Pearl Pink 3DS

[Ramidel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-AkEwPwn54

My gut is telling me that Marketing is talking down to girls again (and this particular invention will nuke itself six ways to Sunday), but my brain (or at least the part that's into conspiracy theories) tells me that it's actually being marketed to parents and grandparents of under-12 girls, not to the teenage girls that the slang would indicate.

What do the rest of you think of this ad?

[papillon]

Invention? The old DS came in a million colors too. Including multiple shades of pink. Some people like pink. My husband likes pink.

I fail to see anything wrong with the ad at all. It showcases multiple kinds of games. What's the objection?

[J. Datie]

I think it's great they're showing off regular games, now that they've invented technology in a colour that girls can use. And I say that only half sarcastically, since this is still a step up from that newspaper article I read a few years back where "games that girls can enjoy" consisted of a baby raising sim and a weight loss coach. Pictured next to a little girl.

[Kingv]

I'm glad they are making more 3DS colors, the current ones are getting a little stale. I hope they introduce more colors in the future. Japan had quite a few exclusive shades for the old DS.

I'm not a big fan of pink myself but I'd consider getting it because it's something new and matches the color of the DS lite I already own. I'm big into color coordination.Plus the pearl finish gives off a nice shine that not quite as noticible in the other colors available.

[gekiganwing]

I remember seeing Nintendo consoles, controllers, and portable systems in varying colors as far back as the mid-90s. One of the first examples is some "Play It Loud" ads from that period, which showed off the original monochrome Gameboy system in about five different colors. That said, I don't recall seeing any pink or salmon-color hardware until a year or two after the introduction of the DS.

They didn't get much distribution, but Sony created several color-variants of its Playstation2 system. One of the colors was pink.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I remember seeing Nintendo consoles, controllers, and portable systems in varying colors as far back as the mid-90s.

Yeah. I had an NES controller with hot pink buttons and a Trapper-Keeper style art sticker on the face in the 1980s. It was a Fix-It-Pad set sold at stores of course.

But Nintendo was totally releasing pink things in the 1980s. See this insidious example for the Japanese Famicom (NES):

Obviously talking down to girls and trying to convince them Kirby is fun while pushing boys away with a stick . . . .

I would have found this more offensive if the games shown were all variants of Barbie Adventures or Cooking Mama, etc. but they advertised a new DS in a color a lot of girls (and guys) like while showing some of the best games on the system.

[J. Datie]

I would have found this more offensive if the games shown were all variants of Barbie Adventures or Cooking Mama

Well, unless they combine that NES with Barbie and advertise that NES Barbie game. Then it'd loop around to being hardcore Nintendo Hard.

Admittedly, I can't remember how much of that difficulty was from it just not being a very well made game, but hey!

[Sapphi]

I have a Pink DS lite and had a clear-pink Gameboy Advance before that. (Sadly, I traded it in toward the DS, because I was just a poor kid with no allowance who had to save up birthday and Christmas money to buy things and I desperately wanted Pokemon Diamond...)

So, I love the pink. But I find the commercial somewhat irritating. Why can't they just give us pretty colors and not make us feel like we have to pick a "gender appropriate" color? But the marketing works, because now that girls have been told "pink is for girls" they will buy up anything pink to proudly proclaim "Look how girly I am!" Oh well...

BTW, that Kirby Famicom is a gorgeous shade of pink. I would totally spring for an 80s Pink DS...

[Keilis]

I think it's sexy.

[PyTom]

They mention Princess Peach twice in that video. While to some extent it's because she color-coordinates with the new DS they're promoting, I wonder if they're also going to try to promote her as a character in her own right. (Like the Disney Princesses collections seem to do successfully.)

Or maybe they do that already, and I just never noticed.

[papillon]

She does have her own game already, but I haven't played it. Ever since they added voice acting to the Mario lineup my ability to tolerate Peach has taken a dive.

I preferred her back in SMB2.