December 19, 2000

Are Women Stupid?

I picked this title just to get things going I guess. The reason I ask this question, is based on advertising that I have seen of late. I do not remember the names, but the add goes something like this -If you spend $20.00 on this $65.00 perfume, we will GIVE YOU another $120.00 worth of perfume FREE! This would give you $180.00 worth of perfume for $20.00. To me, this seems to say that Madison Avenue does not "think" that women are stupid, but that they know it.
Ad companies do millions of dollars worth of research to determine the best way to advertise to women, and this must be working.

Could you imagine trying this on men? First of all, it would never work. Men value their items differently. If you want me to give you $20.00 for $180.00 worth of beer, you are going to lose out on the deal. I picked beer because it comes close to the perfume idea, one is water that makes you smell good, the other is water that makes you think that you look good. Although the cost of both of these products is negligible, after advertising of course, they are marketed much differently. The beer is marketed as if the mere act of buying it will get beautiful models to play strip volleyball with you. I guess from the female perspective, that means that Madison avenue "KNOWS" that men are stupid too.

So, what have we learned today?  That Madison Avenue "knows" that ALL of us are stupid.....hmmmmmmmmm.
Maybe we should stop buying things that are advertised to the lowest common denominator of human society. Yeah, right. Like THAT'S gonna happen! But just think, what if it did happen?