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Wal-Mart Women
In a recent New York Times article, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen suggests that to defeat John McCain, Barack Obama needs to warm up to “Wal-Mart women.” The article didn’t explain just what he meant, whether they were women who loved to shop in Wal-Mart because of the low prices or were forced to, thanks to their income. The point is that he figured we all knew what he meant—a female voter either proud to be in Wal-Mart or stuck there, harboring doubts about someone who isn’t.
Politicians love to pigeonhole women. After elections swung by soccer moms and red-staters, this one’s got Hillraisers, chardonnay sippers and GenY feminists. Marketers are no different. We like finding ways to collapse all mothers into Alpha Moms or all boomers into Empty Nesters, even if the moms are very Beta and the boomers never had nestlings.
It’s easier to think of target customers as the same, or worse, as a better version of ourselves. How else would creative briefs have the nerve to describe buyers in specifics that can only be wishful thinking: “confident, optimistic, charismatic, fashion-forward, has a Puggle and is a huge fan of Mad Men.” Perhaps female marketers are really intimating, “She’s just like me on a good day” or their male counterparts, “She’s someone I wish I’d dated.”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about women over the years, it’s that they always surprise us. The sweater and pearls girl from Customer Central Casting is a screamer. The quiet, overweight woman is bubbling with fabulous secrets. The minute we blob women into “the target,” we risk force-fitting a handle and closing out the possibilities for unexpected insights –something we’d never want done to ourselves. Maybe the next convenient political ‘hook’ needs a re-look before we bite.
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