I got into a bit of an altercation on Facebook years ago. I know, I know – shocking.
A post popped up on my Facebook feed that caught my attention. “Build better shoulders!”, it promised.
“Awesome”, I thought, clicking on the link. The cover photo was some variation of images below – attractive fit woman with large breasts and “fuck me” eyes.
A little thrown, I posted a comment: “Hmmm… is there a picture of shoulders here?”. Scrolling up, I realized that a number of people have posted similar responses, all centering around the sentiment “What shoulders???”.
“Well, yes, you can see her delts.” was the answer from the original poster.
“As long as your main demographic is heterosexual men”, I retorted (with a mental shrug). Whatever. Sex sells.
This guy seemed to take offence.
“Don’t you think that women can be inspired by other women who look great too?” was the response.
Oh my goodness… he was actually under the impression that he was appealing to the female demographic. To my mom. To my best friend. To me. I started rolling up my sleeves <—- you can tell this was a while ago, way back when I cared enough about a random thread on FB to bother.
Unfortunately, this lovely exchange did not have an opportunity to come to its logical conclusion (yours truly decimating the above argument, and leaving it on the floor in bloody shreds), because the trainer took it down shortly after that.
Thankfully, I can continue the argument all by myself, as I have my own platform (*smug smirk).
After all, this is what a blog is for – unlimited opportunities for self-absorbed incessant barking, amirite? Rejoice, ladies and gentlemen. Gather ’round, children.
Yes, sex sells. Yes, boobs (of all shapes and sizes) are beautiful.
But please do not tell me that the ad below is aimed at a female demographic.
So, yes, technically, shoulders WERE depicted in the original photo. You got me on technicality. Har, har. Oh, and this is just a picture of a blackberry.
Of course, large retailers and brands are way too intelligent to make that mistake – you can usually determine the target demographic quite accurately from the ad itself. But, if you are not Coca-Cola or Apple, and are simply selling a workshop on building better shoulders, and hoping to attract some female customers…
… do not try to inspire ME to work on my shoulders by showing me a picture of boobs, and then claim that I am somehow misunderstanding the message.
Know your audience.
Hugs, SOLO