When asked about marketing and advertising to minorities, I have a mouthful of ideas, thoughts and passions. So much so that my brain whirls itself into a verbal tornado so fast that I can't pick the words I need to put together an articulate thought. I am black so that is a no-brainer, but for some reason by mind halts at the thought idea of marketing towards women. Where do I start? How do I start? Sometimes I don't even feel qualified enough to speak on the matter. I have no self relevance to put into a thought.
I am not the normal female consumer that society paints us to be:
I am frugal (ahem, cheap). I do not get excited about the thought of rushing to my local mall and catching a sale. I prefer to thrift, fashionable thrift of course. I don't hoover over magazines, looking to celebrities for style (I find most celebrities to have a very contrived sense of fashion).
I am a complete DIY'er, I am semi-feminist. I don't believe in certain conformities that the world says you have to fit into to, therefore I am iffy about projecting ideas of womanhood into ads.
So because I am clueless, I turn to current ads for inspiration. Perhaps someone is doing something ground breaking? No, not really.
I have found that many ads that are out to appeal to women circle around the idea of independence and individuality, but it always has a tone of reassurance. Do women always need to be reassured that we are independent, individuals, dynamic, courage, ect ect? I almost feel as if I am being condescended, its never mentioned in men's ads. Of course, it doesn't have to be.
So I am running into this problem on my quest to provide quality marketing material while being aware that advertisements and media in general are a privileged form of dialog; is the current state of female centered ads from male interpretation or is this what women actually want?
Are the focus groups appealing to this type of messaging?
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