Pinkwashing without pink

Tom Tom and Dell have both attempted to target women this year, but with limited success.

Missed opportunity

Tom Tom, a leading navigation solutions provider, launched Pearl White in June – a GPS especially designed for women.

But Pearl White doesn’t deliver much added value to women. Tom Tom have merely applied a flowery pattern to their ONE IQ Routes model and added a few “girly features” such as ‘Places to be seen’ and ‘Shop ‘til you drop’.

It’s a missed opportunity. Tom Tom could have applied its wayfinding expertise to create a product that suits the way women navigate.

Research has shown that women tend to navigate using landmarks: “Turn right at the town hall and continue past the park.” Men have a better sense of north, south, east and west. They are also more likely to describe distances.

Backlash to gimmick

Dell, meanwhile, created a website to promote its Inspiron Mini 10 netbook to women. The site was originally called Della and contained dieting advice and cooking recipes in an attempt to get women to use the netbook.

But women pronounced the site as ‘gimmicky’. The backlash prompted Dell to alter the site and remove the name.

Judging from the comments on the site, however, they’re still not on target. One woman writes: “Come on Dell! Treat us like intelligent consumers and not like trained monkeys. Give us useful advice. Show women how to start blogs, upload images and establish e-commerce business.”