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the power of nature!!!
Feb. 25th, 2004 11:43 amIdentity is an interesting thing, particularly with how it works in with advertising.
I woke up and looked at my deodorant, considered the sort that I, for whatever reason, chose at the pharmacy:
I think, honestly, I bought it because it was funny.
But! I mean, look at it! How much more masculine could any toiletry item possibly hope to be? I mean, not only is it "Speed Stick" -- implying that ever-so-manly quality, speed, and, well, a stick... but also it's got the POWER OF NATURE -- LIGHTNING FLAVOUR!! And apparently NBA players all use it! Yow!
This brings up something interesting, just with the name "speed stick". I think the choice of name has to do with the tendency that people have to use less-specific terms to describe common items... a computer, for example, becomes a "machine", or in a really familiar situation, a "box". You talk about "a 512 stick" when you're in the market for some new RAM. Similar things happen with cars, I think -- car aficionados do something similar, yes? So in all of the masculinity and familiarity attached to the deodorant, you couldn't help but call it just a stick. And now I feel super-fast and powerful and much closer to achieving my childhood dream of getting into the NBA!!
I'm wondering two things:
- Do women do this as well, the genericising-the-important-items thing?
- ... what was the other thing I was wondering?
I woke up and looked at my deodorant, considered the sort that I, for whatever reason, chose at the pharmacy:
I think, honestly, I bought it because it was funny.
But! I mean, look at it! How much more masculine could any toiletry item possibly hope to be? I mean, not only is it "Speed Stick" -- implying that ever-so-manly quality, speed, and, well, a stick... but also it's got the POWER OF NATURE -- LIGHTNING FLAVOUR!! And apparently NBA players all use it! Yow!
This brings up something interesting, just with the name "speed stick". I think the choice of name has to do with the tendency that people have to use less-specific terms to describe common items... a computer, for example, becomes a "machine", or in a really familiar situation, a "box". You talk about "a 512 stick" when you're in the market for some new RAM. Similar things happen with cars, I think -- car aficionados do something similar, yes? So in all of the masculinity and familiarity attached to the deodorant, you couldn't help but call it just a stick. And now I feel super-fast and powerful and much closer to achieving my childhood dream of getting into the NBA!!
I'm wondering two things:
- Do women do this as well, the genericising-the-important-items thing?
- ... what was the other thing I was wondering?
