A number of research participants reflected their opinion that men and women have different abilities/ attributes. Males were seen as brash and strong, while women were described as delicate and compassionate.
Do you associate certain characteristics to a particular sex? Within PR, do you think one gender suits a particular industry or job over another? (eg. Auto, Parenting, Engineering, Fashion).
While i wouldn't go so far as to say that every man or every woman is "x attribute"...i think one can definitely make some loose associations. In fact this is the basis on which marketing is done. Whether its "politically correct" to say it or not..we need generalization and to some extent stereotyping in order to effectively market products and services.
ReplyDeletefor example the sequence...
Seventh Day Adventists do not eat pork.
By religious decree...this statement may be true.
Can we conclusively make this statement that no SDA has never or doesn't ever eat pork? No..we can't. Some may very well eat pork. But you wouldn't go and advertise pork hot dogs at a Seventh day adventist convention would you?
A less EXTREME example you say...hmmm...lets stick to topic...
"Strong enough for a man...made for a woman"
sound familiar?
I would have to agree with The Blackbird, at least from a sreict marketing perspective.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I assumed we were talking here of Public Relations and its operatives. In which case, I don't agree. I have found both sexes, capable and brash.
It seems to me ambition has no gender, and in the world of public relations these characteristics are demonstrable on both sides.
What is different I suspect,is the type of job proffered to the professionals from either gender. In other words - Highly unlikely the tagline above "Strong enough for a man...made for a woman" came from a man right?
Hmm, but then if I believed that I would negate my own pont wouldn't I?
I may be all over the place with this one so please bear with me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Antoinette that ambition has no gender. 'Know how',aptitude and ability are pretty much up to whosoever is at the helm of any given job or campaign. HOWEVER, there are certain initiatives that may not be positively accepted by the public based on the gender of the person promoting them.
Example: I believe i am quite capable of launching any campaign and effectively selling any idea to the public but how could i be taken seriously if i were at a conference discussing the uses, benefits and side effects of Tampons vs Pads to a room full of women? I think it would take about an hour for those women to get over the fact that a man is in front of them saying that he understands the dilema of using those pesky pads.
So my answer is yes, in some cases one gender will suit a particular industry or job and good business sense would direct anyone to choose appropriate leads for specific campaigns.
I think that within PR men, based on certain attributes and interests, may find some jobs easier to do than women and vice versa. However I don't think that this should mean that certain jobs should remain exclusively male or female dominated based on the nature of it.
ReplyDeleteNikolaus said that he would not be taken seriously if he were to discuss the benefits of tampons vs pads to a room full of women. I disagree. I think that it would be easier for a woman to head such an initiative based on experience but if Nikolaus were to do the necessary research and approach his audience in the appropriate manner who knows- his presentation may be better received than mine would be.
I will not lie though. Were I the head of a PR firm I would automatically choose a woman to head a tampon vs pad campaign and a man to head the launch of a new race car but this is not to say that both genders couldn't do an excellent job at either assignment if given.
Actually Toni-Kay..........nothing sells a race car like a hot rep LOL
ReplyDelete