Earlier today I received an email from NewEgg.com. The email was a holiday guide heads-up about products they offer for women. While glancing over the list, instantly I felt offended. All the products were pink and half had to do with cooking. What kindof tech list is this? Why are all the products displayed in pink?
If it was a Breast Cancer Research fundraiser listing then I would understand. But it’s ridiculous to send off a pr email that lists products for women and not show a variety of colors. Every item could be bought in pink, but the list itself should not display every item as pink. In doing so, you are saying that we know you are shopping for women, we think all women love pink. Which is just not true.
While some people may feel there is no harm in displaying all pink products. The problem is not the pink product, the problem is the thought process behind it. If we make it in pink, then women will find it more attractive. That thought process should end. Tech companies need to be challenged in how they reach out to women. Talk to us about the product. Make a great product. Those are reasons to buy a product. Not just because of the color it comes in.
Veronica Belmont received the same email and decided to post about it. Her and many other women were insulted by the list.
I wrote NewEgg and explained to them my reasons for being offended. In hopes that they will understand that next time, maybe they should vary up the colors abit. Here is his response:
Sorry you found the list insulting. I understand where you are coming from and apologize. We were actually trying to put together a list to let people know Newegg has MORE to offer than just great tech hardware. Most of these products are available in a variety of colors, like the DSi and the Samsung.
On second look, perhaps we did go a bit pink-happy though. Totally unintentional!
As for the other tech products, tis the season. We’ll get you plenty of other gift guide pitches in the coming months if you’re still interested.
Sorry again
It was great that he responded and did seem genuinely regretful for the choice of going with all pink. We’ll have to watch for the next one!
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009, 4:59 pm | 
Feminism in geeky hobbies | 
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What surprised me most about the response I got on my blog was many dudes just blew it off. They don't understand that most tech-savvy women expect more than just pink gadgets to make us happy.
There's nothing wrong with the color pink (and like you mentioned, had this been a Breast Cancer thing I would have been totally cool with it) but retailers and marketers need to realize that just "pinking and shrinking" a gadget won't make us buy it.
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