Women as consumers

[DeviTheGaelet]

Apparently women are responsible for 85% of all sales.
she-conomy.com/facts-on-women
The average black woman spends 3 times as much on beauty products as the average woman.
Why?

Trying to find out about female house purchasers and I came across this which is really interesting
www.google.co.uk/amp/therealdeal.com/2016/09/09/surprising-gender-gaps-in-us-home-buying-mortgages/amp/

Single women are more reliable at paying their mortgage than single men yet they get charged more interest and refused a loan more often (may be a US study). Did not expect to read that!

Boots being the example

I found the Boots advert featuring women who work over Christmas a bit annoying - the suggestion that they'd all be over the moon after receiving makeovers and so forth. It certainly wouldn't be my idea of a big Christmas treat!

Here's a link to the make up stuff

It's so sad that people are judged by their appearance - and I do think that goes for men and women as well. Make up, heels, shoes etc.

I do believe that there are some make up adverts in women's magazines

DS and I are loving the perfume ads at the moment - he is very aware of how things are marketed

I found the Boots advert featuring women who work over Christmas a bit annoying

I was surprised not find a thread about it

Here's your treat - a makeover

I think we're missing the point. Women have huge consumer spending power. Surely that's positive? Marketing people who are lastly men are getting it massively wrong and a missing opportunities to make us buy shit. What we choose to spend our money on is irrelevant.

What we choose to spend our money on is irrelevant

Is it? As usual in feminism, how much of that choice is made freely and how much is made to conform to societal expectations?

Buy this yogurt. It's fat free. It will make you look good.
Buy this air freshener. It will make your house smell good and your friends won't judge you.
Buy this hoover. It will make your house cleaner and your friends will notice.
Buy this make up. You will look very attractive and your friends will admire you.

That modern advertising for you! Totally out of touch what your average woman on mumsnet gives a shit about!

Marketing to mums must be easy.

Your baby needs this. You'll be a crap mum if you don't have it. It's rated by Mumsnet and What's Baby magazine. Go on. Don't you care for your baby?

Yes, and it's all such a con. One lipstick/yoghurt/air-freshener is very much the same as another. It might fulfil a purpose, but it's not a magic key to a better life.

but it's not a magic key to a better life

I would LOVE to be in a meeting when they discuss how to advertise these products. I wish they would do this on the Apprentice.

ami have you seen the new address for pull ups for crawling babies?
"When your baby crawls, it's time for a new nappy!!"
FUCK OFF!

*advert

devi

Do you swear at adverts as well

More like rant TBH
Although yesterday my DS went off on one for a good 10 mins about how sexist it was they'd swapped Rey out for Finn in the new action figure advert. I was pleased to see my ranting is sinking in!!

I wish they would do this on the Apprentice

There was one - it might have been last year - where they were advertising shampoo. One team decided to target 'older women' - then hired 20 year old models for their photo-shoot

Oooh, it's been specially formulated to target mature hair breakage - exciting! Except if you look at the label 90% of the ingredients are the same as the Tesco value version.

When they say 91% of houses are bought by women, do they mean that the final choice of house is driven by women and paid for by couples rather that solely purchased by women?

I think I probably do choose virtually everything bought in my house, bar Sky sports, which I would cancel in a heartbeat and the odd thing on itunes that dh wants.

Men seem to shop for things they are interested in or have to have (like lunch or new tyres) wheras women tend to treat shopping as recreational as well as buying essentials.

Most of the singletons I knew who bought homes were female. 91% sounds high but given most new homes are flats, and small at that, I would expect more than 50% owner occupied to be purchased by single women. I guess BTW has been taken out of the figure unless most BTW landlords are single women as well?

Also I was chatting to a friends DH who is a car salesman who said something interesting. He said in a couple it's nearly always the woman who makes the decision but it's the man who wants to feel that you respect his opinion on the car. So you've got to be deferential to the man whilst actually selling to the woman.

Haha typo fail. I meant BTL

When they say 91% of houses are bought by women

It does seem an odd statistic. I note it says 'new houses' - does that specifically mean newly-built houses?

That's what I assumed - it can't possibly be 91% of all houses?

I'd think the poorer a person is, the more they spend on their appearance. Women tend to have less money than men, and black women tend to have even less money than white women, at least that seems to be the case in the US.
(And yeah, hair care products might also be more expensive, but that's probably not all of it.)

I don't care much about my appearance, the only time when I do (have to) care is when I go to a job interview.
The less you can afford to have no job, the more you care about the impression you make.

And I think for many it is subconscious - they don't think they fear poverty, but they probably feel more vulnerable in general if they don't meet the requirements set by society.

Apart from this, though, this are interesting numbers.

If this is true, then why the fuck don't we use our power? In capitalism, being the main consumer is a lot of power.

We could threaten to go on strike. We could, for a time, only buy products that benefit women. (Food would have to be exempt, but we could try to prioritize fair trade products from women's cooperatives)

We could do so many things!

These statistics are blatantly made up. It's a marketing website!

These statistics are blatantly made up. It's a marketing website

Maybe but....

www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/u-s--women-control-the-purse-strings.html

""Women have tremendous spending power in America today—and it’s growing. Market estimates about their total purchasing power varies, ranging anywhere from $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually. And the scope of that spending is notably vast. Fleishman-Hillard Inc. estimates that women will control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the U.S. over the next decade and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history—compelling insight for anyone curious about who’s keeping the U.S. economy going these days.

In addition to handling the bulk of the purchasing decisions for consumer goods in the U.S., they’re also likely to influence or manage many other big ticket purchases—homes, autos, appliances, furniture, etc.—not to mention a large portion of the apparel, groceries and everyday purchases""

I see this as a massive opportunity

If we boycotted companies that didn't have at least 50% women in senior roles, offer flex working, offer great mat leave etc then we could change the world for ourselves.