Dell Looking to Pick Up Women With New Website

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Marcus Yam

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[citation][nom]christop[/nom]I think it is sad for dell to try and sell pretty colors and such.. Is their a bunch of ladies out there who would be like O my god it's pink or blue I got to have it.... I might be wrong I did see a sorority girl with a pink mac... So who knows..[/citation]
Color is a pretty big factor in any purchase decision. I wouldn't say that color sensitivity is an exclusively feminine item, considering how much men (and women) care about what color his or her car is.

One thing that the Della site doesn't do to cater to women is to just say "Hey girls, it comes in pink!"

Clearly Dell(a) is trying to get women to identify with its products on some other level, such as meditating and blissing out.
 

Nightsilver

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Ok, so I lol'd. Perhaps by their apparent focus women with their netbooks, they're implying that women have weak arms and are thus unable to use a more manly laptop like a 15.4"-17" from Dell's Vostro or Studio lines. And by referencing recipes somewhere on their site, they are OBVIOUSLY implying that a woman's place is in the kitchen.

Not. Sounds like a tinfoil hat feminist to me!
 

keither5150

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@goryachev

Are you asking if I keep score of all the dumb questions that I am asked on a daily basis? The answer is no.

Call it years of experience dealing with ignorant users. In my office the 3 most hopeless users are men. The 3 most knowledgeable users in my office are also men.

At work the women out number the men by about 3/2.

I base my statement on 9 years of dealing with over 100 users.

Okay, I agree with you that Dell most likely did some research.

I simply don't agree with Dells conclusions.


 

jrnyfan

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Sexist or not, Dell is about making money and this is society and how society is. To deny that women and men are fundamentally different is ridiculous just as to assume that women and men can't do things the other can is ridiculous.

Men and Women are fundamentally different when it comes to how they think, react and process information. I would agree that some of this is due to environmental influences but I personally believe that some of this is fundamental at the gene level.

In sum, everyone is free to believe and choose as they see fit but Dell is simply trying to make money and targeting a sector of the populous that it feels is underserved by their current marketing strategy.
 

stlunatic

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Amazing about how a story about Dell trying to cater to supposed womens needs turned into a penis vs vagina war!

Keep going guys!
 

Nightsilver

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[citation][nom]stlunatic[/nom]Amazing about how a story about Dell trying to cater to supposed womens needs turned into a penis vs vagina war!Keep going guys![/citation]

"Turned into"?
 

ceteras

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Jane, that vagina should not be the only thing defining you. You also have a Brain, and I hope you enjoy using it!

I understand your point of view, but I'd like to see the results of a poll asking women how they feel about that site. I'm sure more than 51% would say they loved it. And this site is for them.

I remember selling a pink Dell laptop to a young and very bright female client. She instantly fell in love with the machine, and only after 5 minutes begun asking questions about it's features... So yeah, the color is crucial.

Also, men don't need a special site for the uneducated. They ask a friend, or come to Anandtech to read your articles!
 
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@ nightsilver

More like forced into... I didn't turn this inappropriate, I just said I understood why Jane would be feisty. I used to work at Peter Piper Pizza (like Chucky Cheese) and when the parents accompanied their children to get prizes the parents would pick a toy with which I had to ask "which color?" "Pick a girl color" they would respond. "WTF...?" I would say in my mind, as I don't like most generalizations, especially when they are used to define something :-\
 

JMcEntegart

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[citation][nom]ceteras[/nom]They ask a friend, or come to Anandtech to read your articles![/citation]

Should that read, "they come to Tom's Hardware to read your articles," or am I missing something? :p

Also, my gender does not define me and yes, using my brain on a regular basis is one of my favourite hobbies.
 

bustapr

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[citation][nom]doomtomb[/nom]that you are afraid of Dell trying to characterize your sex by making a website with generally feminine colors. That seems to infuriate you that Dell would dare to associate colors with women or make a website targeted at women.[/citation]

I'm a guy. I LIKE PINK!!!!
 

ceteras

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[citation][nom]JMcEntegart[/nom]Should that read, "they come to Tom's Hardware to read your articles," or am I missing something? Also, my gender does not define me and yes, using my brain on a regular basis is one of my favourite hobbies.[/citation]

Oh, yes! The other one!
I apologize, I hope I did not offend...
 
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All you talking about vaginas watch out, they will get you for cyber bullying !!! lmao....
 

keither5150

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Here's an update.

Because of the slow morning..... I asked the 7 women of accounting if they would appreciated the fact that Dell is targeting women with this site.

All 7 didn't like it. But all 7 liked the Della site and thought it was well done.

Go figure.
 

stlunatic

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[citation][nom]keither5150[/nom]Here's an update.Because of the slow morning..... I asked the 7 women of accounting if they would appreciated the fact that Dell is targeting women with this site.All 7 didn't like it. But all 7 liked the Della site and thought it was well done. Go figure.[/citation]

Thats vaginas for you...
 

curnel_D

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Not going through the trouble of reading the second page. But Jane, I think you're getting upset over something that really wasn't even targeted at you, simply because you think you should be offended.

Dell has obviously targeted this type of site towards superficial, boring women who care more for calorie counting and handbags than they do anything else in life. And I think dell might be in for a surprise when they realize that this type of woman is actually a huge minority.

Coming from quite a bit of help desk experience, men tend to get their hands dirty and research what they don't know if they're about to make a decision like purchasing a computer. The women I've dealt with on the other hand tend to want someone to do it for them, and tell them what they 'need' to know. I wont say all women are like that, but most are.

This will just be another failed attempt from dell to connect with it's misinformed customer base.
 

solymnar

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Sexist is a loaded gun plus a chicken/egg scenario.

I personally loathe sexist comments, or remarks like "oh you just wouldn't understand because you're a guy/girl/race/etc."

So I completely agree with Jane that I'd prefer dell to simply expand out their help and tutorials to cover people who are ignorant of many things in regards to computers.

The marketing analysts will note that there are large chunks of women who want to be catered to in a "femenin" manner. Probably due to be bombarded with social structure, pink bows, and media from the day they were born.

Many of these women believe that they are special and come from venus and are mystically more in tune with nature and blah blah blah. And for many of them, computers are guy/nerd things. So della is trying to show that it is also mystical and in tune with these magical creatures of another world called women.

Or the femenists who mistakenly believe that women are fundamentally different and better than men and should be treated better than men but somehow think this helps promote equality.

If you are a women who believes you are a person in a world filled with other people...then those ideas should offend you in my opinion. It offends me. So does gender based pay discrepencies and quite a few other things.

But that's reality. So long as our society keep producing women and men who somehow believe they are a different species from each other. They will continue to promote inequality. And marketing will try to capitalize on that any way they can to boost this kind of person's comfort in making those people feel more like their special species of man/woman and encourage them to buy more product.


Hopefully more people will raise their kids to be people with enough self security to live life as they see fit and encourage others to do the same.

Until then we have to deal with those who feel it is required to expound and display how manly/womanly they are 24/7. And companies will take advantage of that.

/shrug
 

JMcEntegart

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@Curnel_D

That's crap, dude. I'm offended because a company that I actually quite like has launched a website that manages to patronize an entire gender. The fact that it's my own gender means it's a little closer to the bone but like I said, if they did the same thing to men, I'd have a problem with that, too.
 
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