Pink Tax

Submission 15,932

Part of a series on Feminism. [View Related Entries]

About

The Pink Tax is a neologism referring to the increase in price for products that have been marketed toward women.

Origin

In January 2010, the financial news site Consumer Reports^[2] reported that products like deodorant, shaving cream, razor blades and body wash were priced higher when marketed for women than for men.

Spread

On April 21st, 2015, the Mic YouTube channel uploaded a video in which journalist Liz Plank discusses the pink tax (shown below, left). On April 29th, YouTuber TL;DR uploaded a video titled "Liz Plank Doesn't Understand the #Pinktax," which criticized the methodology used in the Mix video (shown below, right).

On May 6th, the BuzzFeedBlue YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Everyday Things Women Pay More For Than Men," highlighting price differences between similar products for men and women (shown below, left). Within three years, the video gained over 2.2 million views and 5,100 comments. On May 25th, 2016, YouTuber As/ls uploaded a video in which a woman tries to use men's beauty products for a week (shown below, right).

On August 25th, YouTuber Shoe0nHead uploaded a video which criticized the concept of the pink tax, arguing that women's and men's products are not the same (shown below). Within two years, the video accumulated upwards of 1.5 million views and 16,200 comments.

[This video has been removed]

On April 15th, 2018, Redditor littletoyboat posted a screenshot of a mock conversation about the pink tax, in which a man argues that women should "buy the men's product" if they are the same (shown below).

l present to you Every Discussion About the "Pink Tax," a play in one act. Her. Women pay more for the same product than men! Me: Then buy the men's product. Her. But it's not the same! Me: <waits patiently for dawning realization> Fin. Like Comment and 15 others I thought pink taxes were for feminine hygiene products and products only women buy. Are there male versions of the products that carry the so-called pink tax? Like Reply 12w I'm working on a sequel called "Neither Apples Nor Oranges Are Pink, So Stop Trying to Compare Tampons With Condoms." Like Reply 12w That's going to fit on a playbil? Like Reply 12w My playbill is 23% larger than a woman's SO. Like Reply 12w

The following day, the European Wax Center YouTube channel uploaded two videos promoting the hashtag #AxThePinkTax in protest of the pink tax (shown below).

On April 22nd, Shoe0nHead uploaded a followup video about the pink tax, which gathered upwards of 566,000 views and 11,400 comments within three months (shown below).