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Wednesday 7 March 2012

Pinteresting ...

The Next Fashion Week?

So, I'm currently awaiting an invitation from Pinterest, what Maclean's magazine recently dubbed the new facebook. I'm not sure what the hype is all about quite yet; I've just perused the pin-boards (or whatever you call them) rather briefly, but I have definitely noticed some things that might bear mentioning.

First of all, there seems to be an obvious female majority in the users of Pinterest. Whether that is due to feminine content or the large presence of women on Pinterest has resulted in the feminine content, that would require more analysis. However, it is interesting and I believe puts Pinterest in an excellent position to become a  tool for fashion marketing.

In my brief look, I noticed that many posts on Pinterest were actually those of fashions and "Outfits" that members had found or designed. In one case, a member had pinned a scarf from Etsy, along with the price and  the scarf's maker. Because of this, I foresee Pinterest as an excellent marketing tool for designers, both indie and mainstream, to reach an already targeted market of women.

Why do I find this interesting? Well, I personally am concerned with the way that the fashion and beauty industry markets itself, as I have already expressed in my blog. When I look at all the "thinspo" blogs on tumblr, I worry that these same blogs could crop up/have already appeared on Pinterest. What further concerns me is whether the same methods of mainstream beauty marketing will permeate into the community of pinterest. What do you think? Post comments below, I would love to have a healthy debate!



2 comments:

  1. Can't you just join Pinterest?

    And isn't an invitation assuring members will be marketing their products? Not that marketings a bad thing we all have to sell something, ideas, products, our skills. Reminds me of a market bazaar.

    Those thinspo tumbler sites are really sad. I mean if they are just naturally thin, born that way, they shouldn't feel bad.

    But making oneself super skinny, seems like advertising anorexia and bulimia.

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    Replies
    1. I think you used to be able to just join Pinterest but for some reason they have changed it to "invite only" or by application.

      I think the Pinterest marketing section is a wonderful business idea, I'm just hoping it doesn't turn into Proctor and Gamble's massive pin board of all major brand products.

      I can also see the potential for it to turn into twitter where people place those PPC (pay per click) ads and just spam people with them. I hope that doesn't happen either.

      I mention thinspo blogs because I used to be obsessed with them and used them as a trigger/motivation to starve myself. Not healthy.

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