Bic’s ‘For Her’ range of pens have become the latest target of mockery from Amazon reviewers.
The pens feature pink and purple colours, small diamond etchings and “a thin barrel designed to fit a women’s hand,” according to the description on Amazon.com.
Since its launch at the end of last year, the product’s Amazon page has been bombarded with hundreds of reviewers ridiculing the concept of a women-only pen range, aiming to undermine what some have called a sexist marketing endeavour.
Sarcastic reviews have become a popular running joke on the internet over the years, such as David Hasselhoff’s Greatest Hits and the Three Wolf Moon T-shirt.
Some of the top-rated reviews are published below:
• “Finally! For years I’ve had to rely on pencils, or at worst, a twig and some drops of my feminine blood to write down recipes (the only thing a lady should be writing ever). I had despaired of ever being able to write down said recipes in a permanent matter, though my men-folk assured me that I “shouldn’t worry yer pretty little head”. But, AT LAST! Bic, the great liberator, has released a womanly pen that my gentle baby hands can use without fear of unlady-like calluses and bruises. Thank you, Bic!” – Breemeup
• “The normal black pen casings are just so hard on the eyes. It was like a breath of fresh air to see lady colored pens. For once, I don’t have to grip a giant, man-sized pen just to sign receipts at Saks. And the ink just hits the paper so smoothly, not at all like the rough, gritty man ink in Bic’s normal pens. My only complaint is that they are a bit finicky. When I was copying down recipes from my neighbour, it worked just fine, but as soon as I sat down with the bills, nothing. It wouldn’t work! But that’s okay, my woman brain gets all muddled trying to figure out finances anyway.” – Virginia
Rather than piling on either five-star or one-star reviews, the BIC for Her also attracted dire warnings for anyone too manly to hold the pens deemed “essentially for women.”
Rachel had a desperate warning for any guys in the room:
• “These pens are really dangerous to non-girls, they turned my brother into a unicorn and I’ve been hearing similar stories from others. I thought it was strange/sort of sexist that they felt the need to put “for her” on the product, since, like, it’s a pen, are boys really not allowed to like pretty pens? But now I realize that the real problem is they didn’t make the warning explicit enough.”
The line proved “no good for man hands,” wrote another:
• “I bought this pen (in error, evidently) to write my reports of each day’s tree-felling activities in my job as a lumberjack. It is no good. It slips from between my calloused, gnarly fingers like a gossamer thread gently descending to earth between two giant redwood trunks.”
• “I was hoping it would be less phallic,” wrote Erin Gloria Ryan.
• But bicGirl says she was disappointed in the pens: “I don’t understand all the 5 star reviews- this is the WORST eyeliner I have ever used! I can’t get it off for the life of me.”
Despite the mockery, Bic is resorting to the old adage that ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’.
Speaking to the Telegraph, a Bic spokeswoman said that the company is enjoying the reviews and unexpected limelight.
“Bic Pens ‘for Her’ are a style-led product and have proved to be very popular since their launch at the end of last year,” the spokeswoman told the paper. “It is great to see people having fun with the product and we’re delighted to have brought a bit of much needed glamour to stationery cupboards everywhere.”
Read the reviews in full here
