iPad vs. iTampon: Women Tweet Their Version of the Name

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The Apple iPad was introduced yesterday at a presentation by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and with a cost below $600, it’s sure to move inventory. While the iPad’s 9.7 inch ips display is certainly bright, and the iPad specs are attractive to all but video-bloggers (no iMovie? Really?), the one big problem is a glaring one: it’s name. The Apple iPad tablet is called “iTampon” — at least on Twitter.

The name “Apple iPad” name was around even before today’s announcement of the Apple iPad. In 2006, Mad TV created a satirical skit around the then-new iPhone, calling it “iPad” and advancing it as a clear replacement for the ‘common tampon’.

Apparently that idea was fresh in the mind of women yesterday, because when the Apple Tablet’s name was introduced as “iPad”, immediate references to tampons sprouted up all over the Internet, especially on Twitter where the iPad has become the butt of tweet jokes calling it iTampon:

ChelleC79 RT @helenrazer: Can your docking bay accommodate an iPad, ladies? #iTampon #Apple

less than 10 seconds ago from Seesmic

michelleleung @sunvictoria oh look, itampon is actually a trending topic. lulz

less than 20 seconds ago from Digsby

xhelloxgoodbyex RT @DazzlinSN: itampon? really… did everyone on twitter take an immature pill this morning? such B.S.

Linda_Lum RT @WewillroastU: Steve, I’ma let you finish, but Moses had the greatest tablet announcement of all time #iPad #Apple #iTampon

Guroftw RT @bmxr761: Haha the iTampon trend is more popular then the iPad

less than 20 seconds ago from web

xddlovatoo Wtf is an itampon is that like a computer tampon? Eww maybe nerds could use them xD

half a minute ago from UberTwitter

cassiet1123 iPad = Fail. #iTampon

half a minute ago from web

fiosalvo Just in case you haven’t already noticed, just wanted to point out that #iTampon is the top trending topic in the US haha
half a minute ago from web

The vast majority of tweets referencing the iTampon are issued or retweeted by women. And adding Apple’s self-inflicted insult to that injury is the Apple iPad video itself, presented by three white male Apple senior level employees and including no women, and one very provocative segment where a man is using the iPad, where it’s placed between his legs and at his crotch, and the woman points to a feature on the iPad right near his crotch.

All of this leads women to wonder, as Boo Jarchow did at Shewired.com, if Apple Computer has any women in its marketing department. Well, the head of Apple Marketing is Phil Schiller, who’s featured in Apple’s iPad video, and there’s no indication of a powerful female voice or staff in Apple’s Marketing department.

Equally disturbing is the almost total lack of concern for the name of the device among the ranks of male bloggers and vloggers. Again, women are leading the charge here like Ann Althouse:

When you make something light, you should think about how important the product will be to women, who are touchy about carrying things. Anyway, for our light days, we have iPhones. For our heavy days, we have the iPad? The iMaxiPad? Come on, guys!

With all the attention Apple’s getting from the name, and given Internet marketing tricks like the one used around Emma Watson’s missing leg a while back, it’s possible this was a deliberate trick.  If so, it was a very nasty one and could work against Apple’s to-this-day all-accepting cultural image.

Here’s my take (not made on an iPad, of course) — including the MADtv parody. My question: did Apple see this before? It’s from 2006. (By the way: Apple has not yet addressed the “name” issue.)

Zennie Abraham is the Executive Producer of Zennie62.com, which consists of his blog and video channels and national TV show. He’s a contributing blogger at SFGate.com and the Examiner, a YouTube Partner, and CEO of Sports Business Simulations.

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