Cards Against Humanity Lampoons Sexist Marketing With Pink 'For Her' Deck
Cards Against Humanity is trolling the web for a good cause.
Creators of the “party game for horrible people” are now selling an identical version of the classic game branded “for her” ― with pink packaging and a $5 upcharge.
The “For Her” deck is a challenge to the so-called “pink tax,” in which companies add gendered labeling and charge high prices for products marketed towards women, as well as setting high prices for necessities such as feminine hygiene products. New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs did a study in 2015 that found these brightly colored products geared to women were 7 percent more expensive than the same type of product for men.
Cards Against Humanity’s community director Jenn Bane told HuffPost that the company was inspired to lampoon these gimmicks with the new deck.
“We made Cards Against Humanity for Her because it’s a stupid idea that really makes us laugh,” Bane told HuffPost “We slapped butterflies onto the logo and made it hot pink.”
The company released a witty press release to launch the product and the website with testimonies that claimed the product “makes me feel like my type of beautiful.”
More branding on cardsagainsthumanityforher.com lets women know all the extra benefits to the pink packaging.
The card set “pairs nicely with a glass of chilled white wine and “listens to your problems without offering any suggestions.” And while the website says that the $5 increase is “because we’re worth it,” there is more to the charge than that.
“We’re donating all the profits to Emily’s List to help get more women elected into office in the U.S.,” Bane told HuffPost.
Emily’s List has seen a surge recently in women who are interested in running for public office, The Washington Post reported in April. Over 15,000 women across the country who are considering running for local or national elections have contacted the group this year.
“We decided that hey, it’s 2017, it’s time for women to have a spot at the table, and nevertheless, she persisted,” Bane said in the sarcastic press release.
The company also released $5 “Period” and “Weed” expansion packs with the product. Profits from the “Weed” pack will go toward the Marijuana Policy Project, to support the regulation and taxation of marijuana products.
Also on HuffPost
We're so excited about Hidden Figures, the astonishing true story of how African American female mathematicians helped usher in some of NASA’s greatest achievements. The world needs to know about Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), the brilliant “female computer” who determined the launch and landing coordinates for John Glenn’s 1962 orbit around the earth. So let’s keep the momentum going: What about all the other impressive women who have busted up boys' clubs? To get you thinking, here are a few more heroic ladies who ought to be in pictures.
Madam C.J. Walker
May we suggest Sarah Breedlove, a.k.a. the legendary beauty innovator Madam C.J. Walker. This Louisiana-born daughter of former slaves worked hard all her life, including as a laundress. In 1906, she created a haircare line tailored to black women and, harnessing her mighty marketing skills, began peddling her goods door to door. At her death in 1919, Walker’s personal worth was about $700,000 (that would be $9.76 million today), making her the wealthiest black woman in America at the time. The happy ending: The impact of her beauty products is still turning heads today.
Ada Lovelace
May we suggest Ada Lovelace, the numbers-loving daughter of poet Lord Byron who’s now considered the world’s first programmer. She was translating an 1842 paper on mathematician Charles Babbage’s computer prototype when she realized that it could one day be programmed to perform problem-solving calculations. Victorian math minds pooh-poohed her, but without algorithms, you couldn’t play Candy Crush.
Margaret Bourke-White
May we suggest Margaret Bourke-White, a groundbreaking photojournalist who became the first female war correspondent, covering the air force in North Africa, the army in Italy, diplomats in the USSR, and migrant farmers in the Dust Bowl. Just picture Maggie the Indestructible doing, well, all the cool stuff she did in real life—risk her marriage to pursue her aperture ambitions! survive a torpedo attack! take a few snaps while perched atop one of the Chrysler Building’s glowering eagles!—in 3-D.
The Night Witches
May we suggest the Night Witches, the all-female Soviet WWII regiment that flew about 30,000 missions against the German military, dropping bombs from flimsy plywood-and-canvas crop dusters. Under the cover of darkness—and without parachutes, radios, or guns—they’d idle their engines near their target and glide in with a terrifying whoosh that made enemy soldiers think of broomsticks. By the time the credits roll, 30 Night Witches will have given their lives for their country, and 23—we’re picturing Slavic ringers Kirsten Dunst and Scarlett Johansson—will be named Heroes of the Soviet Union.
Pat Johnson
May we suggest LAPD officer Pat Johnson. In 1971, a 9-month-old girl was found abandoned in a Los Angeles hotel room. (She was discovered after guests told the manager she’d been crying for hours.) Policewoman Johnson (imagine a 1970s-ified Jennifer Lawrence) fed the baby milk, Jell-O, and cottage cheese and kept her swaddled in a desk drawer until the infant was taken to a foster home later that day. In the big-screen adaptation, Johnson abandons her desk duties to become a baby whisperer, visiting seedy and swanky hotels alike in search of neglected tots who depend on just her kind of savior.
Katherine Switzer
May we suggest Kathrine Switzer, the first female runner to officially enter the once all-male Boston Marathon. In 1967, after training with the Syracuse University men’s cross-country team and besting officials (she applied for a bib as K.V. Switzer), she was almost physically shoved off the course by blustering race codirector Jock Semple (we’re thinking Bryan Cranston), who’d be damned if he’d let a woman taint his testosterific event. Cut to Switzer’s proud finish—where (spoiler) her uterus doesn’t fall out.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
