This is what is wrong with the fitness industry
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This is what's wrong with all advertising. There's a lot of criticism for the way toys are marketed as well.
Someone needs to come up with the Science Princess or something, complete with pink microscope and test tubes. I expect advertising execs to fail our children and society by turning most of our girls into fashion divas, but would some clever script writer with Disney connections please step up and save us? Thanks.
They have tons of pink test tubes and science stuff at Hobby Lobby.
You're welcome.
There was just a commercial on making the rounds of youtube/facebook. It was a bunch of pre-teen girls singing a parody of Beastie Boys song "Girls." The company makes engineering type toys for girls.
Regarding the original comment about her arms, she may actually have really long arms. My husband and I have a tall friend who has a condition where he is quite "gangly" in the arms. His son also has the same. Anyone ever hear of Michael Phelps?? Also large armspan and to his benefit!0 -
Their fingertips reach their knees?This is what's wrong with all advertising. There's a lot of criticism for the way toys are marketed as well.
Someone needs to come up with the Science Princess or something, complete with pink microscope and test tubes. I expect advertising execs to fail our children and society by turning most of our girls into fashion divas, but would some clever script writer with Disney connections please step up and save us? Thanks.
They have tons of pink test tubes and science stuff at Hobby Lobby.
You're welcome.
There was just a commercial on making the rounds of youtube/facebook. It was a bunch of pre-teen girls singing a parody of Beastie Boys song "Girls." The company makes engineering type toys for girls.
Regarding the original comment about her arms, she may actually have really long arms. My husband and I have a tall friend who has a condition where he is quite "gangly" in the arms. His son also has the same. Anyone ever hear of Michael Phelps?? Also large armspan and to his benefit!0 -
The woman has absolutely ZERO muscle.
First of all, that's not true.
Second of all, who cares, she's gorgeous.0 -
ETA: What's wrong with the fitness industry is the ease with which virtually anyone can hang up a shingle and sell themselves as a nutritionist and trainer with little to no regulation. They flood the industry with misinformation.
DAMN-SKIPPY0 -
My problem wasn't the weight of the kettlebell so much as the fact that the LARGEST one they were trying to sell one was the same weight as the smallest one they marketed to men. Yes, on average women are a bit weaker but not THAT much and perpetuating that mindset is unhealthy. The second problem I had with it was the size difference between the "women" 10#er and the man 10#er. The woman's 2# (which is a ridiculous weight to buy, you could swing a book around for free and do more good) was about the same size as the man's 10#. The psychology behind it is sad.
As for saying she has no muscle, well okay she has the basics to survive but anyone who does kettlebell (I don't but I know the workouts can be dang hard) will attest that she does not have the level required. Clearly the manufacturers thought that using a model that looks like she could actually do the workout would isolate too many women. Which is, again, sad.0 -
I don't think it was fair to comment on the model's fitness level. Lots of women don't want to be muscular -- and no I don't mean "bulky" or "manly." I mean they don't necessarily want the kind of arms and legs that a lot of the women on this site seem to be shooting for. Some people like to lift light with their girly weights and get it done that way, and you CAN and DO still see results from that, just different ones. I wish more people on this site would see that.
I think it's totally fair because (1) she's a model who is modeling and (2) while not everyone wants to be muscular, people who are selling equipment that promotes muscular development should be at least a little muscular. If I know nothing about kettlebells, I wouldn't buy them based on her physique. And photoshopping to maker this skinny model even skinnier is pathetic.0 -
the market is consumer driven. they make the pink ones because women buy them.
This was my first thought when I read the OP. If women weren't allowed to buy heavier kettlebells or good old, unembellished, black, cast iron kettlebells, then we could say there was a bigger issue here. I have many kettlebells. All of them weigh a lot more than 10 lbs. None of them are pink.
I'm (yes me the OP) am so guilty of buying pink everything. I use pink lifting straps. I wear pink shirts to the gym at least 2 of every 3 trips (the third trip is usually purple lol). It's not the pink weights that upset me but the fact that they were manipulating the women's weight to appear heavier which will discourage women from ever buying a heavier bell.0 -
But if your goal was to have her physique and you were shopping for kettlebells, you would buy them.I don't think it was fair to comment on the model's fitness level. Lots of women don't want to be muscular -- and no I don't mean "bulky" or "manly." I mean they don't necessarily want the kind of arms and legs that a lot of the women on this site seem to be shooting for. Some people like to lift light with their girly weights and get it done that way, and you CAN and DO still see results from that, just different ones. I wish more people on this site would see that.
I think it's totally fair because (1) she's a model who is modeling and (2) while not everyone wants to be muscular, people who are selling equipment that promotes muscular development should be at least a little muscular. If I know nothing about kettlebells, I wouldn't buy them based on her physique. And photoshopping to maker this skinny model even skinnier is pathetic.
Just because it doesn't make you likely to buy them doesn't mean it won't make someone else likely to buy them. Clearly, you are not the target audience.0 -
everbody has to start somewhere, not sure why there is any use in pointing out her physique.
Um, she's a model not a consumer. This point is nonsense.
the market is consumer driven. they make the pink ones because women buy them.
you seem to be assuming that the industry is dictating what women should be lifting. forget about what the weight looks like and problem solved.
So you don't think that women respond to advertisement? To product placement? To magazine articles (which are sponsored) telling them that they need to do XXX to get XXX body?0 -
But if your goal was to have her physique and you were shopping for kettlebells, you would buy them.I don't think it was fair to comment on the model's fitness level. Lots of women don't want to be muscular -- and no I don't mean "bulky" or "manly." I mean they don't necessarily want the kind of arms and legs that a lot of the women on this site seem to be shooting for. Some people like to lift light with their girly weights and get it done that way, and you CAN and DO still see results from that, just different ones. I wish more people on this site would see that.
I think it's totally fair because (1) she's a model who is modeling and (2) while not everyone wants to be muscular, people who are selling equipment that promotes muscular development should be at least a little muscular. If I know nothing about kettlebells, I wouldn't buy them based on her physique. And photoshopping to maker this skinny model even skinnier is pathetic.
Just because it doesn't make you likely to buy them doesn't mean it won't make someone else likely to buy them. Clearly, you are not the target audience.
Well, the target audience is bound to be disappointed. The only way to get her body is to eat very little and not move a kettlebell around while doing it.0 -
Yes, on average women are a bit weaker but not THAT much...
Men's raw bench press world record: 710 pounds
Women's raw bench press world record: 430 pounds
So...yes...men are in fact that much stronger.0 -
Yes, on average women are a bit weaker but not THAT much...
Men's raw bench press world record: 710 pounds
Women's raw bench press world record: 430 pounds
So...yes...men are in fact that much stronger.
We are not talking about comparing the strongest man on earth to the strongest woman on earth at a lift that men are exceptionally stronger at than women. Not to mention the need to factor weight into those kinds of numbers, I'm guessing there is less difference between relative squat numbers.
However, if we are comparing untrained males to untrained females in exercises that aren't challenging the absolute limit that an individual can lift, I would have to seriously doubt that the strongest female novice is weaker than the weakest male novice.0 -
Chick is clearly photoshopped, and very poorly at that. THAT was the point of pointing out her physique.
And I really don't care whether weights are pink are not. The issue is they target these products at women, and then stop them at 10 lbs. As if women don't want or use heavier weights.
As for the kiddie ads, check out GoldieBlox.com! I wish they had those when I was a child, so much more fun than a Barbie doll!0 -
Yes, on average women are a bit weaker but not THAT much...
Men's raw bench press world record: 710 pounds
Women's raw bench press world record: 430 pounds
So...yes...men are in fact that much stronger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilks_Coefficient0 -
So the problem with the fitness industry is that D*i*c*k*s doesn't sell heavy enough pink kettlebells and models aren't muscular enough?
Maybe the problem with consumers is that people are too particular about their kettlebell color and the muscle mass of random models.0 -
Factoring out weight is only a legitimate data manipulation if men and women average out to similar weights/sizes.
Men's raw bench press world record: 710 poundsYes, on average women are a bit weaker but not THAT much...
Women's raw bench press world record: 430 pounds
So...yes...men are in fact that much stronger.Not to mention the need to factor weight into those kinds of numbers...
Which they don't.
So it's not a legitimate numeric manipulation.
A typical male novice can do "a few" pushups. A typical female novice can do none.However, if we are comparing untrained males to untrained females in exercises that aren't challenging the absolute limit that an individual can lift, I would have to seriously doubt that the strongest female novice is weaker than the weakest male novice.
Typical male is much stronger than a typical female, not just at the extremes, but at all levels of equivalent fitness.
All this aside, I'm still baffled by a thread *****ing about the fitness industry trying sell weightlifting equipment to women. Somehow I had the strange idea that was actually a *good* thing...silly me...0 -
I don't think it was fair to comment on the model's fitness level. Lots of women don't want to be muscular -- and no I don't mean "bulky" or "manly." I mean they don't necessarily want the kind of arms and legs that a lot of the women on this site seem to be shooting for. Some people like to lift light with their girly weights and get it done that way, and you CAN and DO still see results from that, just different ones. I wish more people on this site would see that.
I agree, I honestly thought she was a little chubby
If you think THAT'S chubby, you have some very unrealistic expectations of women. her ribs were visible, come on.0 -
D*ic*ks actually sells the colored bells in green and blue and heavier weights (though still not heavy enough for traditional kettlebell training but I guess they figure those people will go for the traditional cast iron models). They're bigger because they're sand-filled where the smaller 10 is cast iron. At least the weird-arms photo does show the model with cast iron bells.0
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Pretty much this.The fitness industry has long known that females will spend more money than males on personal self improvement. This is actually how the word "TONED" came about. Rather than saying "weight lifting" (which was associated with building huge muscles with males) "toning" sounded much softer and more feminine and didn't reek of muscularity. This help to create many "toning" programs out there catering to females and yes it's made the fitness industry BILLIONS.
Unfortunately lots of females out there are under the impression that female muscles can grow at the same rate as male muscles and that's why there is so much confusion on how to train. Good thing is that sites like this help to dispell the myths of muscle gain (especially on a calorie deficit) and how hard it actually is to put on pounds of muscle with moderate training.
The pink kettlebells are being marketed to what sells. I don't think there's anything wrong with it; a company is catering a product to what it thinks will do better.
I don't see a lot of women focusing on heavy lifts at the gym relative to the total amount of women there. They more frequently stick to cardio machines, weight lifting machines, and extremely light high-rep dumbbell exercises. I also see a lot of threads pop up on these forums where women 'do a couple of dumbbell arm exercises' as their only weightlifting exercise.
It's no different in my mind than fitness equipment or protein powder ads showing a roided out model trying to sell a product to men in my mind.
If there was a female market for heavy kettlebells, you'd see a pink model come in higher denominations. There isn't, so they don't.0 -
the market is consumer driven. they make the pink ones because women buy them.
This was my first thought when I read the OP. If women weren't allowed to buy heavier kettlebells or good old, unembellished, black, cast iron kettlebells, then we could say there was a bigger issue here. I have many kettlebells. All of them weigh a lot more than 10 lbs. None of them are pink.
I'm (yes me the OP) am so guilty of buying pink everything. I use pink lifting straps. I wear pink shirts to the gym at least 2 of every 3 trips (the third trip is usually purple lol). It's not the pink weights that upset me but the fact that they were manipulating the women's weight to appear heavier which will discourage women from ever buying a heavier bell.
no your presenting almost the opposite argument, first your complaining that they dont make them heavy enough, now your saying they make them 'appear' too heavy and this discourages women from buying heavier weight. make up your mind
everbody has to start somewhere, not sure why there is any use in pointing out her physique.
Um, she's a model not a consumer. This point is nonsense.
the market is consumer driven. they make the pink ones because women buy them.
you seem to be assuming that the industry is dictating what women should be lifting. forget about what the weight looks like and problem solved.
So you don't think that women respond to advertisement? To product placement? To magazine articles (which are sponsored) telling them that they need to do XXX to get XXX body?
So putting a pic of woman of less muscluar body type to adervtize lifting equipment somehow offends your sensibilities? It just seems strange to me that you would feel that way and i felt it worth pointing out.
I'm sure simply minded people who have trouble thinking for themselves will always be lead by the nose from advertizing0
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