Girly Colors

[kmcg]

Darcy's recent post about the Girly Colors FAQ reminded me that there might be a few people out there who haven't seen this hilarious set of reviews on Amazon. BIC For Her Amber Medium Ballpoint Pen (Box of 12) - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Office Products Sadly, the reviews on the US site aren't quite so funny as on the UK site (or maybe I'm just a sucker for an English accent).

[Darcy]

Haha! This is great.

[notmensa]

Yeah, that's just made my day! Now I know why writing has been so hard for me. If they just do something about the man-paper, it will change my life!

[nukediver]

I have somehow managed to carry on a successful career and accrue a few degrees along the way, all without using the proper pen. I am going to sit back and enjoy my hitherto unnoticed accomplishment!

[TavaPeak]

So THAT's why my fiction is so bad. I have the wrong pen! (and pesky man-paper)

[backpack]

I love girly colors and I love stationnery related items.

For two centuries, I have been hurtling menhirs at the Bic company, to show my version of “The Wrath of Khan”, concerning their yellow Bic, an ugly egg yolk yellow version of that pen.

File:04-BICcristal2008-03-26.jpg - Wikimedia Commons


From the first grade on, I was forced to use those ergonomic abominations. In French grammar class, I had to use all 4 colors: blue, black, green and red to underline in the proper color, subject, verb and so on.

By third grade, I rebelled and brought a multicolor pen to class, it was wider and had all sorts of yummy colors like plum, magenta, teal, purple and I think burnt orange.
The teacher threaten to confiscate it so I brought it home at lunch and did my homework with it.


Meanwhile, I found the Bic 4 colors pen which like the novelty one was wider, thus, easier to grip for many hours.
This is the multipen one can see in Darcy's product pictures.

I argued that it was the school favorite brand, was easier to use and unlike the singles was refillable which mean cheaper than replacing a whole pen, less wasteful.

They agreed and I used that pen from third grade until the French teachers stopped requiring sentences analysis, I still have it.

I still can't stand non refillable pens and the lack of girly colors in writing instruments body and refills.

So, that's Bic answer: The Girly Pen.

The worse part is that it has a black refill, not a coordinating purple one.


I also believe that, this virtual outrage at a gender specific product is, a not so subtle, way to bash a French company whose chief competitors are U.S based multinationals.


In my opinion, a branding blunter is far less damaging than this:

Parr For The Course: The tale of the moldy tampon.

[pocketsize]

I don't care if my pen is purple or blue or yellow polka dot. As long as it can write, legibly, and the ballpoint doesn't get stuck or dried so I have to make a page or circles to get it started, it's fine.

The reviews were hilarious, though.