05. 28. 2009
Dell's new site, "Della", teaches poor silly girls about computers
Dell have just unveiled a new website for women called Della and what a lot of members of the female sex are wondering is... why?
I bought a Dell laptop myself last year and the only things I took into consideration were price, specifications and how it looked (I wanted the cover to be black with white stripes). But apparently not enough women are buying Dell for the company's liking, so they decided to patronise us with a website promoting netbooks (to fit into our designer handbags? Because we can't lift heavy objects?) with such advice as "Add storage to your netbook with memory cards or memory keys." Well, no kidding.
It seems a shame for Dell to have worked (presumably) long and hard on a new site only to make it so retrograde, patronizing and sex-specific. After the company was flooded with complaints, its site text now reads "Some of you have read this article over the last several days and will notice a few modifications. You spoke; we listened." But the above tip on storage was still included, as well as the information that you can blog via a computer, and many other handy "hints" aimed at the absolute beginner.
The site does seem to have been toned down a little from its shopping-and-diet obsessed earlier incarnation but it's still portraying men as serious computer purchasers and women as ditsy fools who can barely turn a laptop on. Why do we need to be sold to in different ways at all?
It's misguided initiatives like this that demonstrate how important it is to have more women working in technology.
Via Slashdot.
Posted by Diane
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