Fancy releases results of new survey covering feminine taboos
We believe that for too long, the marketing world has ignored women’s lived experiences (and voices). Taboos exist to silence women, surrounding aspects of their lives with stigma and shame. It’s time women have space to say what they want. It’s time we get real and have the conversations women have been trying to have for their entire lives.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Fancy surveyed 600 adult women to explore perceptions, opinions, behaviors, and beliefs about topics that have historically been considered off-limits or taboo. We also aimed to clarify the marketing landscape for brands that seek women's attention and spending power.
We wondered: Are brands getting it wrong? Do they hear women? Are they even listening? The margin of error from this study was +/- 3.9 percent points at a 95 percent confidence level, an extremely high level of confidence.
When it comes to taboos, mindset matters most.
Our survey found that women represent three distinct attitudinal segments – regardless of age, geography or socio-economics – with respect to taboo topics. These segments differ in terms of their engagement, comfort level, and the extent to which they talk about taboo topics—or think we should all talk openly about them. They also differ in how they view marketing and advertising in this context, specifically what role brands play and how much responsibility they bear for furthering conversations about topics that directly impact women.
Brand Approvers (BAs)feel brands market effectively to women and feel understood by the brands that target them.
Boundary Pushers (BPs) believe brands get it wrong a lot. They want to push the cultural conversation, have open dialogues, and don’t shy away from subjects that impact them. They believe a little discomfort is a small price to pay to move the needle.
Female Favorers (FFs)believe brands need to be led by women to understand women. They say brands think “pink it and shrink it” is sufficient to market to women. They want brands to talk to them like a friend and often discuss sensitive topics with close girlfriends.
Let’s Talk Taboos
Each of these three attitudinal segments have strong feelings about brand communication when it comes to marketing and advertising around taboos. Here are some topline insights.
Sex & Pleasure
About two out of every five women surveyed say they purchased sexual health products in the last year. BPs statistically more likely to have done so than BAs. They are also significantly more likely than FFs to say they are comfortable purchasing sex products. While FFs and BPs often align in their responses in our survey, sex products are one taboo where we see distinct differences between these segments.
Menstruation
Across segments, women are tired of the cutesy euphemisms and prefer physiologically accurate words to describe their bodily functions. A slight majority (52%) would not consider any of the following inappropriate to be featured in menstruation-related marketing/advertising: blood in a swimming pool, on a tampon, menstrual pad, sofa cushion, bedsheet or pants/skirt.
Aging
Overall women showed lower levels of complete comfort purchasing aging products than anything else with the exception of sex products. Yet, 91% of these women say that aging-related topics are not really or definitely not best left for private discussions.
Alcohol
Alcohol doesn’t seem to be a taboo at all. Overall, 70% of women we surveyed say they’ve purchased alcohol in the last year and 82% feel completely comfortable purchasing it. That said, BPs are significantly more comfortable buying alcohol products compared to BAs.
Cannabis
51% of women who have purchased cannabis in the last year say they are completely comfortable (34% said mostly comfortable) shopping for and purchasing cannabis products. 81% of these women said they share that information with others (usually a spouse or close friend). BPs and FFs are significantly more likely than BAs to share this information with close friends or family members.
Mental Health
While 40% of BPs and 36% of FFs purchased mental health services in the past year, only 18% of BAs did. Interestingly, while there were no differences between segments in how comfortable they felt seeking mental health services, BAs were statistically more likely to feel mental health issues should definitely or sort of remain private.
Finance
One in three women we surveyed said they purchased financial advising services in the last year. BPs were significantly more likely than BAs to have done so. A majority (59%) of women say they feel completely comfortable seeking financial advising services. And though 75% of women said they shared with others that they were seeking these services, besides sex and sexual health products, they thought finances should remain private more than anything else we discussed.
What Does It All Mean for Marketers?
Women are not a monolith. Understanding your audience starts with knowing who it is. Who do you want to engage with your brand? How do you want it to be received?
If you're trying to move the cultural needle, if you’re a brand that wants to change the world, if you want to be talked about and carried as a badge of honor, keep the Boundary Pushers front and center in your marketing efforts. They’re the ones who view their purchases practically as a political statement. They have the friend groups and they confide most in them. They share their feelings and their feelings about products. And where they go, the others follow. Eventually.
For brands that are all about serving women as consumers and within your own company, then the Female Favorers are the ones to impress. They support the brands they feel are supporting women, as long as they’re doing it authentically and with the right intentions.
Not to say Brand Approvers aren’t important. They are. But you’ll have the most success with them if you take a lighter approach. Be a little gentler. And depending on who you are as a brand, that might be just right for you.
We’ll be talking more about women’s relationship with taboos over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
