Apple cofounder Steve Jobs passed away yesterday and we wanted to acknowledge the tremendous impact he made on the way we live and work. RIP
- Hello Ladies, produced on a MacBook, iPad and iPhone
Photo by Christopher Bowns used with Creative Commons license
Happy Friday.
Enjoy the weekend. We will be back after the Hypocrisy Bowl.
In the meantime, enjoy this cartoon from Instapundit (sent to me by my bff Steve). It’s another commentary on Apple’s branding brilliance.
I find it funny that Apple named its new tablet, unveiled today, the iPad. I must be overworked or tired because every time I think about it, I chuckle. Seriously Apple, what were you thinking? A personal product that is ultra thin and you name it the iPad? Computing is not what comes to mind. Feminine protection is.
I’ve worked with Apple marketing execs before and I know how much thought and research go into launching a product. But as they say in the Twitterverse, this was a #fail. Speaking of Twitter, the microblogging site has been buzzing with comments about the name. In fact the term iTampon is trending on the site as I write this. Here’s a sampling of tweets:
@annfriedman “I hope the iPad has wings for extra nighttime protection.”
@JillFilipovic “Can I use the #iPad if I’m in a bathing suit? If I use the #iPad, am I still a virgin?”
@herbadmother “Snort! Wait until they come out with the larger version, or Max iPad. 
{LOL}”
But this tweet, from @rachelslaj, wasn’t so funny. “The iPad: Proof not enough women work in the Apple Naming Department. //what I said.”
Again, maybe I’m overworked and tired today, but @rachelslaj took the silly right out of my day. I don’t know who was on the iPad product marketing team, but I do know there are too few women in key-decision making roles in corporate America. Consider these statistics. Women represent approximately 85 percent of the consumer buying power in the U.S. But according to a report from Women in the U.S. Retail Trade, women account for just 3.1 percent of CEOs, 19.1 percent of board directors and 18.5 percent of corporate officers in the industry. In the Fortune 500, just 15.2 percent of board seats, and 15.7 percent of corporate officers positions are held by women. Currently, fifteen CEOs in the Fortune 500 are women. And that’s the highest number ever. If the people with the purchasing power are women, then doesn’t it just make sense we need women’s perspectives to help market to them?
Okay, point made. Now back to silly….
