A social-media celebration of International Women’s Day from Bic South Africa did not go over so well.
Caroline Criado Perez, author of Do It Like A Woman…and change the world, added in a separate tweet: *stabs eyes out with Bic pen* — which is understandable. Fortunately, there’s a pen for that.
Did you get that reference I just made to Bic’s last woman-related bit of idiocy, the Bic for Her pen? Which triggered some excellent Amazon.com snark? I bet you did.
Someone has answered my gentle prayers and FINALLY designed a pen that I can use all month long! I use it when I’m swimming, riding a horse, walking on the beach and doing yoga. It’s comfortable, leak-proof, non-slip and it makes me feel so feminine and pretty! Since I’ve begun using these pens, men have found me more attractive and approchable. It has given me soft skin and manageable hair and it has really given me the self-esteem I needed to start a book club and flirt with the bag-boy at my local market. My drawings of kittens and ponies have improved, and now that I’m writing my last name hyphenated with the Robert Pattinson’s last name, I really believe he may some day marry me! I’m positively giddy. Those smart men in marketing have come up with a pen that my lady parts can really identify with.
Well at last pens for us ladies to use… now all we need is “for her” paper and I can finally learn to write!
I can only in good conscience give this product 2 stars until they offer an option for heavy flow days. I mean, there are great for the last 2-3 days of writing, when the flow is pretty light. But for the first couple of days, when the words are just gushing out of me, these pens are just not enough.
I found one of these in my husband’s shirt pockets and another one in his car! We are divorcing now. Thanks Bic for ruining my marriage.
Oh, Bic. You really shouldn’t have.
Exactly. (Actor/Writer Francesco Nassimbeni made this.)
Having learned nothing, the company confounded the offense of the ageist (“look like a girl”), sexist (“act like a lady”), misogynist (“think like a man”) and generally moronic (“work like a boss”? #NotAllBosses) tweet with a terrible apology. (They took it down, but alas for Bic South Africa, everything lives forever on the Internet.)
This is similar in its JEEZ WE ONLY MEANT TO EXALT YOU vibe to to Barilla’s JEEZ WE ONLY MEANT THAT GLORIOUS FAMILY-ORIENTED FEMININE LADYWOMEN ENJOY OUR PASTA apology a while back. And still no. (With the bonus of “hey, don’t blame us, we stole that quote from a ladyblog!”)
Bic then took another poke at it.
Better.
It doesn’t name the sin, but it does apologize for offending everyone (points for not saying “if we offended anyone” or “to those who were offended”); it acknowledges the error; and it says this won’t happen again. Bic should make a donation to a women’s rights group as a form of atonement. And the company should not have tried to make the original bad apology disappear. It’s admirable to show that you’re capable of learning, growing, listening to others and improving.
Use your head, Bic. Think about your choices.
And here is a joke for your next International Woman’s Day social media campaign.
Q. What do you call the useless piece of skin on a penis? A. The man.
The closing question, as I heard it, was ‘what do you call that insensitive
thing at the base of the penis?’
My niece just got her first job, and part of her job is doing the social media for the company. …when I see stuff like this, I break out in hives. I hope she knows not to express something ageist, misogynistic, and sexist like this (it’s a high end jeweler, alas, and The Gifting Seasons, capped by Asinine Valentine’s are coming) but I wonder…
I think she knows that intent matters less than impact, but I don’t know how to help people in companies doing this kind of work how NOT to engage in lazy, “common” thinking. Bic says “obviously, we meant no harm,” but how obvious really is it?