The Elusive Female Homo Sapiens

February 26th, 2009

It might be a PR problem to have a video about selling to women leaked from the company, but I thought the conceit at least was sort of amusing.  Statistically, not that many women - relative to men - come into Gamestops, although I’d imagine most of them probably don’t want to be treated as an alien species either.  And clerks in retail stores aren’t generally known for their polished social skills to either gender.  Does this demean women?

Posted in Etc, Geoff |



      

4 Responses to “The Elusive Female Homo Sapiens”

  1. Used Cisco Says:
    February 27th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    I don’t think it’s demeaning in the least. And I honestly think you’ve mistaken conceit for a weak attempt at comedy. I don’t think this video is meant to teach anyone to treat women as “an alien species” but rather to be funny about helping the expanded audience. I mean, its purely a spoof. The message is simple. “We have lots of women customers coming in. Here’s how to best help them; Ask questions, listen and give tailored advice while pushing our current promotions.” Nothing nasty about that.

    I actually think it’s good that a company would have a proactive campaign to make a segment of the consumer population feel more comfortable shopping there. The only issue is that their attempt at humor was “swing and a miss”.

    There’s a very upscale jewelry store in my town called Borshiems. Every guy I know feels intimidated going in there. Well, before Valentines day, they had a “guys night” where they gave away free beer and pizza while you shop till midnight. They even bought in a bunch of LazyBoy recliners.

    It got a lot of local media attention. No one said it was demeaning to men. I think this is much the same.

  2. Rob Says:
    February 27th, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    I don’t know if I’d describe it as demeaning, but pretty much everything about that video is embarrassing and ridiculous.

  3. Geoff Says:
    February 28th, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Cisco,

    I meant “conceit” in the sense of “thought,” not as a pejorative.

  4. Used Cisco Says:
    March 1st, 2009 at 1:52 am

    Yeah, I decided that may have been what you meant after I responded. Anyway, I don’t feel it’s particularly demeaning. I guess it all depends on the end result, of how they actually treat their customers in practice.

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