International Women's Day and Pink Tax, Marketing and Advertising News, ET BrandEquity

International Women's Day just took place eight days ago. There were many areas where women spoke out about the need to close the gender gap, from pay parity to employment rates. But pricing wasn't among them.

So when advertising expert Sanjay Arora shared this glaring issue earlier this week in a recent short video or reel, he became an internet influencer overnight, reaching national and international media outlets (including a Spanish TV crew). even called him) to sit down. Wake up and be careful.

The price difference between women's and men's services and products is so large that influencers have come to refer to it as the “pink” tax. And this pink is making many consumers blush.

Arora told a TV station that she recently came across the Pink Tax thanks to her daughter (whose power to appeal to young people must be emphasized). When she decided to investigate this, she found a contradiction in Alora's face. He identified his six items within five minutes at a department store run by his friend.

While many of us are familiar with obvious categories like hairstyling where women pay twice as much or more than men for an appointment with a hairstylist, there are less obvious categories where discriminatory pricing exists. There are many more categories that are not.

Nivea lip balms come in packs of the same size for men and women. However, women pay 51.5% more for products than men. From Gillette razors to Nivea's Roll-On Deo, women pay more for products than men of the same size.

In this video, the price tag for H&M's common men's and women's white T-shirts shows a 50% premium for women.

The video gained a lot of attention when key executive Kiran Mazumdar Shaw shared it on X (formerly Twitter).

Thanks to the uproar caused by this video, Arora received requests to confirm price discrepancies in other areas as well. Blue tax. There is a price bias against men and a price bias exists for children's products (Pester Power is replaced by Pester Tax).

On a typical day at the supermarket, could Arora stumble upon an “expensive” catch?

(The author is the editor of ETBrandEquity.com. This weekly column provides a glimpse into the discussions, debates, and reflections within our editorial team.)