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Friday 13 May 2011

A little Rant #Three #NCT #MumsOnly

Hi three.

I see you like mummy bloggers over the daddy Variants?


Looking at the Three on the go event it states on the page

At Three's special On the Go mums event, you'll have the opportunity to attend fun and informative panel discussions and workshops, where you'll discover all the great things that mobile internet on your smartphone can do for you.


Sorry Hutchinson Whampoa. Three, and the NCT I feel you may have missed someone here. DADS!

Are you saying daddy's are not welcome, hence the /Mums page on the site? Well it feels it.

Well i have to say it winds me up somewhat. I thought discrimination was the Daily Mails work, not a GSM provider and a Charity

Three pride themselves on all you can eat data... with no 2g service, meaning many are stuck in contracts they can't use, Check bitterwallet out for the of this and how my email contact with them helped many leave the network. (this issue posted on the link will still get you off your contract so people if your signal is crap use the link)

The NCT Pride themselves to be the UK's leading parent charity. Sorry darlings you chose to help discriminate a huge chunk of parents with this. This is not acceptable, It would cause outcry if you said your charity was mums only, so why this event?

You could always turn the tables and arrange a dad's event too. But, I suppose it's too short notice. But, I hope you listen to this feedback

I want your opinions on this people. Sexism or a niche way of getting mums to sign up for more extras on there contracts?

Paul

Three/Hutchinson Whampoa and the NCT, Please contact me about this, as it stinks. BIG TIME


Update 3 have responded to this with the following

@hooker1uk Indeed! If you're keen to get involved there are opps for all parent bloggers but it is more mum focused.

Hold the front page. so you prefer mum's. I wonder why's that, easier to force a future sale on maybe?

My final thoughts on this are
Remember it's not just mums who blog! It's an attitude that should be squashed NOW!
Secondly those people you burn could have been potential customers (Was looking at coming back to three in 16 months, now i won't bother and Vodafone can have my money. )
Paul.

13 comments:

  1. "Sexism or a niche way of getting mums to sign up for more extras on there contracts?" Both by the looks of things..
    They would be condemned if they tried it on any other 'group'. It's hard enough being a single Dad without this underhand discrimation.
    Best of luck, Paul!

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  2. Hi Paul, we're sorry that you feel we're discriminating by holding an event for mums. As I tweeted from @ThreeUK today, it is a Mum focused event but there are opportunities for all parenting bloggers to get involved in the campaign. If using internet on the go to save time is of interest to you then drop me an email at communityvoice@three.co.uk and I can chat to you more.

    Johanna (Three)

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  3. In my humble opinion, dads are just as important as mums. I'm perhaps a little old-fashioned for these modern media folk these days, but a child needs two parents (whether it's two of each gender or whatever) but if there's a dad, then he should absolutely be involved. There are many groups for "mums" and I do agree not enough for dads. Good for you for speaking up.

    CJ xx

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  4. I completely agree Crystal Jigsaw. Dads seem to get a raw deal on a lot of things. What about Dads who are the main carer? Well done Paul!

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  5. I would look st it from the angle that perhaps they feel Mum's lack the ability or know how to work out how to use the "smart" aspect of our fancy new phones! Which of course is utter tripe!

    The 3 head office is about 5 minutes away fro my house funnily enough. I took them before so good luck with that!

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  6. The whole notion that women are innately suited to child-rearing was socially constructed in a period of particular paternalistic power (also known as the 19th century). For generations women were confined to the private sphere of the home and more or less banned from the public sphere of work and commerce. It has taken many more generations to make any headway into overcoming that. And make no mistakes, it has not been overcome. Lower wages and part-time work patterns still situate women as the predominant child-rearer where there is a choice.

    One thing that has changed in the past twenty years or so, is that many women are no longer prepared to be called "just" a mum. They are embracing the label and are proud to declare themselves Mums. It's hardly surprising that this new positive identity is an attractive demographic to marketing peeps.

    Go ask anyone with children over 30 if there was anything aimed at Mums in their day that wasn't specifically about babies or children or cleaning or cooking. And how many men complained that the person ironing or hoovering or doing the washing up in the ads was always a woman? How many men complained about being excluded from jam making and flower arranging at the Women's Rural Institute?

    Frankly I applaud any efforts by anyone to treat Mums as more than the sum of their ovaries who also cleans, and men who moan about it are kinda missing the big picture.

    There will always be promotions aimed at specific consumer groups. There will even be ones aimed at mums not just because they have children but because they are women. This strikes me as one of them. The fact that it's also attractive to men is the real problem. If it was a "woman thing" you wouldn't bat an eyelid.

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  7. *sigh* Nikkii. i think you miss the point here. If a similar event was men only I would not attend purely because it's not a fair or equal event. I would also have a rant about it too.

    As for consumer groups. (in 2010)there were 11.1 million smartphone users, Many of these are both male and female. there is no specific group here.

    I was bought up in a way that everyone is equal. regardless of race, sex, religion or age.

    Some events can only be aimed at one sex, I understand that.
    But, too many marketing groups ignore men for women. This is 2011, we live in a world of equal opportunities. Shame nobody passed that memo on to some PR agencies!

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  8. My opinion may not be very popular but I have to say I agree with Nikki.

    Whatever aspects of life you look at, there will always be events, marketing and products aimed towards certain people. That is indeed how marketing works.

    Yes, on this occasion the event was aimed towards mums, but when other events are aimed at other social/gender/age groups no one speaks out then, because it is the way of the world and it will all balance itself out.

    I do not believe in or condone discrimination in any way, but I dont think marketing events and products really fall into this. They have simply done their market research, come to the conclusion that 20-30 something females are the best people to market their smart phones too & come up with an event based around this.

    I can't see anywhere that you have ranted because Iceland boast that "mums go to Iceland" or because a brand of ketchup asks if you prefer "daddy or chips?" What if I was a non mother want to go to Iceland? Of course I can go. Myself and my custom will be welcome with open arms but it just so happens that they feel with their current marketing schemes they dont need to target me... I guess a slogan that reads "That's why single, overweight 28 year olds go to Iceland" just isn't as catchy.

    Yes, I can see why as a (very good) dad you can feel under represented by such events, but that is purely down to the way of the world and the tons of market research that I am sure these companies have undertaken.

    If you read through any 'audition' newspaper, it will be filled with TV show makers looking for thin people, people under the age of 25 or people with certain skills. If you visit Canal Street in Manchester it is full of Gay clubs, yes you can go if you are straight but the whole idea of the clubs and the street is aimed towards homosexuals.

    Discrimination? I guess in some way yes. In a bad way? In my opinion no. People have just seen a gap in the market for gay clubs and ran with it. Just as the smart phone company have seen an opening and an alternative way to market their phones and gone with that.

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  9. Excellent points. However, I don't think it was marketed towards Mums but 'anyone could go' Dads were excluded? I think this is the point Paul is making.

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  10. This paticular event yes, but as their comment shows, their campaign & products in general are for everyone :) x

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  11. This paticular event yes, but as their comment shows, their campaign & products in general are for everyone :) x

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  12. I completely agree Crystal Jigsaw. Dads seem to get a raw deal on a lot of things. What about Dads who are the main carer? Well done Paul!

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  13. Hi Paul, we're sorry that you feel we're discriminating by holding an event for mums. As I tweeted from @ThreeUK today, it is a Mum focused event but there are opportunities for all parenting bloggers to get involved in the campaign. If using internet on the go to save time is of interest to you then drop me an email at communityvoice@three.co.uk and I can chat to you more.

    Johanna (Three)

    ReplyDelete