There has been a lot of discussion concerning which Super Bowl commercials were liked, or disliked by men and women. Much of the discussion of what was liked by women comes from recent authors on the subject of marketing to women. And I think their insight is valuable. But why is it that some of those commercials don’t connect with women as much as men?
Within weeks my book will be released. It’s called, Re-render the Gender.
It’s the result of four years of independent research of how women respond to advertising and what they like, or dislike, in a commercial or ad.
One of the key differences is humor. Men like The Three Stooges. Women don’t think eye poking and face slapping is really that funny. For the most part, women don’t want anyone to be a victim.
So look at a couple of the Super Bowl commercials and see how that might apply:
In the Doritos commercial the punch line is the boss getting hit in the groin with a snow globe. Would the commercial have been every bit as effective if the throw was a near miss and the boss just glared at the employee? Same result…no promotion….but no victim.
In the other Doritos commercial we see a young man has the ability to change things with just the powerful crunch of a chip. One crunch and a woman’s clothes fly off. Why demean women? Why not one crunch and the parking meter that was expired instantly changes to full? And at the end he gets hit by a bus. Not that funny to women.
The Teleflora spot missed on every level, starting with a concept that was really, ”Huh?” And why insult that poor woman like that? Talk about a victim! Someone loves her and sent her flowers. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, now, you’ve cast doubt in every male mind that sending flowers, at all, might be unacceptable. Nice going!
The Super Bowl is still the best place to reach so many of the people who control the majority of purchase decisions…women. And the temptation for so many advertisers to show off with frat-boy humor must be just too hard to resist.
What a waste of money.
Tags: doritos, hoffman york, marketing to women, re-render the gender, superbowl, teleflora
February 6, 2009 at 12:04 am |
Hey Tom!
Welcome to the blogosphere… I look forward to reading what you have written here, and keeping up on the gender/marketing to women project.
What say you to women like me, who do think this blatant childishness and stooge-esque humor is gold? Am I the exception, and not the rule?
Would love to hear what you think
JB