That is "Della" Sexist

So, all girls like pastel colors and all boys like bold colors, right? No, that is not entirely true. When I look at the details in advertisements more closely, I notice that most of them are sexist attempts to market the items to a particular group of people. Sexist advertisements towards women are becoming more popular and problematic making women outraged by how they are being portrayed. How, I wonder, do advertisements attract women in that way then?

I came across an ad Dell made to advertise their laptops. It is a site called “Della” that uses pastel colors and shows how Dell products come in different colors and skins to match customers’ preferences. This is a sexist advertisement made by Dell to market their products to women. On the website, it includes tips for women on how to use the Dell, but also using it fashionably and conveniently. Even though Dell’s main focus is to sell their laptops, the way they marketed to women makes it seem like the company thinks women have different gender abilities and preferences than men by portraying women to be incapable of using technology, and to only think about being stylish.

Some can say that “Della” is a cute and creative way to sell the products, but I think it is demeaning women because unlike men, it shows that women are stupid since they cannot function a laptop. “Della’s strategy sought to introduce tech as a fashion statement for on-the-go women” (Casserly). Della provides features like colorful and pretty cases and bags for the laptop, and other useful tools that Dell thinks women would need, like counting calories. I agree with Casserly's blog response to the website because Dell is implying that women only use a laptop as an accessory or for health reasons by only showcasing the fashionable side of the product. Dell should instead include features telling their customers about what the product has to offer compared to other competing models, like battery life and storage capacity. They also do not show their awareness of how many other women use their computers for work. For example, I do not use my laptop to calculate how many calories I burn or eat in a day but instead, I use it to research and do school related work. I find it offensive that Dell thinks that girls like me are not able to use computers like how guys would. Is Dell trying to say that men are smarter with technology compared to women? Dell is saying that women are not important as men in the social world because Dell suggests that men work more while women just sit at home and care about fashion and looks.

Even though women are considered to be less involved in technology than men, it does not mean they are incapable of doing the same tasks, like how many assumptions are made. Women are constantly being judged when or by the way they use technology. According to one of Ashley Milne-Tyte's blog post, "women face a different judgment from the audience than men do" which reveals the fact that women are annoyed that they are being viewed dumber than men. Della's advertisement lines on their website proves that they believe their customers, who are women, need a very simple product with easy instructions to work their product since they cannot figure it out by themselves. By creating this entire website for women, Dell is putting women on the spot and indicating that they know men are smarter and know how to work laptops. But really, they are just judgments about women and technology.  

The Della website tailors to women in way that the site is in pastel colors, and gives an impression that they know what women like, thus, showing how Dell thinks women have a gender preference different from men. Della is categorizing women in such a way that they define women as people who are easy to give in when they see something "cute". Dell is simply "reinforc[ing] a strict binary form of gender expression"(Sarkeesian) by using pastel colors to lure in women customers. Anita Sarkeesian explains in her video about the color of female characters in video games that men and women are labeled separately. Relating to Sarkeesian's statement, Dell is being sexist because they are dividing men and women into two different viewpoints, assuming that women like pastel colors and men do not. Dell fails to realize they are identifying women with a certain idea in mind and are judging that all and only women are feminine. Dell could have mentioned on the website the preferences that both men and women can work with or like. I do not understand why pastel colors are automatically associated with women. Pastel colors are always considered soft and very likable whether it is liked by a boy or a girl. When I go with my dad to the stationary organizer section in stores, I notice that he would take a long time picking what pastel color box or container to purchase. Pastel color should not be an identifier for women. Being a woman does not mean that they have to like or act differently from men.

Women are being portrayed to play different roles and like different things from men in numerous of ways in advertisements. Also, women are stereotyped to be not tech savvy and to only enjoy things that are pretty and fashionable. Dell's Della website is an example of a sexist advertisement toward women. Della depicts women to be easy to market to through usage of pastel colors and cute designs and stating that their product is easy to use. Della downgrades the abilities that women can perform and putting them in a different category than men when women should not feel like they are being attacked and considered dumb.