Are You Being Funny in Your Marketing, or Are You Just Being a Jerk?
Plant For Profits Column, Leslie F. Halleck
Are You Trying to Alienate Specific Customers?
This week, after a disappointing realization, I un-followed an aquascaping business account on Instagram that I had previously enjoyed. If you know me, you know I have an obsession with tiny plants, love to build vivariums and semi-aquatic plantings. Plus, many aquarium and aquascaping shops sell a lot of cool species that make great houseplants, so I have many such shops on tap. So why did I feel I needed to exit the building on this account?
They made me, as a woman, feel pretty uncomfortable with them both as people and as a business.
The first part of the video they posted was a couple of men dancing wildly around one woman on a dance floor (which in itself has plenty of subtext) with the text “82% of men report being happier when they spend time with women”…the next frame shifted to a man by himself cleaning a tank with the text “The 18%”.
My knee jerk reaction was, “Seriously??”. Wow. I mean as a woman who loves aquascaping, and who is a customer of such businesses, what was the message I was supposed to receive here? The business hates women? They don’t want me as a customer or a part of their community? That was the same sentiment expressed by women commenters, who stated confusion and disappointment about the messaging. With most of the men getting on to comment “100%”, why would I want to stick around this community or spend any money with them? Clearly they don’t want me to, but intentionally alienating 50% of your potential follower and customer base with passive aggressive sexist marketing just isn’t smart. It does, however, reveal some serious insecurities, and problematic values, on the part of the owners.
Yeah, I know, many will say “oh, it’s just a joke, don’t take it so seriously”. Well, no. Women don’t have the luxury of ignoring casual misogyny and sexism that’s woven into every part of our daily lives. Which, if you haven’t been paying attention, is quickly on the rise again in very loud and destructive ways. It’s not funny, it’s not clever, and it’s dangerous for us. We certainly don’t have to tolerate it in commerce. I say this as a thick-skinned mega-fan of comedy of all kinds. I love to laugh and there’s nothing wrong with making fun of society and ourselves.
But there’s a difference between parodying this particular situation (not liking or feeling comfortable around women), or laughing at oneself about it (which they could have done and made it more funny and less divisive), and just saying it matter of fact. So when a business basically says “we don’t like being around women” (or any other kind of person in particular) we should believe them. That’s not a community I want to reward with my money or attention.
As always, when these situations arise, I try to step back and objectively look for opportunities created by the bad decisions of less than savvy business owners. There is certainly one here. If you’re in the business of selling plants to aquascapers, or have an aquascaping business, and you’re paying attention, there is market share and voice for you to directly capture here.
For other green industry businesses not directly related to this one, it still provides a valuable lesson in why - while you shouldn’t fear competition or waste time trying to “compete” in ways that dilute your own brand - it is important to pay attention to how other businesses in your industry screw up; so you can step in and provide a better option and experience for the customers they’ve alienated.
As consumers living in capitalism we do have some power to influence economics via both our wallets and eyeballs. So do your customers. What we give our money and attention to can thrive. What we ignore may not. Think carefully about your messaging, especially if you’re trying to be humorous. Are you being funny ha ha in your marketing, or are you just being a jerk?
If you’re a business in the horticulture and landscaping industry, one that is heavily weighted to women customers (as both the direct customer and typically the decision maker when it comes to landscape design and related projects), I recommend paying close attention to how industry and allied businesses word their marketing and target audiences - or alienate them - so you can make smarter choices about how you communicate with your community of valuable customers.
Capturing new market share can be tough and expensive. So when one business does you the huge favor of closing the door to a certain group customers, be ready to take advantage and open yours.
