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BIC's For Her Ballpoint Pen Reviews
Part of a series on Fake Customer Reviews. [View Related Entries]
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Overview
Bic's "For Her" Pen is a line of disposable ballpoint pens designed for female consumers, produced and sold by the French manufacturer company Société Bic (BIC). Although the pens were introduced in June 2011, they became a trending topic in the news and blogosphere after tongue-in-cheek customer reviews of the product began to emerge on the online shopping site Amazon, in similar vein to the ironic appreciation of The Mountain's Three Wolf Moon t-shirt.
Background
In June 2011, a new line of BIC ballpoint pens dubbed "For Her" was introduced on Amazon.[2] Available in several "feminine" colors like pink and purple, the product was initially released in Europe but became available through online shopping sites in the United States. According to BIC's product description[1], the pen's notable features includes tinted thin barrel for a better handling for women and matching plug and ink colors.
BIC's release of "For Her" products was initially picked up by women's gossip blog Jezebel in an article titled "Bic For Her: Finally, a Pen Ladies Can Use"[4] on March 11th, 2011. Though written in a satirical tone similar to the Amazon reviews that came more than a year later, the product largely remained in obscurity until August 2012.
Notable Development
On August 15th, 2012, Amazon user Happyshopper submitted a customer review of the product in a post titled "The pen for women that lets them KNOW they are women!"[3] featuring a tongue-in-cheek anecdote of how the pen significantly improved her sense of womanhood and inner femininity.
![☆☆☆☆☆ The pen for women that lets them KNOW they are women, 15 Aug 2012 By Happyshopper See all my reviews This review is from: BIC For Her Amber Medium Ballpoint Pen (Box of 12) -Black (Office Product) Thank you so much Bic! These are more than just pens. They are little pink saviours. Every girl and woman should own one All my life I have written predominantly with black, blue, clear plastic, or, occasionally, metallic coloured pens. It never felt right. My sense of womanhood was deeply impacted by the lack of gender defined stationary. I remember once, writing in a public library, a child asked the time, and referred to me as 'mister'. Mortified, I reflected upon why I had been so cruelly misgendered. I mean, I'm no Marilyn Monroe but I like to make an effort! Then it came to me: I was writing with an ORDINARY pen. Nothing in this writing implement made it obvious that I was a WOMAN. The next thing you know, this child might have asked me to fix something! Or assumed I understood the ins and outs of science! Until I found your'for her' range of pens, I was in genderless limbo. No, make that hell. Horrified at the thought of a repeat incident, I wrote only in private. No amount of make up, pink dresses, heels, and jewellery could fill the aching sense of androgyny that now consumed me Concerned at my obvious deep misery, and apparent pen phobia, my friends and family began asking questions. How could I tell them? How would you? Then I saw them. First it was the pastel colours. Good, yes, but not clearly enough defined. A closer look and my heart skipped a beat. Could it be true? Pens 'for her'? I don't want to go into detail, but I will tell you that I emitted sounds of euphoria I never thought humanly possible Many tears were wept. Tears stained pink with feminine joy As you can imagine, I counted the minutes until this precious package arrived. I took the day of work, bought myself a new pink writing pad, and practically sprinted to the nearest busy café. Settled with a skinny mochachino, I pulled out my new 'for her pen (pink of course!). The result was astounding. As I began to write, flowers, heart shapes and ponies appeared on the page. I had unleashed and connected with my inner femininity! There was no stopping me now. You won't believe what happened next. A man, looking uncannily like Burt Reynolds (in his heyday no less!), approached me and said: 'Hey babe [Babe!]. That's a pretty pen for a pretty lady' Needless to say we are now engaged and living in blissful heteronormativity. Stan has even asked me to make a special request to you, Bic - for him' pens! He says they could be in the shape of beer bottles or golf clubs. And why stop there? (said Stan). A ruler that looks like a brick would make any man feel more of a man. He is so clever. He says you must make sure to send him royalties! How we laugh about that, every morning. (But seriously, do credit him if you take the ideas on board.) Anyway, I am sure there are still many more stationary items to be gendered feminine, and too little time! Thank you for giving me back my sense of womanhood, and please never underestimate your role in promoting the gendering of girls and women](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/387/047/4ab.png "4ab.png")
In the following days, hundreds of other sardonic customer reviews followed suit on the product page, many of which poked fun at the superflous nature of gender-specific writing utensils.
The sudden influx of customer review parodies was once again reported via Jezebel on August 27th, followed by other Gawker Media-affiliated blogs like io9[5] and Gawker[6], as well as the viral culture news site BuzzFeed[7] on August 28th. The phenomenon also drew attention from major news outlets like ABC[8] and advertising industry blogs, including AdAge[9], AdWeek[10] and eConsultancy.[11]
Search Interest
External References
[1] BIC – Cristal for Her
[2] Amazon – BIC For Her Amber Medium Ballpoint Pen (Box of 12) – Black
[3] Amazon – BIC For Her Amber Medium Ballpoint Pen Reviews
[4] Jezebel – Bic For Her / Finally, A Pen Ladies Can Use
[5] io9 – The Amazon reviews for Bic’s “Pen for Her” will make you fall out of your chair laughing
[6] Gawker – Hilarious Amazon Reviewers Take on Bic’s Stupid, Sexist ‘For Her’ Women’s Pens
[7] BuzzFeed – 12 Hilarious Reviews Of A Pen Just For Women
[8] ABC – Bic Pens ‘For Her’ Draw Amazon Flames
[9] AdAge – How BIC Could Have Avoided the 'BIC for Her' Social Debacle
[10] AdWeek – 'Bic for Her' Pens Deluged With Sarcastic Reviews on Amazon
[11] eConsultancy – Bic for Her: a different kind of social media firestorm
![☆☆☆☆☆ The pen for women that lets them KNOW they are women, 15 Aug 2012 By Happyshopper See all my reviews This review is from: BIC For Her Amber Medium Ballpoint Pen (Box of 12) -Black (Office Product) Thank you so much Bic! These are more than just pens. They are little pink saviours. Every girl and woman should own one All my life I have written predominantly with black, blue, clear plastic, or, occasionally, metallic coloured pens. It never felt right. My sense of womanhood was deeply impacted by the lack of gender defined stationary. I remember once, writing in a public library, a child asked the time, and referred to me as 'mister'. Mortified, I reflected upon why I had been so cruelly misgendered. I mean, I'm no Marilyn Monroe but I like to make an effort! Then it came to me: I was writing with an ORDINARY pen. Nothing in this writing implement made it obvious that I was a WOMAN. The next thing you know, this child might have asked me to fix something! Or assumed I understood the ins and outs of science! Until I found your'for her' range of pens, I was in genderless limbo. No, make that hell. Horrified at the thought of a repeat incident, I wrote only in private. No amount of make up, pink dresses, heels, and jewellery could fill the aching sense of androgyny that now consumed me Concerned at my obvious deep misery, and apparent pen phobia, my friends and family began asking questions. How could I tell them? How would you? Then I saw them. First it was the pastel colours. Good, yes, but not clearly enough defined. A closer look and my heart skipped a beat. Could it be true? Pens 'for her'? I don't want to go into detail, but I will tell you that I emitted sounds of euphoria I never thought humanly possible Many tears were wept. Tears stained pink with feminine joy As you can imagine, I counted the minutes until this precious package arrived. I took the day of work, bought myself a new pink writing pad, and practically sprinted to the nearest busy café. Settled with a skinny mochachino, I pulled out my new 'for her pen (pink of course!). The result was astounding. As I began to write, flowers, heart shapes and ponies appeared on the page. I had unleashed and connected with my inner femininity! There was no stopping me now. You won't believe what happened next. A man, looking uncannily like Burt Reynolds (in his heyday no less!), approached me and said: 'Hey babe [Babe!]. That's a pretty pen for a pretty lady' Needless to say we are now engaged and living in blissful heteronormativity. Stan has even asked me to make a special request to you, Bic - for him' pens! He says they could be in the shape of beer bottles or golf clubs. And why stop there? (said Stan). A ruler that looks like a brick would make any man feel more of a man. He is so clever. He says you must make sure to send him royalties! How we laugh about that, every morning. (But seriously, do credit him if you take the ideas on board.) Anyway, I am sure there are still many more stationary items to be gendered feminine, and too little time! Thank you for giving me back my sense of womanhood, and please never underestimate your role in promoting the gendering of girls and women](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/000/387/047/4ab.png "4ab.png")
Top Comments
Jack Candle
Aug 29, 2012 at 03:48PM EDT
Mexx Android
Aug 29, 2012 at 02:05PM EDT