Oh, technology. How I love thee. I love your tiny circuit boards. I love your graphical interfaces. I love your lightweight design. And I love the many ways you open up, turn on, multifunction, and overall, just look. I wonder though why people, namely females, feel the need to buy you in the latest Louis Vuitton limited edition or put cheap plastic baubles on you to make you shimmer like the sequins on a Liberace outfit (don’t know what I’m talking about? Exhibit A). Or, the worst crime of them all, put you in pink.
Now overall, I have nothing against pink. I’m sure pink would be a very nice and friendly (if not slightly high pitched and somewhat irritating) individual if it were ever granted life by the same fairy that decided to make Pinocchio a real boy. And generally speaking, I have nothing against Liberace-esque sequins or designer labels, but what I do have a problem with is any of the above put on technology for reasons beyond just the aesthetics.
Essentially, any piece of technology costumed in any of the aforementioned ways is saying to the consumer that girls and women can neither use nor like a piece of technology without it being cute, pink, glittery, or have fashionable haute couture initials etched on. Sure, there are plenty of females out there who do not choose the pink, blinged, or designer option of technology but the marketing methods used by companies that employ the “make-it-pink-so-women-will-buy-it” mentality make it appear impossible for women to truly appreciate any kind of gadgetry for the wonderful piece of technology that it is.
So to you gullible consumers and marketing geniuses, I say nay. Do not make your phone look like your 4 year old got access to a hot glue gun and bedazzle art kit. Do not market pink as the only option for females to purchase or choose that pink iPod because you can accessorize it and “like OMG it’s so cute!”
If you want to spend an extra $100 on the “limited edition, one time only, just 500 units made and they’re going fast” ploy used to entice you into buying that smartphone with a slightly different color scheme and some designer logo on it, be my guest at my dinner for idiots. But do not bring the rest of us down with you on the gender slide that heralds “pink is for girls” and champions that things have to be dressed up and done out to be enjoyable.