Why Sony Sounds Tone Deaf With ‘Girlz’ Talk
Posted by meredith on 03-02-2010
Today’s Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Julia Tanenbaum on video games marketed with “girls only” in mind, specifically Sony’s “Girls Play Too” campaign to promote its Lilac PSP device. A smart strategy considering that according to the latest Ypulse Research, teenage females are more likely to have a handheld video gaming system such as the Nintendo DS than their high school male counterparts, but as Julia explains below, pretty botched in execution. I’ll let her take it from here…
As always, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment below.
Why Sony Sounds Tone Deaf With ‘Girlz’ Talk
The female gaming community has had to overcome plenty of obstacles in the past. Unfortunately for girl gamers, sexism is still far too prevalent. Not only in the number of online games to choose from (or lack thereof), the absence of modest armor for female characters, princesses who need to be saved and other stereotypes, but also in the marketing campaigns targeting a female demographic.
A relatively recent example is Sony’s “Girlz Play Too” campaign. When I discovered IGN Joystiq blogger Andrew Yoon’s mockery of the advertisements, I became curious and decided to investigate further on Sony’s website. Sony’s commitment to “bringing a steady stream of female-friendly content to consumers” has lead to not only a ridiculously pink and lilac website (to promote their lilac PSP… because, of course, to target a female demographic everything must be pink or a similar color), but one fraught with ridiculous slang and misspellings. These “z” words, for instance, signal a trend in the cluelessness of marketers. Even as a tween I found such campaigns idiotic and a sign of adults being behind the times, rather than trendy. And now nobody I know uses “z words” anymore.
Furthermore, slang sounds fake when placed on a corporation’s website. Even my little cousin laughed when she saw a children’s menu attempting to be trendy by using phrases like “rad.” Sony’s website is more than guilty of this. After taking their “which character are you?” quiz and getting a few different results (the Hannah Montana one was a particularly bad match), I read that my “BFFs think I’m the best,” and that I was “So totally LocoRoco.” Nobody I know talks like that!
After the jump, “See fun, PSP games for girlz” (again spelled incorrectly) the heading “Games Girlz Play” appears. I have two issues with this page. First, only six games appear. I know Sony is attempting to capture more tweens, but this is the wrong way to do it. When I was at the age where I would have been targeted, I enjoyed games such as Final Fantasy X, and would have not even thought of playing Hannah Montana the game, or Petz. Most female gamers I know, and even girls who play casually do not limit their experience to games that try to target them. Though in the general minority, I know plenty of other girls who play Halo and other graphic shooter games.
I, along with plenty of other players, find it offensive that Sony’s website talks about games for girls. Who is to say what girls should and shouldn’t play? Corporate executives certainly do not have this authority. Girls can decide for themselves what they want to play and they already do. Check out the facts: Thirty-eight percent of game players are women, while forty-two percent of online gamers are female. This shows that Sony does not have to create a campaign that reinforces sexist stereotypes, and could rather appeal to females as intelligent beings who not only can spell, but do not need the games they play limited to what is “female-friendly.”
In fact the Final Fantasy series is incredibly popular with girls, despite the fact that it includes complex battle systems. Girls, myself included, prefer strong female characters and fun gameplay to games that just look at our fashion sense. The newest Final Fantasy game futures a female protagonist who is not only beautiful, but strong, and an intricate character with problems beyond boyfriend trouble. Girls can save the world and kick butt doing it, not just become a fashion designer, babysitter or cheerleader. Not that they can’t strive towards those goals, too. The point is that these categories aren’t mutually (or gender) exclusive.
Another issue with the Sony site is the way it portrays tween girls, or those whom they should be looking to as role models, (Everyone reading this should check out Alx’s post on role models, if they haven’t already.) The pages are filled with laughing teenagers who look similar to those in Disney Channel movies, but that does not bother me as much as some of the quiz answers. Sony assumes that girls will have celebrity magazines, and “clothes, just in case you need a fast fashion change” in their backpacks. I find this offensive. Not all girls love celebrities or fashion. Books and a PSP (surprise, surprise) are also included, but I wonder where things like sports items or homework are? Most girls I know carry those things around too. For the question about what qualities your friends value about you, your sense of style is included. Why would any company encourage girls to make friends who value fashion above character? The idea that this is even included is troubling.
When it comes down to it, I still love my PSP. However Sony’s marketing methods here are flawed and will not win over girls like me. Not by degrading our intelligence, and promoting sexist stereotypes. In the end, Sony is making not only a sexist, but a downright stupid move. Maybe if they promoted games for tween casual gamers in general they might be more successful.
About Julia
Julia is a freshman in high school in Claremont California. A self proclaimed Otaku (anime obsessive person) she strives to complete her immersion into the world of Japanese pop culture. In between school and homework she watches the latest Japanese anime on the internet, reads manga, plays video games, and practices Japanese. Though she is not a fabulous writer by nature, Julia does enjoy writing fan fiction related to said interests and occasionally immersing herself in online role-play sessions. In addition, she loves mashing up anime and game clips into anime music videos which she posts on YouTube, participating in her school’s debate team in novice LD, and of course reading. Julia is incredibly excited to be on the Youth Advisory Board, and able to express her opinions, which she has plenty of.
Categorized under: Tweens, Youth Advisory Board
March 11th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
[...] that doesn't simply appeal to the girl in the gamer so much as the gamer in the girl (see Julia's earlier post for more on thoughts on this). Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse [...]