Women Want What
(A micro-survey)
After what seems like an eternity of flustered-housewife commercials and sex-sells stereotyping, women are no longer in thrall to Mad Men trying to sell us a stale ideal of womanhood. Social media has radically changed the way women communicate, organize and advocate and the industry, at last, is responding: Public transit ads now project images of women in all different shapes, colours and sizes, and cosmetics brands produce makeup in 40 skin tones instead of eight shades of white. A generation of mom blogs has decimated the myth of all-bliss-all-the-time motherhood. Women’s Health vowed to stop using “Bikini Body” and Allure dropped the term “anti-aging.” Social media has pushed women’s own voices to the forefront and their patience for tired old marketing tropes about what they should want is pretty much gone. So, what is the secret to what a woman wants?
Surprise! There’s no secret. Everyone is different.
But here’s a good place to start: Ask her.
› 100%
of Meghan dies a little every time she hears the word “bosslady”
‹ 80%
of Azeema is not “anti” aging. In fact, she’s into it.
‹ 1000%
of Judith never questioned her beauty, actually
› 98%
of Ashley doesn’t need affirmation from her tampon wrapper. (But on a bad day, 5% of her will take it)
‹ 0%
of Lora loves being told to get her body summer-ready
› Danièle is about 1000% smarter than her bank gives her credit for
‹ 79%
of Lucinda would rather eat her FitBit than be 25 again
‹ 92%
of Nicola picked out her own car (the make and the colour)
› 99%
of May would rather ‘lean in’ to a bag of Doritos
› Alexandra gabs with gal pals over yogurt 0% of the time
› 93%
of Vivian definitely got the joke before you explained it to her