyebrows and eyeball roll)
And then there is the case of the pink fitness gear. Yes, black boxing glove regular price. Exact same glove in pink, pay more.
And even if they are not actually pink but just products for women – you will pay more for the same thing.
Soaps, shampoos, deodorants.
No wonder baby clothes are segregated into pink and blue. It seems like Marketers want to make sure that we women are conditioned from the crib.
What do you think? Would you pay more for pink?
Pic credit: Premier Packaging (Used under a Creative Commons license)
Shweta Ganesh Kumar is a writer, blogger and creator of the modern Indian parenting blog ‘The Times Of Amma’,and 'Inkspire' - the digital platform for aspiring Indian writers. She was awarded the prestigious UN Laadli read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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