Men Are From Sears: Women Are From Bloomingdale's.
Saturday, January 14, 2012 | Categories: Season 1 |
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Here are the visual elements from this week's episode:
There is an odd truism in this world that men generally love The Three Stooges.
Source: YouTube
And the majority of women can't stand them.
Yet, an overwhelming percentage of women love romantic stories, and the films made from period pieces that explore issues of the heart:
Source: YouTube
Which, generally speaking, repels men.
This great divide has a soul mate in the world of marketing.
The way women and men shop is a textbook study in the gender gap. What women look for in a store, and what men want, are about as far apart as, well, Sense & Sensibility and Larry and Moe.
From the way they treat salespeople, to the way they walk through a store, to the amount of time they spend shopping, to something as small as the way they park their cars, the examination of how men and women shop is a revealing study of human nature...
For the majority of men, shopping is a mission. The act is task-oriented. Men know what they want, and want to find that item quickly, pay for it, and leave the store.
The majority of women, on the other hand, require more details before making a purchase. They want to know how a product will fit into their lives now, as well as a month or a year down the line.
Women tend to meander when shopping. They'll stop to look at shoes even though they are shopping for tops, they'll look at sale merchandise, they'll stop by the perfume counter for a spritz.
Here's a hilarious Ikea commercial that sums up the gender gap. A woman is keenly aware of pricing in a store, whereas hubby just sits in the parking lot:
Source: YouTube
A recent UK study revealed a staggering statistic:
Women will spend more than eight years of their lives shopping.
Research done by GE Money revealed that women make 301 shopping trips a year, lasting a total of almost 400 hours.
90 of those trips were for keeping up their appearances:
30 trips for clothing.
15 for shoes.
18 for accessories.
And 27 trips for toiletries.
The number one complaint women have about shopping is, quote: "Lack of help when needed."
For men, the number one complaint about shopping is: "Difficulty finding a parking spot close to store's main entrance."
Here's another funny spot that highlights the humorous differences between the sexes, courtesy of Heineken:
Source: YouTube
When I buy a new product, I love nothing more than to sit down with a coffee and read an entire instruction manual - ahhh. Women want a product to work right out of the box, whereas men like to tinker with products.
As Bridget Brennan says, "It may be one of the few areas men are more interested in foreplay than women."
Source: Google Images
Barry White could have had a lucrative career in advertising. Researchers in Britain have found that women not only notice men with deeper voices, but they pay more attention to what they say.
It seems a women's memory is sensitive to men's voice pitch, which is another significant evolutionary factor from caveman days. A deep voice can influence the choice of mate because it can hint at testosterone levels and genetic quality.
In two experiments, researchers showed 91 woman images of objects and had them listen as male and female voices described them. In both cases, women showed a strong preference for the low-pitched male voice, remembering more facts that had been described by that voice.
In the funny movie, "When Harry Met Sally" - Billy Crystal tried to explain to Meg Ryan that men and women can't be friends:
Source: YouTube
Because women buy over 80% of all goods and services, and spend over $4.4 trillion dollars every year doing it, most retailers have built a world that caters almost exclusively to females.
Which may explain why men feel so antsy when shopping.
But when you take evolution into consideration, when you account for biology, and when you analyze those differences, it really does demystify the behaviour.
And you realize there is a reason why women graze, why men shop with tactical military efficiency