Sunday, May 17, 2009

A Few Problematic Products


I am in the market for a new digital camera (not that I can afford it since soon I will be + an MA and - a job, but nonetheless, I've never had one and I've always wanted one). Anyway, I have my eye on a nice purple Nikon so when I came across this on Gizmodo, it caught my attention. Who knew that a camera (much less one whose company is headquartered in Japan) could be so "racially insensitive" or as I'd prefer to say, racist. The varied nature of eye shape seems like the kind of thing you would take into consideration when developing technology to eliminate photos of people blinking.

In other product news, I came across this new "candy bar for women." Another subtle way that women are reminded that their personal value and worth comes from how little space they take up. If the candy bar is for women and it is marketed as being low calorie then it speaks volumes about the ways in which women are taught to think about themselves and other people are taught to think about women. And that is not even to mention the 'creepy' sexual inuendo in the advertising.