- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 3,264
Folks who come to this "shiny sharp objects" forums, and folks who buy "sport-utility knifes" are 90+% male - including lots of us "boys" who enjoy the mock-knife-ad images seen in some threads here recently of ladies posed somewhat improbably with knives while barely dressed for the sort of party I never get invited to.
But what I'd like to see is something a wee bit more "consciousness-raising," to help bring out the innner tool-using animal in people who walk around without knives, if you can imagine that, very many of whom are women. I even have intelligent adult women who have no apparent handicaps and who work in positions of responsibility and routinely operate motor vehicles tell me that they are too clumsy to use a knife without getting cut. I don't get it.
After 30 years of marriage, The Wife is now a newbie "knife person" who loves her "gentleperson's folder" and feels naked without it. So I took a totally unscientific poll, with her as a statistical sample of one, on what sort of images would help for purposes of general image-builidng (i.e. "Real independent women carry knives." or "Knife people are not 'fringe'!") or for purposes of serious advertising ("A product a man would buy for his woman, or a woman would buy for herself").
We think that the "mega-babe with vorpal blade" image, designed to sell knives to boys of all ages, is not the way to go here. The boys like knives well enough without the mega-babe. Instead, look at the images advertisers use to sell products to women.
The image to go with is of a reasonably attractive woman dressed to go to a nice restaurant, or to a respectable office, or on a long nature walk, etcetera, with a knife in a non-violent context. Here is one vision we came up with, for a print ad or a web site image ...
A professional office sort of environment, a good-looking 30-ish lady who might play a high-powered lawyer in a TV drama, pearl-grey business suit, silk blouse, serene smile, an orange in her left hand, and a nice folder being thumbed open in her right hand, and a caption ... Empowerment
... and, below that, a close-up of the knife itself, maybe with a bit of spiral-cut orange peel, and the company's contact information.
A couple more from my imagination ....
A healthy-looking couple, arm in arm, in a scene of awesome natural beauty, with a pocket clip showing here, and a modest fixed-blade there, and a pouch that says "XYZ Multitool" on it, and the caption (with credit to Omar Khayam), ...and thou, beside me, singing in the wilderness.
Or, to the point ...
A feminine hand with a keyring with the car keys and a dinky little knife, opening a package with the knife, and the caption, The right tool for the job. You wouldn't start your car with your pocket knife.
A darker themed ad - i.e. What part of NO don't you understand? - would have to be done very thoughtfully and carefully.
Any thoughts?
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
But what I'd like to see is something a wee bit more "consciousness-raising," to help bring out the innner tool-using animal in people who walk around without knives, if you can imagine that, very many of whom are women. I even have intelligent adult women who have no apparent handicaps and who work in positions of responsibility and routinely operate motor vehicles tell me that they are too clumsy to use a knife without getting cut. I don't get it.
After 30 years of marriage, The Wife is now a newbie "knife person" who loves her "gentleperson's folder" and feels naked without it. So I took a totally unscientific poll, with her as a statistical sample of one, on what sort of images would help for purposes of general image-builidng (i.e. "Real independent women carry knives." or "Knife people are not 'fringe'!") or for purposes of serious advertising ("A product a man would buy for his woman, or a woman would buy for herself").
We think that the "mega-babe with vorpal blade" image, designed to sell knives to boys of all ages, is not the way to go here. The boys like knives well enough without the mega-babe. Instead, look at the images advertisers use to sell products to women.
The image to go with is of a reasonably attractive woman dressed to go to a nice restaurant, or to a respectable office, or on a long nature walk, etcetera, with a knife in a non-violent context. Here is one vision we came up with, for a print ad or a web site image ...
A professional office sort of environment, a good-looking 30-ish lady who might play a high-powered lawyer in a TV drama, pearl-grey business suit, silk blouse, serene smile, an orange in her left hand, and a nice folder being thumbed open in her right hand, and a caption ... Empowerment
... and, below that, a close-up of the knife itself, maybe with a bit of spiral-cut orange peel, and the company's contact information.
A couple more from my imagination ....
A healthy-looking couple, arm in arm, in a scene of awesome natural beauty, with a pocket clip showing here, and a modest fixed-blade there, and a pouch that says "XYZ Multitool" on it, and the caption (with credit to Omar Khayam), ...and thou, beside me, singing in the wilderness.
Or, to the point ...
A feminine hand with a keyring with the car keys and a dinky little knife, opening a package with the knife, and the caption, The right tool for the job. You wouldn't start your car with your pocket knife.
A darker themed ad - i.e. What part of NO don't you understand? - would have to be done very thoughtfully and carefully.
Any thoughts?
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
