Gizmodo: New Verizon ad campaign emasculates the Palm Pre, says it's the perfect phone for moms
Haha… Kat has a mom phone.
Honestly, the whole “devaluing things by associating them with mothers” trope is more than a bit tired. Not to mention foolish, given the purchasing power of women in many households.
Not to excuse this, but very often this problem boils down to demographic targeting. Applied socially, demographic targeting is essentially stereotyping, and everyone more or less agrees that it is negative. I seriously doubt the intention was to devalue, and even the Giz coverage focused more on the absurdity of gendering a phone.
Demographic targeting, much like contextual advertising, can be a bitch to pull off without sticking your foot in your metaphorical mouth.
Don’t leave voice mails.
Many businesspeople under 40 have officially stopped listening to their voice mail. Instead, they consult their call log, call back anyone they know or who seems intriguing, and figure everybody else will follow up through another digital avenue if it’s really important. A voice mail, young people say, is almost by definition something you don’t want to listen to: Information too complex or charged to be set down in an email, but not so sensitive it has to be delivered in person. In other words, it’s your mom-equivalent calling.
—Pamela Redmond Satran, author of “How Not to Act Old,” in an interview with Marci Alboher
Thank you, young people.
I have never received a voicemail that did not require either a call back, or an email for further clarification. The phone is for real time, person to person communication. Other things do asynchronous communication far, far better.
