Bics for chicks: What is this ad about? - Women's Agenda

Bics for chicks: What is this ad about?

bics for chicks

Just as this image came up on my screen, my 16-year-old daughter glanced over my shoulder. It’s the ad posted on Facebook by Bic pens South African division this week, with the hashtag #HappyWomensDay

OH MY GOD WHAT??? We yelled in unison.

I asked her what she thought was wrong with it. “EVERYTHING! Everything that could ever possibly be wrong, and then probably a few more things that everything hasn’t even thought of yet!” was her reply.

Out of the mouths of babes.

But maybe it’s just that our little lady brains couldn’t grasp the brilliant decision making process that went on at the South African Bic advertising department.

I imagine it went something like this:

Chicks wanna be like dudes right? Of course they do! Dudes are so awesome.

And they want to be young too, because old chicks EW YUCK GROSS

Don’t some chicks have jobs? Like secretaries ‘n stuff? HEY, LETS THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX AND SELL PENS TO CHICKS WITH JOBS!!

But we’ve got to make sure it’s just nice sweet girls, not those scary ballsy ones who’ll never get a boyfriend. Chicks don’t like them.

Hey, hahahaha, what if we tell them they can even think like dudes HAHAHAHAHA. They’ll believe it too, chicks are so dumb. Hahahaha.

This is gonna be such a winner. Chicks are gonna love it. They’ll buy so many pens, we don’t even have to make them pink!

We’re so awesome.

And that’s how they came up with this: Bics for Chicks

bics for chicks

But after someone put this idea together, I presume he (just a stab in the dark) had to show it to someone else, and he (another stab) agreed that it was a great idea and maybe one other person saw it and he (still stabbing) approved it. Then they whacked it up on Facebook and sat back waiting for accolades and sales orders to come flooding in.

After the page almost melted under a withering barrage of scorn, some poor numpty at Bic pulled the post down and did a sorry-not-sorry explanation about how it was meant “in the most empowering way possible and in no way derogatory towards women”

The internet did a collective “yeah, nah” and kept going with the withering scorn and hilarious jokes.

You’d like to think this will be a lesson to the next set of awesome dudes who think that marketing chick things to chicks with fluffy little lady brains would be a win. But it won’t. It’s just a matter of time before the next one hits.

×

Stay Smart! Get Savvy!

Get Women’s Agenda in your inbox