For every marketer who's had a ground breaking, money making idea, there are many, many more who've taken their ideas to market and, quite simply, tanked.
So it really shouldn't come as a surprise when a giant in the world of commerce also gets it wrong. The only difference is the sheer scale of their mistake.
And so it has come to pass that BIC have come under fire for the launch of their range of pens "for girls".
Pastel pink and prettily pointed, these deliciously girly biros have caused a storm on Amazon, with women across the world using their modern keyboard skills to brandish satirical commentary at the brand for their patronising attempt to create an arbitrary target market for pastel pens.
Their commentary, fuelled by social media activity, has spread the word across the world leaving the company looking archaic and out of touch by not responding, nor having the social media avenues to enable them to do so. Imagine not having a Twitter account. Tsk.
The pen may be mightier than the sword but social media is just so much better.
Their radio silence on the subject has attracted criticism from public relations professionals who feel that BIC could have fought back with some biting wit which would have made light of the situation and enabled them to triumph against this adversity.
That said, I wouldn't be advising the client to respond "tongue in cheek" when the premise of the criticism is that brand has simply behaved in a most blatantly sexist manner. But then, I'm a girl.
A female writer and strategist at Advertising Age suggests that the company shouldn't make "stupid products" - but I'd argue there's nothing inherently wrong with the pen, it's the marketing that's totally wrong. In every sense of the word. Perhaps the advice should really be "Don't use marketing to patronise your customers"?
Customers now have a voice. A powerful voice. It's called social media. Word of mouth has never been so important. Ever. And marketers need to bear that in mind with every campaign they run. It's no longer enough to test the product, we need to test the gut reaction too. Pink pens for girls? Sure, it's been done before. We've just never had to spell it out for them......
Produce pastel pens, by all means, just don't label them for girls. We're more than capable of picking the pink pen all by ourselves, we don't need sexist, patronising packaging to help.
BIC either needs to say they are sorry quickly or launch an equivalent range of pens in fake camouflage or with dinosaurs all over them labelled "For Him" to level the playing field.
But I bet they wouldn't ever consider doing anything that silly......
