Men’s Anti-wrinkle Cream

Well, I saw that commercial again. You know, the one with several men my age exclaiming they found a product designed to minimize their wrinkles temporarily. In the background, the announcer is talking about the biological needs of men and how this product was specifically formulated to help them.

While watching the commercial, my mind began to wander. I started thinking about why they would highlight men and their specific needs so much. Then it hit me! I surmised it was priced at a premium, and I didn’t even have to go to their website to see.

Several years ago, my daughter-in-law was complaining about a pink tax and suggesting it should be outlawed. I, being naïve and curious, asked her what a pink tax was. She explained there are items like razors that are marketed to women at a premium price compared to a similar razor sold to men. Have you seen the pink razors in the store?

Her position was that it isn’t fair for a company like Gillette to sell razors with similar features at different prices just because one is pink and marketed to women. I asked her why she didn’t buy and use the similar “men’s” razor. She replied that she did.

“You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” - Deuteronomy 25:13-15 ESV

This told me a couple of things. First, she saw through the marketing spin and picked the economical product. Second, her anger was that society allowed a company to create a product for women that was more expensive solely due (for the most part) to it being pink. In her mind, that was gender discrimination.

I tried to explain that, in a capitalist society, a company should be allowed to create products that people could buy. The successful companies find that market. Finally, she herself, while desiring the pink product, decided the features that made it different from the alternative were not worth the premium she’d have to pay. This showed that no regulation was needed.

Just so you know, I didn’t order any anti-wrinkle cream for the same reason my daughter-in-law didn’t buy the pink razor–I wasn’t willing to pay for the potential benefits the product offered. The free-market system works.

“‘Bad, bad,’ says the buyer, but when he goes away, he boasts. There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” - Proverbs 20:14-15