Of Polar Winds and Gender Polarization
Posted on | January 22, 2008 | 2 Comments
by Andrea Learned
As I sit and type this post in Burlington, Vermont, the outside temperature is 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill that makes it feel like 3 – so perhaps my mind is on “polarization” as in the North Pole kind. But, what I am actually pondering these days is “polarization” as in “breaking up into opposing factions,” and what that means for marketing.
While I do have a bit of Pollyanna in me (must be those midwestern roots), I do think that if we were open to learning a little more about things we aren’t currently comfortable with, we’d all be amazed at the progress we’d make in life and in marketing.
As it is, often we admit defeat in these commonly polarized situations: where men don’t “get” women, or big business hates environmental sustainability, or Christians just don’t get along with Muslims. However, we might do better to keep up hope that there are A) a few men and women who WANT to learn more about bettering their interpersonal relationships with the opposite sex, B) a few people in big corporations who ARE psyched to influence their colleagues toward a more green viewpoint, and C) a handful of open-minded Christians or Muslims who DO see their small steps toward understanding one another as useful for the larger picture?
You know where I sit on this. In particular, it was nice to read an article by Abigail Goldman in the Los Angeles Times today, which offered up a great example of someone who seems to unite wide ranging groups with varied opinions over the environmental/sustainability movement. The guy doing this is a former ad executive, no less – Eric Ritz. As Goldman writes:
“What makes Ritz’s brand of activism different — and what fuels his efforts — is that unlike earlier generations of social advocates, Ritz said he and his Generation Y audience don’t see big business as the enemy.
‘You have to work within the system to have the most impact,’ Ritz said. ‘Nobody owns us, but we work with partners to reach as many people as possible — that’s the goal. We’re leveraging their audience.'”
***
Interestingly, big business is not the enemy to him or the younger generation he is representing. Working within the system may be less sexy than an all-out revolution, but might it actually slowly chink away at the minds of those people who have not embraced more sustainable living for whatever reasons? I say: give them a teeny little way to try it, and their feet might start to walk in that direction completely, over time.
So, is this a generational thing? Is polarization a habit for some people that needs revisiting? Do people need to be hit over the head to see both sides of the story and soften their perspective a bit?
When it comes to marketing to women, specifically, I have wondered if there is some sort of gender polarization that exists whereby men have never understood women in personal relationships (or think they haven’t), and so think they can’t learn about women as consumers as a result… And, vice versa, have women in business polarized men in some subtle manner whereby they roll their eyes in frustration and think they’ll never be able to educate their male colleagues about the subtleties of reaching women?
I’m on a mission to help both sides of the gender/marketing equation see a bit of the other’s perspective. And, I know there are others out there, like Eric, working to do the same with regard to the hugely significant topics like the environment and religion.
Wait a second… do I hear a voice over those cold winds? “I have a dream…”
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2 Responses to “Of Polar Winds and Gender Polarization”
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January 23rd, 2008 @ 10:55 am
A great example of polarization is the ad for freecreditreport.com featured on Glenn Sacks website today. The ad features a young man singing the blues (literally) because his wife didn’t tell him about her bad credit before they married. Glenn writes, “In the anti-male world of advertising, this is a true man-bites-dog story.” While I can’t join in Glenn’s gloating, I can appreciate his frustration. As the wife of an incredible “neglected dad” (thanks, Mark Penn), the mother of an impressionable daughter and an account planner in the advertising community, I am saddened and sickened by how polarizing we make much of our messaging related to men and women. Celebrating one gender does not require demeaning the other. Perhaps the issue is rooted in self-confidence…or the lack thereof. It takes a confident, secure person to be completely comfortable when someone else has the limelight. Maybe as marketers we lack that confidence either in ourselves, our gender, or in our ability to convey it to our clients. Whatever the cause, I agree with you that we have to correct it.
February 29th, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
Thanks for that example, Lisa. And – yes, self-confidence lies at the root of it. We can’t just right it off as a consequence of “the institution” of business or whatever. I think in this day and age it DOES help for women to be as aware of male stereotyping as we ask men to be aware of female stereotyping.