In what could be described as a marketing ploy to advertise to the adult female demographic, Yahoo has launched Shine, a new web site which Yahoo claims will reach approximately 40 million women, aged 25 to 54.
Shine is being touted as a “lifestyles destination” for women, and will combine many different elements from Yahoo’s flagship portal page, including the food, health, fashion and astrology sections. In effect, Yahoo is “repurposing” Web content already available on yahoo.com, and packaging it together in a format designed to appeal specifically to adult women.
The new site will also utilize content from publishers as diverse as Time magazine and Condé Nast. There will also be user submitted content and blogs, as well as work and finance related content, specifically geared toward women who Yahoo have labeled “chief household officers,” a borderline offensive term to describe women who make the majority of purchasing decisions for the household, and spend a good deal of time online.
But not everyone is happy about Yahoo’s obvious attempt to “divide and conquer” the female demographic in such an advertising-friendly manner. Immediately following the launch of Shine, blogs and message boards online were bristling with critical comments about what many women see as a “very cynical and poorly executed” attempt to appeal to modern women.
The big question is, is it really necessary for Yahoo to reinvent “Woman’s Day” or “Home and Garden” online? Many women feel that the days of male-dominated corporations publishing content to appeal to a stereotypical Stepford wife that never really existed are long gone. Reading some of the comments online from women about the new Yahoo Shine site, I detected a strong feeling of resentment toward Yahoo, and other corporations intent on capitalizing off of female stereotypes.
Another worrisome fact; when checking out Shine for myself (yes, male Web surfers are allowed on the site — just don’t start posting comments about football or chest hair :-) the new portal seemed more like a clumsily-designed exercise in advertising, more than a destination that offered any real value to Web browsers, be they male or female. In fact, it appears that Yahoo has attempted to gear Shine so heavily toward a stereotypical corporate idea of what women want, that it almost ends up feeling like a Saturday Night Live-style parody.
As one female blogger pointed out, “real” women are looking for articles about computer programming, aerodynamics, world issues and healthcare technology, NOT patronizing tips on homemaking, astrology or becoming a Stepford Wife. Yahoo would be wise to listen to the female voices online, and re-think the format of Shine.
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Gee, I wonder. I am not yet familiar with “Shine” but, despite my PhD, MA,MFA, and years of college teaching I, (a longtime married mother) still could use someone’s good advice on how to successfully transplant my lavender plant. I’m also having trouble perfecting ANY decent scallop dish and would be grateful for help. Further, I like to read about fashion as well as share opinions about current Cspan coverage, the objectivity-deficits of CBS, and the merits of a fantasy McCain-Clinton ticket. In summary, I like multifarious magazines/websites.
I’ll bet your bloggers are really, really young;I have never known any of my colleages to be looking for articles about astrology OR aerodynamics. We turn to our professional journals for serious articles and we read other stuff for fun. Any gal (or guy) who thinks we are are “Stepfords” is very, very young and has JUST seen the movie—decades after its relevance.
Really. I LIVED the women’s lib movement of the seventies. Thank God, we’ve moved way beyond that problem. We are feminists–AND GIRLS!
Thank you, darling,
Roberta
Comment by Roberta — June 2, 2008 @ 1:26 am