Deliberation Guide – Pink Tax

Price Disparities Among Gender Targeted Products

Overview

The “Pink Tax” essentially describes the overall price disparities among gender-targeted products. Products marketed towards females are often higher priced than the counterpart items marketed towards males. Furthermore, there is a physical tax placed on feminine hygiene products in 48 states which adds to the overall figurative “Pink Tax” experienced by women. 

Approach 1: How can gendered marketing contribute to neutral pricing?

Values: fairness 

One reason for price disparities among genders is uneven marketing. Through equal spending targeting different genders, companies will be able to charge the same price, as opposed to charging more due to increased spending in marketing.

Option: companies can spend the same amount of money advertising to different genders. Or a company could create neutral advertisements/packaging, eliminating gender marketing.

Approach 2: How can physical tax regulations on certain products minimize the overall phenomenon of the “pink tax” 

Values: equality

Feminine products such as tampons and pads are taxed in 48 states. Some people (mainly women) consider these products to be necessities. 

Options: Necessities such as milk are untaxed so we can similarly officially consider feminine hygiene products as necessities and eliminate the tax placed on feminine hygiene products. If the tax cannot be completely eliminated it can be lowered to promote fairness and equality. 

Approach 3: How can decreased focus on hyper femininity and toxic masiculinity solve gender based discrimination?

Values: Tradition

Many ads targeted towards gender-specific audiences include the hyper-feminine and toxic masculine gestures and stereotypical implications through their imaging and slogans. 

Options: As many commercials and marketing draw in the consumer, by focusing on the removal of hyper-femininity and toxic masculinity we can leave room for equality along with eliminating historical diminishing gender roles.

CI Ideas

1. Healthcare Discussion

America’s healthcare system is in dire need of restructuring. There’s a strong amount of history and documentation explaining why the system is where it is today, but the most recent and known example is the introduction of Obamacare. While the intention was good, the program caused insurance premiums to skyrocket and consumer choices to decrease.

So how do we fix our healthcare system? Is it a matter of more government funding? Is it time to copy another countries model? That’s what I hope to explore here.

2. College Costs

As we all know, college can be expensive. Cost is one of the most influential determinants for many when deciding where to attend school, and for some, it’s the deciding factor as to whether or not they attend school at all. In this blog, I hope to explore why college costs are increasing, the accumulation of student debt, and potential policy solutions to the issue.

Passion Blog Ideas

1. I really like talking to people, especially when the conversation leads to the sharing of ideas. There’s a lot of “controversial” topics out there, and people have a lot of interesting views. I think it’d be captivating to both hear and share what those topics/ideas are. The discussions would also be great ways to practice having civil discourse and being more accepting of conflicting views.
2. I’ve recently gotten into investing, and a big part of that is doing research. I’m still learning how to do that research and what to do with the information, so this would be a good way to a.) force me to actually do the research b.) present the research in a practical manner c.) share what I’m learning

Blogging Analysis

If I’m being totally honest, my blogging last semester was terrible. I thought the idea that I had was pretty good, but having to blog before every class got annoying, and the quality dropped soon after that. I’ve given some more thought to the ideas that I’ve presented for this semester’s blogs, so hopefully, that combined with the lower frequency of blogs will help my quality stay high.

I’ll start off by mentioning how much fun I had creating and performing my TED talk. From the start of my research to when I edited my final video, I enjoyed almost every part of it. I won’t lie, the works cited page was a hassle, but for the most part, I had fun. I liked the effect that my content and visuals had on the talk, and I think they augmented the performance. As I watch the video back, there were times where I was a bit too animated with my hands, so I’ll keep that in mind in the future. Aside from that, I think the project was successful.

This project gives way to a lot of interesting topics because of its isolated focus on controversy. With that said, I’ve found that the most interesting controversies in the last few years revolve around sex/gender and race. I’d be interested in researching the legalization of gay marriage, gun laws, and transgender rights.

Firstly, I loved this project as it allowed me to explore different methods of speech giving. As someone who did public speaking in high school, I felt confident going into the project, but it was really interesting getting to perfect my craft and experiment with different speech giving tactics

In terms of strengths, I liked how I was able to utilize an introduction that presented a deeper level of communication between me and listeners. During my elevator pitch, my introduction seemed to be Something that my peers liked, and it was nice to be able to implement that in my speech. In terms of weaknesses, I don’t believe I had a strong understanding of how to use the voice thread technology, which made it difficult to effectively combine the video of my speech with some of my supporting pieces. For example, I had a lot of difficulties getting the slides to auto-advance which detracted from the message of my speech.

One of the best parts of this project was getting to hear how other people went about finishing it. As a rule of thumb for the future, I might try to use more “meaningful” pieces in my projects because that aspect of the project appeared to be the deciding factor in how effective a speech was.

Intro:

There are 86400 seconds, 1440 minutes, and 24 hours in a day. Time is a commodity, and we have the ability to dictate what that time is spent doing, so why wait? Just do it. The phrase “just do it” was coined in 1988 as a part of Nike’s ad campaigning. The phrase singlehandedly contributed to a 21% increase in Nike’s share of the North American domestic sports shoe business from 1988 – 1998. The goal of the campaign was simple: appeal to every single American (and later on, human around the world).

The phrase knows no gender, sexuality, race, or ethnicity. Whoever you are, the phrase still has potential applications in your life. In their first-ever marketing advert, Nike uses pathetic appeals as calls to action, commonplaces such as The American Dream, and takes advantage of the kairotic opportunity presented by the passing by of time as means to empower viewers.

Outline:

Speech Title: “Nike: Just Do It”

1. Intro 
   1. Time Statement
   2. Share
   3. Gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity
   4. Thesis
2. Pathos 
3. Commonplaces 
4. Kairotic Opportunity 

* Based on the feedback given on the original outline post, the outline was adjusted.

Intro:

There are 86400 seconds, 1440 minutes, and 24 hours in a day. Time is a commodity, and we have the ability to dictate what that time is spent doing, so why wait? Just do it. The phrase “just do it” was coined in 1988 as a part of Nike’s ad campaigning. The phrase singlehandedly contributed to a 21% increase in Nike’s share of the North American domestic sports shoe business from 1988 – 1998. The goal of the campaign was simple: appeal to every single American (and later on, human around the world).

The phrase knows no gender, sexuality, race, or ethnicity. Whoever you are, the phrase still has potential applications in your life. In their first-ever marketing advert, Nike uses pathetic appeals as calls to action, commonplaces such as The American Dream, and takes advantage of the kairotic opportunity presented by the passing by of time as means to empower viewers.

Outline:

Speech Title: “Nike: Just Do It”

1. Intro 
   1. Time Statement
   2. Share
   3. Gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity
   4. Thesis
2. Pathos 
3. Commonplaces 
4. Kairotic Opportunity 

I love this exercise because it forces students to truly get in tune with what they want to present and how they hope to present it. Hearing the varying styles that were used to present the elevator pitches allowed me to reflect on and gain a better understanding of some of the speaking aspects that we covered in class i.e., rhetorical situations & ethos.

With that said, I enjoyed listening to Ahmed’s elevator pitch because he dared to discuss a relatively touchy topic: suicide and depression. He skillfully began his pitch by asking a question. While I don’t recall what the question was, I remember the way it made me feel: awkward and inquisitive.

He then continued to develop his pitch by conveying statistics (if I remember correctly) and information about gun usage in suicides. Both aspects of his pitch invoked an emotional response, which fostered a connection to the material and arguments that he presented.

Between the rush of the period ending and technology, the class couldn’t view the artifact. However, Ahmed did mention that his artifact was a video that talked about gun use in suicides. I’m sure that the combination of imagery and auditory elements creates a powerful message that can be analyzed through a myriad of lenses.

In conclusion, Ahmed’s presentation fostered a connection between his listeners and his topic. Although his presentation provided a strong foundation of knowledge, I hope to learn more about the topic, and I can’t wait to read his paper!

There are 86400 seconds, 1440 minutes, and 24 hours in a day. Time is a commodity, and we have the ability to dictate what that time is spent doing, so why wait? Remember that computer you were thinking of building? Just do it. How about that question you were too scared to ask? Just do it.

The phrase “just do it” was coined in 1988 as a part of Nike’s ad campaigning. The phrase singlehandedly contributed to a 21% increase in Nike’s share of the North American domestic sport shoe business from 1988 – 1998. The goal of the campaign was simple: appeal to every single American (and later on, human around the world). The phrase knows no gender, sexuality, race, or ethnicity. Whoever you are, the phrase still has potential applications in your life.

The external influences on the phrase’s development, particularly Western Culture, are difficult not to notice. One of the most prominent themes of the time period was the American Dream, which placed an emphasis on achieving success through doing. Admittedly, that analysis is incredibly limited, but it opens the door for several components of the artifact that can be analyzed: commonplaces, rhetorical situation, and retention (potentially)

For the most part, my curiosity regarding this artifact stems from its usage of commonplaces in Western civilization. Moreover, Nike’s advertising campaigns still utilize the same phrase from all those years ago and are globally scaled, which calls into question the impact of those civilization-based commonplaces. Analyzing the artifact through a rhetorical situation lens may also be ideal, as the phrase is uniformly applicable.