Outdoor Advertising

I recently received a catalog from my neighborhood REI (good outdoor store, if you're not familiar), and I laughed a little at the differing male and female ads for the same product: Vibram Fivefinger shoes.

First, I noticed that the women's advertisement had multiple images of the same shoe, in different colors.

Secondly, the reasons that the shoes are "better than barefoot!" for women start with "strengthen foot and leg muscles" while this same bullet is found at the bottom of the men's list and with the word strengthen changed to build. The men's list starts with "feel the earth as you work out" which vaguely appears at the bottom of the women's list.

Additionally, the activities you can enjoy while wearing your Vibram Fivefingers vary depending on your gender. While women's shoes cater more to yoga, running, and stand-up paddleboarding, the men's shoes provide great support for running, hiking, bouldering, kayaking, and (last but not least) yoga.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this- it's good marketing! I found the women's ad more appealing. I just thought it was humorous that ads for the same pair of shoes can vary so differently when they're only 5 pages apart from each other!

What do you think?