Grasping the female market with both hands

A while back, my former colleague Dylan brought to my attention a particular press release by "female-friendly insurer Sheilas' Wheels" (natty pink logo pictured on the right).

In the press release, spokesperson Jacky Brown (sex not specified) is quoted as saying:

Our research shows that Britain's car industry is not meeting the needs of the modern-day female driver. It's stuck in the dark ages and is missing out by not grasping the female market with both hands.


Dylan comments:

This press release is referring to sexist car salesmen - but the way it is written, most men will only think of one thing. The woman who wrote this has probably been at the end of quite a few sexist remarks for a reason.


So is Jacky Brown's use of language deliberate or accidental? Appropriate or unfortunate? What do you think?


Original press release

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm inclined to think it's accidental, simply because phrases like "grasping the market with both hands" are exactly the sort of clichéd nonsense that PR numpties love to put in press releases. In fact there's another one in there, just in that little snippet you quoted: "stuck in the dark ages". I suspect Jacky Brown hasn't had an original thought in his/her life.