Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Summer Eve And A Long Line Of Advertising Non Sequitors Targeted To Women

This post originally appeared on BlogHer. Some edits have been made.

 

You've got to feel bad for Angela Bryant. She's the brand manager for Summer Eve's feminine wash. Not only is she charged with selling a product for douching - an activity the health care profession says is unhealthy and should be avoided, Bryant, by approving an advertorial in Women's Day magazine, is now associated with an ad that is sure to become a classic of how not to market to women.

You know she sat at her desk and felt like vomiting. In case she did lose her cookies, she hopefully had some of those new disposable Wisp toothbrushes by Colgate in her desk, perfect for such an occasion. If she didn't have access to a toothbrush, then maybe she had some Altoids. Either of these products could build a legitimate advertorial around feeling confident when talking to your boss. No one wants to go in and talk to their boss with remnants of the chili dog with raw onion that they ate for lunch.

Bryant's mistake was trying to offer women a solution to a problem that they don't have. When was the last time anyone in your work environment said of another worker, "Sometimes the aroma of her hooch is too strong"?

There is an entire field of study that examines sexism in advertising. Much of it is overt like this British business to business phone ad or the serially arrested Paris Hilton ad for Carl Jr.'s.

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The Summer Eve's advertorial got the attention of so many last week not because it was blatantly using sex or sex appeal to sell a product, but because it was taking a real concern of women (career advancement) and dummying it down to saying using a douche product will help them succeed in their careers.

But Summer Eve is certainly not the first company to focus on a key woman's issue and make a ridiculous product association. In the 1950's Lysol tried to convince women that they should douche with their product and if they didn't, their husbands might divorce them.

Jack In The Box tried promoting their Fruit Smoothies with a menopause theme. In the TV spot, they send a message that drinking the fruit smoothies can help with hot flashes (a very real women's issue) and help prevent women from going "street rat crazy," (a stereotype of women-as-hysterical issue).

Does anyone think a fruit smoothie is really going to help with hot flashes?

The same "women are hysterical" theme was used n the 1950s by Marlboro. At that time, the cigarette was primarily marketed to women, and their message to young moms was that smoking their cigarettes would make them a better mom.  From Lisa at The Society Pages,

 

Advertisers also like to play into the theme that women need to change their behavior in order to keep their husbands interested and satisfied. In the 1970s, Funky, a line of clothing, introduced the "Mistress Collection." The ads appeared in Cosmopolitan.

About a decade earlier, Folger's coffee used a similar theme to sell their instant coffee. In this  60-second spot, a husband insults his wife's coffee and says, "the girls in the office make a better cup of coffee on their hotplate." At the end of the spot, the husband likes the coffee so much that he has sex with his wife. Really.

Perhaps the classic ad in this genre of "women are just not good enough to succeed," is a Palmolive soap ad from the 1920s. In this ad about four years after the 19th amendment was passed, the advertisers admonish women, saying that all of their accomplishments are for nought unless they are also pretty.

Some of the best advice about maketing to women comes from a very unlikely source - David Ogilvy.  In a term paper about Advertising, Women & Ethics  posted on Scribd, the author shares some of Ogilvy's 1960s insights.When you adjust the language for 1960s attitudes, what he says makes a lot of sense.

... he does caution readers and potential advertisers to tell the facts. Ogilvy states, “the consumer isn’t a moron – she is your wife”, and then advises that advertisers not “insult her intelligence.” (124)

That's all we're asking for. Don't insult our intelligence.

(Note: Summer's Eve Brand Manager Angela Bryant has apologized for the advertorial in the comments of the Daily Kos, according to AdFreak.)

Note: For more on why women shouldn't douche, read Dr. Lissa Rankin's  Owning Pink.

Why isn't Southwest Airlines apologizing to Kyla Ebbert?

He said her outfit was inappropriate. In the end she was allowed to board the plane but had to have a blanket cover up. Discrimination? A change in corporate policy? What's really going on? Check out my post on Blogher called No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service. Does this business standard need revamping?

Sock it to me

In the category of You Can't Make This Stuff Up, a bank started declining a yarn store's credit card processing because they became suspicious that the store was selling something other than sock yarn.

The banker's couldn't understand how anyone would spend $200 on sock yarn when you can go to the store and buy socks for under $10.

Had they just picked up the phone and called the store they would have discovered that the $200 fee was to become a member of a Sock Club -- think Fruit of the Month. Flower of the Month. Beer of the Month.

As a result, all of the membership fees were returned to the knitters,  the yarn store had to contract with a new bank, and design  and re-invite knitters to join the Rockin Socks Club.

Blogher Contributing Editor Debra Roby shared the story  of The Big Bad Bank and  Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Steph at YarnHarlot voices the opinion of many:

The ladies at Blue Moon also (and this demonstrates to me the depths of their class) have declined my offer to provide each and every one of you with the address of the bank and the Bank managers email address, so that you (ALL of you) could provide him with an expansive email detailing your feelings about sock yarn, his behaviour and the relationship between the two. I would not have had that amount of class. Knitters...say it with me. Freakin' muggles. They have no idea who they are messing with.

Steph's rant has already gotten over 500 comments...

The Blue Moon Story is getting lots of play on the knitting blogs. Fabric Dragon was so mad she said she could spit knitting needles

so after hundreds of knitters bought year long kits sending them fixes.. uh.. "kits" to knit socks every month from a yarn store. the bank cancelled their credit card servicing contract, and refunded everyones money... and basically royally #$%^& the store..... all because no one would buy a "sock kit of the month"...... and besides, the store is run by girls.... they dont do this crp to "collectable dustmagnet of the month" now do they?

And, as Knitting Psychos shared. The Rockin' Socks Club is back in business.

BLUE MOON FIBER ARTS ROCKIN’ SOCK CLUB - The website is NOW WORKING. If you need to pay for your club registration again, please do so now. According to the BMFA website, places will be held until the end of the month.

So if you joined the socks club and got a refund,visit the site soon to rejoin. Your "spot" is being held til the end of the month --after that, it will go to someone on the ever growing wait-list.

 

WCCO report on Black Friday Ads

 

The email came in a a few minutes before 5:00 pm  from Reporter Jason DeRusha of WCCO -TV , our CBS affiliate.

He had seen my post about Black Friday Ads on Blogher -- the network of women blogs that where I am a contributing editor and Jason wanted to chat. Then he wanted to do an on air interview. Did I mention that (a) my hair was a mess (b) my office was messier than usual and that is beyond comprehension for some and (c) I had to be on a webex facilitation at 5:50.

When Jason discovered I lived downtown he didn't think that my time crunch was an issue. He, the cameraman and the intern arrived at 5:30 and we were done by 5:45.So here it is, Jason's story on Black Friday Ads with me as his "marketing expert.

Besides the fact that he didn't mention the name of my blog, or Blogher and that my name is actually pronounced  e la na ( like sha na na) rather than e lay na -- I thought his story was great.

Check out his blog  he has a lot of info on Black Friday ads.

The Resume Writing Blogs

Sitting with my son Noah, and our cousin Jeffrey in an unpretentious Mexican restaurant near Washington Square on Sunday, we started talking about Noah's job.

Having just graduated in June from the University of Wisconsin, Noah sent out one resume, went on one interview and was gainfully employed 10 days after graduation.

Not so for his friend Sam*. Like Noah, Sam graduated from Wisconsin in June. He was a strong student with a major in marketing. He had several internships. He's sent out 95 resumes and hasn't been called for one interview.

Jeffrey said the obvious. There has to be something wrong with his resume. Or does there?

Just the day before I was chatting with my friend Lynne about resumes. Sitting in a lovely european coffee shop( that's what it called itself, "european coffee shop" ) near 1st avenue and 15th in NYC, I was talking via my cell phone with Lynne in St.Louis who had just landed her dream job-- planning events and managing volunteers for a nonprofit.

Instead of going the tradiitional resume route, Lynne opted to send a "career basket". Lynne had taken 12 words that described the skillset of the position and then filled a bucket with chatchkees representing each skill. For organized, there was  a little dayplanner, for creative,a box of crayons,and so on. Her traditional resume was in the center of all the stuff. She got the job.

Not ready to do a bucket resume but not wanting to end up in Sam's position with no call backs?

There are a ton of resume writing blogs that will either provide you with the confidence to create the world's best resume ,or intimidate you enough to  hire a professional resume writer to do the job for you.

Jennifer Anthony at ResumeASAP Blog offers practical advice like: Eight Essential Proofreading Secrets to Keep Your Resume Out Of The Trash andListing Other Interests on a Resume Yes or No?.

At One Louder Heather Hamilton has a post with multiple links for people who want to brush up on resume strategies.

The Executive Resume Blog offers news on the latest trends, techniques, and issues affecting executive employment and executive resume writing.  Laura, like many of the resume blog writers promotes she is a certified resume writer. Then there's a post from Diane Penna, who asks the question,Are Resume Writing Services Necessary? Her conclusion?

If you are concerned about having your resume get noticed, I would suggest getting help with your cover letter instead. Resumes, while detailed, are not typically written in full sentences, while a cover letter requires excellent English skills. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because a cover letter wasn't requested that it isn't needed. Do what I did. Spend an extra hour or two and put together your own resume and I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

And finally, Lorelle on Wordpress suggests that just as Thursday is the new Friday, Blogs are the new resume.

’For your career, a blog is essential,” says Phil van Allen, a faculty member of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. ‘’It’s the new public relations and it’s the new home page. Instead of a static home page, you have your blog,” he said. It’s a way to let people know what you are thinking about the field that interests you.”

*Sam is a pseudonym. He is a real person and would love a job interview.

Image Credits: Flickr members spoOman and Pål Løberg

This is cross-posted at Blogher
 

Pump It UP Working Moms

Breastfeeding at work  has been on my mind for a couple of months. During the summer I happened to  chat  with a new mom who told me a story about her good friend who was asked to go across the street from her office to pump her milk. The woman worked for a legislator. When I asked if she would be willing to chat with me about the situation, she declined.

Earlier this month, Jodi Kantor wrote a wonderful article about working women and breastfeeding in The New York Times ( subscription required)

"But as pressure to breast-feed increases, a two-class system is emerging for working mothers. For those with autonomy in their jobs — generally, well-paid professionals — breast-feeding, and the pumping it requires, is a matter of choice. It is usually an inconvenience, and it may be an embarrassing comedy of manners, involving leaky bottles tucked into briefcases and brown paper bags in the office refrigerator. But for lower-income mothers — including many who work in restaurants, factories, call centers and the military — pumping at work is close to impossible, causing many women to decline to breast-feed at all, and others to quit after a short time."

Elderberry Jam, a blog written by a Quaker Nurse who lives on a small farm is one of those breast feeding working women.

"I have been back to work as a nurse on an orthopedic/neurological unit since mid-July. Our baby girl has never tasted formula, and she just turned 3 months old. That is thanks to an Ameda Purely Yours breast pump. The hospital has a nice lactation room for employees, but our surgical floor is so busy that I often only get one chance in 8 hours to pump. I have a 45 minute drive to and from work. You aren't supposed to go over 4 hours without pumping. So if it's been 5 hours by the time I get off work, I pump rather than add 45 more minutes. Pumping in the car to and from work would be IDEAL."

As someone wrote (which I cannot find right now) breast pumping while driving does seem like the ultimate parody of multi-tasking. It's also expensive. From a post responding to Kantor's article in Medpundit.

"Wealthier women can spend their way out of work-versus-pumping dilemmas, overnighting milk home from business trips and buying $300 pumps that extract milk quickly, along with gizmos that allow them, in what seems like a parody of maternal multitasking, to pump while driving to and from work. Just don't try it with a real baby."

Radical Catholic Mom has a lot to say about the cost of using a breast pumps.

"It’s not just lactation breaks and a clean place to pump that’s often lacking, but the pump itself. Efficient pumps that can extract milk during a work break cost hundreds of dollars to own; Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on breastfeeding, notes that her patients can’t even afford the $50 variety. So let’s see: You have no guaranteed pumping breaks, no clean, private pumping space, and you can’t afford a pump. Meanwhile, WIC offers vouchers for formula. Is it any wonder that by six months postpartum, only 29% of mothers whose education ended at high school still feed their babies breastmilk?"

Turns out concerns about breastfeeding for working women is not limited to the U.S. According to an article in INQ7.net, Maila Ager writes about Eduardo Zialcita, legislator who wants breastfeeding rooms available to all working women in the Phillipines. While Zialcita cites health benefits as a reason, he also shares that there is an economic benefit to the legislation.

"Besides, the lawmaker said breastfeeding would not only save lives but it would also impact positively on the economy of the Philippines. The lawmaker said if all lactating mothers would breastfeed their babies, the government could save 57 million US dollars or roughly 2.96 million pesos from milk formula imports every year."

Finally, Cribsheet, a blog for Twin Cities moms and dads hosted by The Star Tribune had a post  from Christy, from a waitress that reminded me why I love the sensibilities of the Twin Cities.

MN has a great law regarding a womans right to pump-as well as tax breaks for employers who provide a special room to mothers-please look up the law–we have one of the best. As for restaurants, I have worked at Old Chicago Uptown for 12 years, and have pumped for a total of 3 years while working there (2 different babies) and they were FABULOUS. I could go every 1 1/2-3 hours (depending on my babies age-I went back to work at 28 days post-partum) while the manager and other servers watched my tables–my husband was even allowed to bring in our baby in case the bottle was rejected that night. Since my experience, I know that there have been many servers at our various locations who have pumped no problem at work. I realize I am lucky to have such a great supportive place to work, I just wish everyone knew about our rights as nursing moms.

Image Credit:Galatically Stupid. This is cross-posted at Blogher.

What do Tom Cruise,Mel Gibson and Forbes magazine have in common?

They said a bad, bad, thing. Mel apologized. Tom got the boot.Forbes pulled its article. You can read my entire post at blogher.

Will Cingular dooce the author of "Just me, twiddling my thumbs until the apocalypse"?

Like many bloggers before him, Jared Watts writes about his job-- a job he disdains. Unlike many he probably won't be dooced for his rantings.

Work is tumultuous at best. Our manager made us all come in yesterday morning at 8am for a staff meeting…now let’s keep in mind that our staff consists of a whopping four people…definitely something that necessitates some grand spectacle. At the meeting, he basically said y’all suck, and here’s how, and then he talked to us for about an hour about how this job should be the number one priority in our lives. Every moment at work should be spent actively working, even if we have to make up jobs to do (I’m sorry, but this store is a total graveyard, and we have nothing but downtime). Sorry, I’m not going to invent jobs just to pass the time that I’m already passing just fine thank you.

As Yuki Noguchi writes in the  Washington Post  article, " Kids Say The Darndest Things", Jared Watts is blogging about his job at a Cingular retail outlet. Jared's dad is Wayne Watts --the senior vice president and associate general counsel of AT&T Corp., Cingular's parent company.

Jared makes a clear distinction between writing about the company and making personal attacks against his dad who he says, "supports him a 100 percent and is responsible for getting him the job he lovingly disses in his blog. For his part, the dad relied on a company spokesperson to express his views. As the article says,

His father, speaking through an AT&T spokesman, said: "I care very much for my son. And like many fathers and sons, we have differences of opinion on many subjects."

  Jared says what he wants to whomever he wants. His dad opts for the company spokesperson. Talk about a generation gap-- the line shouts volumes.

So does Jared's blog -- which ,while particularly brutal, could, if the company chose to listen, provide them with a real sense of what its like to work in the company.

Now the Post didn't provide a direct link to Jared's blog-- just directions how to get there. Not sure if that is some kind of  editorial policy of not providing links ( I am after all reading the article online and a link would have been appropriate and user friendly) Nevertheless, I was eager to surf for Jared.

While AT&T Cingular might view his rants as the thoughts of a"spoiled 21 year old", I am reading it as the kind of honest interpretation of a job that companies need to hear.

Companies need to understand what their policies sound like to a non-invested employee who is just there for their paycheck,not their career.

While few companies would permit an employee to blog so honestly about their job ( and who knows how much longer young Jared will be hanging around) they do have another choice....the internal corporate blog.

Karen E. Klein's Smart Answers column in BusinessWeek Online  shares that companies can start using internal blogs instead of email and workflow management tools. The article includes interviews with two of my Blogging buddies  and Blogher Editors: Jeneane Sessum and Toby Bloomberg.

An employee blog will serve more as a "...centralized talking space for company news and views, customer wins, etc.," Sessum explains. "Blogs put the nexus of control, at least from a communication standpoint, in the hands of employees, thereby empowering them. At the same time, because internal blogs remain within the firewall, they are a good venue for honest communication and collaboration in a relatively safe environment for businesses that are just getting used to the idea of blogging and may view it as sort of renegade."

Bloomberg adds a word of caution: "Although it's not a top-down strategy, unless management and the company culture support this type of informal communication it is set to fail before the first word is posted. It's critical that the company provide training and encouragement, especially in the beginning stages."

The article also includes some quotes from Theresa Valdez Klein of Blog Business Summit -- which is hosting a conference this October focusing on how internal blogs can help businesses.  Information about the conference, which will be held in Seattle, is available at her site blogbusinesssummit.com.

 

Yin and Yang of the Airlines' Ban on liquids

Except for H2O ,there are solid substitutes for our favorite sundries. Check out my post at Blogher.

Women Entrepenuers in Afghanistan

  Last night I saw the   documentary,The Beauty Academy of Kabul, --the story of six American hairdressers --funded by the Beauty Industry---who go to Kabul, Afghanistan in 2003 to open a beauty school.

Watching the documentary inspired me to do some research on the state of working women in Afghanistan. You can read that post on blogher.

You can listen to an interview on NPR's Fresh Air with the film's director Liz Mermin and academy teacher Shaima Ali.

If the documentary is not playing in your community, you can sign up for an email alert letting you known when it's on DVD.

Image Credit: Shadow Distribution