Line up, release.
Ball rolling, watching.
Praying, pins falling.
Strike!
Bowling, a passé sport... or is it? Bowling holds a large controversy on whether it really is a sport. Bowling provides an anaerobic type of physical activity. Similar to activities such as walking with free weights. Sounds like a sport to me.
After meeting my current boyfriend, Hartwyn, he convinced me to join in on the bowling community. I started out ten pin bowling on the odd night with him and quickly become interested. Last year I joined the Saturday morning Junior League. As I learned more and more about the technique and skill that is required to play, I began to form an interest in bowling equipment.
There are various
companies that produce and sell bowling balls and equipment. One, which my boyfriend has used in the past, is Lane #1. Lane #1 released a bowling ball
called the pink panther. After seeing the ad for this ball I must say I
questioned Lane #1’s advertising tactics.
As seen in the ad above,
Lane #1 chose to use an image of a young tattooed female. This female holds an
edgy feel and may be trying to convey that she is a “panther”. But why would a
bowling company use a young female to sell their bowling ball. I did some investigating and after
countless hours of searching online I found nothing.
Not a single mention of the ad or the young female in it. I questioned Hartwyn’s reasoning for purchasing The Pink Panther ball and his answer was just what I assumed it would be. Hartwyn explain that, “I chose to purchase the Pink Panther because of its specs. It was the first Lane #1 ball to go back to the original core with in 2 years.” Just as I suspected, the bowling community for the most part purchases their equipment based on the specs and features that best suits them.
Not a single mention of the ad or the young female in it. I questioned Hartwyn’s reasoning for purchasing The Pink Panther ball and his answer was just what I assumed it would be. Hartwyn explain that, “I chose to purchase the Pink Panther because of its specs. It was the first Lane #1 ball to go back to the original core with in 2 years.” Just as I suspected, the bowling community for the most part purchases their equipment based on the specs and features that best suits them.
So to finish this up I want
to ask you, does sex really sell or in this case, pretty girls? Or is that passé as well?
Perhaps it was a tactic for new comers to the sport? If most buy their equipment based on specs then you just need to keep them aware but what about if I wanted to start bowling? As someone who knows nothing about specs, I would be more likely to purchase the Pink Panther ball because it's edgy and I think the girl is pretty and appealing to me. Where if it was an uninteresting ad listing the specs I would just search until I found a ball that looked pretty.
ReplyDeleteI think that the industry understands that attractive ads won't win their customers over, but can create awareness and allow the newcomers choice without needing the same level of knowledge as an experienced bowler.