Bic for Women: Not a Huge Deal

The other night, while my boyfriend and I watched Saturday Night Live episodes, a commercial for Bic Pens kept repeating every commercial break. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it. But, after the third or fourth time seeing it, I realized how terrible the advertising is.

I am in no way a person who rushes to the first mention of anything remotely sexist. In this aging population, there is consistent comments that I simply ignore. I am not a person who is a fighter for females only. Do I believe in equality? Absolutely. Do I think that a woman has to like feminine only items? No.

I looked high and low for this commercial, but after the backlash that Amazon is currently receiving, they have since pulled the commercial. 

A beautiful girl is in the hallway at the first day of school. She innocently asks for a pen. Immediately, a group of boys attempt to give her a normal Bic pen. She declines, giggling. Within seconds, the "Bic Guy" hands her a pen that she graciously takes. The pen is pink and thicker than the normal pen. The end of the commercial is her kissing the "Bic Guy" on the cheek. 

Let's look into the commercial itself. Bic, you have told me a few things:
1. Attractive females needs a writing utensil in a school environment because they will not have one.
2. Owning a regular Bic pen will not pull attention of said attractive female.
3. However, if you own a "Bic for Women" pen, you will immediately have said female go steady with you and ignore all other males.
4. You will move up in the social ladder of education.  

While marketing a pen for women might increase revenue, in this case, it backfired and did more harm than good.

The pen is marketed "for women". In Gawker.com's article called, Hilarious Amazon Reviewers Take on Bic’s Stupid, Sexist ‘For Her’ Women’s Pens, the writer quotes the marketing campaign as:

"Designed to fit comfortably in a womans hand" and with an "Attractive barrel design available in pink and purple." For reasons we can totally understand, Amazon reviewers find these pens very funny. 

After I read the reviews, I could see that the commenters were clearly making blatantly sexist jokes and comments. Some almost sounded believable, but their comments echo the same idea. 

I brought this concern to one of my social medias with the intent to disprove the marketing campaign. A few of my friends kept repeating the same question.

"What's the issue?"

The issue isn't that there are pens that are designed to fit comfortably or that they come in pink and purple. The problem is that it is marketed specifically towards women. There is no gender equality on the marketing aspect of it. The product is brilliant as I know a lot of people who think that the barrel of a normal Bic pen can be too thin or too rough. However, the marketing should focus on the comfort and the design as opposed to the push on women.

Also, the idea that you can make something pink, feminine, and floral and turn it into a better product for the female population is kind of confusing. If the pen was marketed appropriately and the "For Women" was taken out, then I can absolutely get behind that. 

Sure. There are some products that market towards women and should be marketed towards women. But, a pen - something that is universally used between sexes on a day to day basis - has turned into a marketing campaign only designed for females.

It's very hard to take apart marketing because most people view it like the normal population. It's a cute and fun way to market a new type of product. Most people view the comments to be funny and comical. But, does that mean that there has to be a "For Men" pen as well? Should there be a pen that is blue and black that has a rougher barrel? 

What about a pen that is marketed towards a left handed person? There are too many times that my hand will smear ballpoint ink or eraser pens. It is something that could be marketed to a populace that isn't discriminating against sexes. But, the question from that would be - what about right handed people?

Marketing can be tricky. You must assess your audience and find the best possible way to creatively send your message. One could say that every marketing campaign will offend someone. Most likely, it will. But, blatantly blocking out another sex for a day to day item, can offend more than a few "someones". 

~Meredith Gerber

Face-to-Face Communication: The Fear

Communication can be viewed on a number of levels. Most people view communication as a message sent from the sender to the receiver and back again. But, people forget elements such as a noise or non-verbal queues that can change the message entirely. For most, these elements are ignored. For myself and others, however, it puts us into a state of anxiety.

"There comes a point where anxiety can be so great that people become paralyzed with fear. At this catastrophic point, drastic changes are evident in the way people communicate. Since they no longer can concentrate on the message or the messenger, they fall back on negative stereotypes or simply withdraw from the conversation" (Gudykunst, 435). 

I am a person that is extremely extroverted - mostly. I grew up in an Italian household where screaming over people was the proper way of communicating the message effectively. However, when I went through the social situations of High School and college, I learned that this was less effective. I was still an effective communicator on other mediums. Through telecommunications, I excelled and was able to get my message across without an issue. However, I still struggled with face-to-face interaction.

I reassessed my idea of an effective communications model and learned that staying quiet when someone was talking was the best answer. This caused me to shift from an extrovert in person to an introvert in most situations. I was more aware of the communication models between other people and I started to just sit back and watch.

However, this is exemplified in situations where I am meeting and hanging out with someone for the first time. I undergo conscious incompetence and start to panic slightly, even know I know that I am misinterpreting the message. 

William Howell, a mentor of Gudykunst, breaks down these social interactions into four categories of communication competence:

1. Unconscious incompetence. We misinterpret others' behavior and aren't even aware we're doing so. Ignorance is bliss.
2. Conscious incompetence. We know that we're misinterpreting others' behavior but don't do anything about it.
3. Conscious competence. We think about our communication and continually work at changing what we do in order to become more effective.
4. Unconscious competence. We've developed our communication skills to the point where we no longer have to think about how we speak or listen.

In order to achieve the fourth level, one must undergo mistakes and miscommunication. The person that is the sender, has to be able to see the models fail and then try again in the same situation involving the same sender/receiver. I am usually at level two, which causes me to fly into an over analyzed state. The idea is still there in terms that the miscommunication that I am clearly over thinking is not truly what it is. However, the fear is what sets in.

Achieving level four is almost impossible. We are constantly aware of our communication and we constantly adjust to any changes. This was apparent this past weekend when I went to a Convention. The conversation started out wonderfully but then the fear set in after a miscommunicated non-verbal queue. I immediately threw myself into an awkward and fearful stage for the rest of the weekend, completely ignoring other communication. I went from being outgoing and talkative to quiet and analytical. I realized that the receiver became the sender and they spoke more than I did. Words were in the back of my mind and the tip of my tongue, but they could not be formulated because of my idea of how the communication went. 

But, instead of actually assessing the miscommunication, I continued with the conversation. This situation also happens within the first few interactions with someone face-to-face. Sometimes these interactions only take a few times before I can actually be comfortable with the communication. But, there are other times in which the interactions might have to be a larger number because of elements in the communication. A person who is intimidating in personality or a person's non-verbal communication not matching their verbal queues, will cause a communicator to shift in their model.

I am a person who takes time to analyze our communication and why it is effective or not effective. In reality, I am a person who tries to use structuration. With it, I am able to better assess situations and stop consistent miscommunication that might become a larger issue. 

Marshall Scott Poole, in Chapter 8 of Group Decision Making, states, 

Structuration is the production and reproduction of social systems by people's use of rules and resources in interaction. Communication matters when groups make decisions. Quality of structure means that rules and resources members use will affect decisions, and in turn those structures will be affected by those decisions.

Back to what I was discussing before, it is a trial and error process. You send a message to the receiver, you also become the receiver in the Communication model. In order to know what the rules are, you have to test out the waters. Sometimes you can gain that information by simply analyzing a group. But, the risk of analyzing is that you may not have that same level of relationship as others in the group and you end up looking like an idiot. Also, if you add the element of fear, it makes the situation way worse.

In other words, this is how intergroup anxiety and uncertainty are usually created and alleviated, but when fear and confusion are almost nonexistent or extremely high, the rules of the game change and all bets are off (Gudykunst, 433).

When you're in fear, one of two things will happen. One, the rest of the group or the single receiver will immediately notice and take on the same feeling. The other option is that the receiver will try to accommodate that fear by talking more or taking the conversation in a completely different direction. This is normal human behavior. Sometimes I find myself on the other side of this, towering over people at a loud volume to overcompensate for the lack of silence.

In conclusion, be aware of your communication models. It takes time, but having unconscious competence will help you excel in social situations. Remember that your interactions, regardless if they are considered fearful or not, can and will impose on everyone else. Once you are able to assess these models, you will be able to learn how to be a better communicator. Finally, do not feel that you need to be perfect. Communication takes a lot of practice that does not come easily on the first try. 

~Meredith Gerber