A few months ago, I talked about gendered marketing of lip balm. Today, I’m back with another gendered product that is also reflective of the militarized culture in the US: Tactical Baby Gear.
Something went seriously awry with YouTube’s ad algorithm as my husband was served the ad below for “Tactical Baby Gear” – neither tactically products nor baby gear are relevant to him.
Despite the lack of relevance, he showed it to me given my Gender Studies background as well as my interest in social influence and marketing (I am a social psychologist, after all). I was again struck by how unnecessary this style of marketing is (from a cultural standpoint of course as I’m sure marketers find it successful – if they didn’t, they’d market products another way).
First, I was struck by the idea that moms and dads (because in this world, all parents fit within an outdated gender binary) can’t use the same baby carrier. As I looked into the brand more, I found that this generalized to other baby-care products such as strollers and diaper bags. After this initial gendered product focus, I then started to focus on why militarization needed to be part of one’s family care….
As we discuss in Chapter 12 (Gender-Based Violence), increased militarization of our daily lives is problematic on many levels. After all, who was really looking for a diaper back that would allow for the insertion of bulletproof body armor panels!
Of course, I strongly believe all parents, regardless of gender identity, should be involved in all aspects of childcare and their children’s lives. If special gear makes fathers (at least certain fathers) more likely to be engaged in parenting – great. But I don’t actually think further gendering care-giving so it can only be done by men with special gear and/or under certain circumstances really serves the greater good.
What are your thoughts? What gendered products have you run into lately? What about surprisingly militarized products?