{"id":41951,"date":"2019-03-28T14:26:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T14:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=41951"},"modified":"2019-03-28T14:26:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T14:26:44","slug":"wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow","title":{"rendered":"I won&#8217;t pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A progressive bill targeting gender-pricing was shot down in the House of Commons this week, but marketing towards consumers based on gendered assumptions is still very much alive.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-42046 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"marketing\" width=\"6000\" height=\"3375\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-42046 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"marketing\" width=\"6000\" height=\"3375\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>As I walk down the long commercial aisle at my local Boots it smells slightly of cleaning solvent and icing sugar. I scan across the variously coloured, bottled and branded options on display to find which glorified body soap most appropriately fits my daily mood. Could it be Palmolive\u2019s <em>Feel Glamorous<\/em> shower gel? Or maybe Ted Baker\u2019s <em>Fragrant Bloom Shimmer<\/em> body wash. What do I know? Maybe I\u2019m just an average <em>Orange Flower<\/em> or \u2014 \u00a0I shudder at the thought of it \u2014 \u00a0a simple <em>Apricot Marshmallow<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>As my imagination skips, undetermined, across the various sensual scrubs that could jump start the day I wonder: am I the single outlier in a world of options? Or are these choices an illusion?<\/p>\n<p>Only 11% of creative directors in the marketing industry are women. That means nearly nine out of every ten individuals in a \u2018creative\u2019 meeting is a man asking: what do women want? It\u2019s an impossible question to determine \u2014 every woman and man, is unique. We have our own ideas of what it means to <em>Pause for a Pamper<\/em>. Yet market segmentation, the process of dividing consumers into groups based on different characteristics, is prevalent in almost everything we buy. Fortunately for the marketing industry, it doesn\u2019t take a genius to discover the most traditional distinction between us: gender.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42051\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42051\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-42051 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH.jpg\" alt=\"marketing\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH-500x282.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42051\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-42051 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH.jpg\" alt=\"marketing\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/BODY-WASH-500x282.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/noscript> A selection of body washes at Boots pharmacy in Cardiff, UK.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For companies selling consumer goods, the dominant gender association affects everything from colour and texture to scent, shape and size. Not surprisingly the \u2018distinctive\u2019 features for women are bright colours or pastels, florals, smooth lines and rounded shapes\u2014 and for men, it\u2019s simply the opposite. When this anachronistic gender line is drawn through our toiletries aisle it reveals plenty, and pays marketers a hefty (pink and scented) penny.<\/p>\n<p>On the one side you have fifteen shades of \u2018feminine\u2019 body wash, deodorant and shampoo, and on the other, three variations of essentially the same products \u2018for men.\u2019 In a sense women have more options here, more freedom of choice. But when you boil down the body shimmer it turns out women pay more for an elaboration on what marketers think we want.<\/p>\n<p>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 46.666666666666664%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-container\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/kristen-wiig-frustrated-unimpressed-Xj8orUvjQ2SLS\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/div>\n<p>An investigation by <em>The Times<\/em> newspaper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/women-charged-more-on-sexist-high-street-3gpwv2ck3qd\">in 2016<\/a> found that women and girls \u00a0were charged on average 37% more for beauty products, clothes and toys\u2014 but this inequality is not particular to the UK. A study of <a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/politics-social-justice\/gender-based-pricing-sexist-tax-facing-cardiff-shoppers\">gender-based pricing<\/a> in New York City, appropriately titled \u201cFrom Cradle to Cane,\u201d \u00a0found that personal care products had the largest average disparities between genders, with women\u2019s goods costing more 56% of the time. In services at least, the reasoning for this gender-based pricing is a football field shy of understandable.<\/p>\n<p>Take for example, haircuts. It takes more time to cut and style for a woman than it does for a man\u2014 especially when you count the cost of the chemical goodness they spray over it. Or take one of my favourite explanations for why women are changed more comes from car mechanics. Women are quoted higher prices than their male counterparts when repairing a vehicle because \u201csellers exploit expected differences in knowledge about appropriate prices.\u201d Ah, bless. This run-of-the-mill sexist rationale is hilariously transparent\u2014 but let\u2019s get back to the real culprit: those beauty products.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-42057 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/MASHMALLOW-625x352.jpg\" alt=\"marketing\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-42057 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/MASHMALLOW-625x352.jpg\" alt=\"marketing\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for marketers, aesthetic is far from the the modern women\u2019s raison d\u2019etre. Continuing to assume that women are willing to pay more (while getting <a href=\"https:\/\/gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk\">paid less<\/a>) for a product that defines them as a <em>Pretty Pearl<\/em> is completely missing the mark. When feminism is driving against stereotyping, and the power that rests in traditional gender roles is quickly dissolving, it\u2019s time to take <em>Apricot Marshmallow<\/em> and the assumptions supporting it, off the shelf.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women are being asked to pay more for products that no longer define them, but why does gender-based pricing still exist?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":42046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[34],"coauthors":[618],"class_list":["post-41951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-city","tag-activism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I won&#039;t pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle - InterCardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I won&#039;t pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle - InterCardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Women are being asked to pay more for products that no longer define them, but why does gender-based pricing still exist?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InterCardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-28T14:26:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Liddle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Liddle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow\",\"name\":\"I won't pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle - InterCardiff\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-28T14:26:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/d60e9ead88cd48d2489d433ab5448418\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I won&#8217;t pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/\",\"name\":\"InterCardiff\",\"description\":\"A global city for internationalists\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/d60e9ead88cd48d2489d433ab5448418\",\"name\":\"Hannah Liddle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/68c8cd7fef956908ae38a17f3c485e45\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9192ca8474d2f6927ef69a65bbf58e1e3217202f01b5c13c9df88cf9f68f0497?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9192ca8474d2f6927ef69a65bbf58e1e3217202f01b5c13c9df88cf9f68f0497?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Liddle\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/author\/hannah-liddle\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I won't pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle - InterCardiff","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"I won't pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle - InterCardiff","og_description":"Women are being asked to pay more for products that no longer define them, but why does gender-based pricing still exist?","og_url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow","og_site_name":"InterCardiff","article_published_time":"2019-03-28T14:26:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Liddle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Liddle","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow","name":"I won't pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle - InterCardiff","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-28T14:26:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/d60e9ead88cd48d2489d433ab5448418"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/03\/FEATURED-IMAGE-2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/wont-pay-apricot-marshmallow#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I won&#8217;t pay more to be an Apricot Marshmallow, argues Hannah Liddle"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/","name":"InterCardiff","description":"A global city for internationalists","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/d60e9ead88cd48d2489d433ab5448418","name":"Hannah Liddle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/68c8cd7fef956908ae38a17f3c485e45","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9192ca8474d2f6927ef69a65bbf58e1e3217202f01b5c13c9df88cf9f68f0497?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9192ca8474d2f6927ef69a65bbf58e1e3217202f01b5c13c9df88cf9f68f0497?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Liddle"},"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/author\/hannah-liddle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41951"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=41951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}