Wallets with pigtails

Posted by Vicki on 31.07.05

Someone somewhere has realised that girls are actually increasingly profitable to market to; if nothing else it's easier to manipulate their despair at modern life and the mass shortage of handsome princes into a spending frenzy. This is why there are now skate and surf magazines aimed specifically at girls which are available outside of specialist shops. The world of BMX biking has so far been slower to embrace the fairer gender whilst they remain fully clothed.

Unfortunately for those who'd take this as a heralded of equality on the beaches the most visible target surf magazine is the imaginatively named 'Surfgirl' and tends to focus on bikinis and offers such sage advice as "use the beach lifeguards" - which in more traditionally male surf literature - bar complete beginners guides, is put down to basic common sense. Sales of this magazine have been so low that copies were given away free attached to the mainstream traditionally male magazine 'Carve' - thus ensuring that guys will be drawn into a world where it's ok to look at bikini clad females as it's all for the greater cause of promoting women's surfing.

The anesthetised pink world that the vacant heroines in 'Legally Blonde', 'How to loose a Guy in ten days' and '13 going on 30' live in seems to have rotted the brains of those people in positions to market to girls; which explains why the popular conception of a female vocal "rock song" is a mainstream female shouting the words to what would be a stereotypical lame pop song about how he left he, then with an added line about how it's ok that he left her as it's inspired her to inflict her awful music on the world. Record companies seemingly unaware that it is boys and men with a ranging midlife crisis who favour buying such CDs - and not for the musical ability of the young lady either.

Similarly I was given a sample episode of a cartoon that is in production for girls aged between 7 and 11, it was called 'Kitty's dish': perhaps naively I was expecting it to be the adventures of an animated cat who looked like a cross between original Miffy - rather than the seemingly White Supremacist-tinged new version that has been shown on UK TV, and Hello Kitty.

Instead it's a teen girl who doesn't stop talking and is very opinionated talking about how to deal with your brainy friend having a crush on a scumbag jock who just wants the answers to the "take home quiz." Imagine Clueless crossed with Daria with added computer generated sections and you'd be spot on.

It was cringingly enjoyable if you ignored the fact that the target audience are overwhelmingly far too young to be standing drooling over the opposite sex, and the fact that it owed such a huge homage to Daria that it could almost have been a rejected first draft. If 'Kitty's dish' ever makes it onto television screens it will have a solid target audience of straight males aged 14 to 22, who will also no doubt be clutching a copy of 'Surfgirl'.