I found the article about Miss Clairol and L’Oreal to be very interesting in the way each product has come to identify a certain kind of woman. Clairol came out of the cultural zeitgeist of women being submissive to men and how that shaped their self perceptions. These kinds of women were care-givers, moms with kids, and laid back sporting Levi’s. L’Oreal, however, came a little later and captured a whole different cultural milieu. The 70’s milieu was marked by independent, working women who wore gaudy clothing to match their flashy personalities. And as Professor Walls pointed out in class, Clairol and L’Oreal both capitalized on these different kinds of women by capturing the zeitgeist and forming their products around these identities. I think this is an interesting way marketers create successful marketing programs, and I think it is something that is done even today. A prime example this article made me think of is the Mac and the PC.

The Personal Computer or PC was the first generation of computers to come out of the proliferation of home computers. Computers have been around for several decades but it wasn’t until the 80’s that they became available to consumers. And because the PC was the first of its kind, along came with it an identity that has followed it into the 21st century. That identity is one that is marked by the times we lived in. The 80’s were a time of corporate downsizing and bad economic hardships. The people who bought these PC’s were mostly white collar nerds who were focused on industry and economic progress. And so the stereotypical PC user – one who is nerdy and corporate America focused – came to be the image of the PC. This stereotype is one that Apple has long mocked in their Mac vs. PC commercials. Therefore, PC captured a small wrinkle in time and made it apart of the image people think of when they see a PC. Apple’s Mac, on the other hand, captured the feel of a generation through its image and design. Apple released a whole new line of computers in the 90’s that spoke to the emerging Gen Y group who would be the generation to fully experience and understand the digital age. The computers were colorful, hip, and fresh – descriptors of how many Gen Ys’ feel about themselves. And so just like the way PC captured the cultural surroundings with its computer, Apple did the same with its newer, edgier computer. The two different computer makers emerged as strong competitors constantly changing and updating their marketing programs to keep the edge over each other. Their battle for top spot will continue on for the ages just like Clairol and L’Oreal continue to fight it out today.

In this day and age, the competition between PC and Mac has been a little more ferocious than the Clairol vs. L’Oreal competition. A few years back, Mac launched the Mac vs. PC marketing campaign that pointedly exposes the differences between the two computers and how each represents a different cultural milieu. But Clairol and L’Oreal never revealed these differences, instead left them unspoken for women to decide which one they were – a Clairol girl or a L’Oreal girl. This same notion has come to dominate the identity of computer users – a Mac user or a PC user. But although Mac and PC each captured their respective generation of computer users, it seems that consumers have come to pick the computer they like the most, even if they aren’t apart of that generation. For example, there are plenty of older computer users who lived through the invention of the first PC, yet identify as a Mac user because they like the hipness of it. The same goes for people in my generation who stick to PC’s because the rebellious spirit of the Mac turns them away. I can clearly see the similarities between Clairol/L’Oreal and Mac/PC, but there seems to be a difference in the way consumers now days go with what they want, instead of with what they identify with.