Journal Article Paper

Journal Article Paper

This paper will analysis the journal article “The Evolution of the “Chick Car” Or: What Came First, the Chick or the Car?” by Chris Lezotte.  Chris is a former advertisement director and an ACS PhD student at Bowling Green State University, and she is also a journalist whose specialty includes analyzing women and their relationship with automobiles.  

Summary and Main Points of the “The Evolution of the “Chick Car” Or: What Came First, the Chick or the Car?”:

            This article details the progress of women’s relationship with the automobile starting their first introduction, shortly after World War II, through today.  Chris specifically points out the stereotypes of women in relation to cars and analyzes how the automobile industry has tried to shed this conception but in return has further emphasized this stereotype.  Also noted is how the industry has tried to tailor specific cars to better fit what they feel are the “Needs” of women and their automobiles.  

Analysis of the Article:

            Starting post World War II and running into the late 1960s, women’s relationships with the automobile was primarily utilitarian as the automobile served as a means for the women to transport children and household products.  With urban sprawl becoming more and more common during this time, so did the need of having a second car so that the stay at home wife would have a means to accomplish her gender specific roles of the household.  Keen to this, the automobile industry targeted this market by offering automobile tailored to this need.  Cars were produced with ample room for multiple children and room in the back for groceries; with this, the station wagon was born.  Automobile marketing highlighted this by showing women loading children into the car with groceries in the back.  Again, this placed women in gender specific roles with prescribed tasks.  This common gender pigeonholing lasted until the 1970s when women’s focus began to shift from stay at home mom to a working professional.

            In the 1970s, women’s roles began to shift from being the homemaker to being a working professional.  As this change occurred, so did the marketing and sales strategy of the automobile industry.  Station wagons were still available during this time, but other gender specific cars were produced to specifically target women.  Smaller hatchbacks, like the Ford Pinto and AMC Gremlin, were produced that still allowed storage room for shopping bags, but its smaller size was more appealing for women who now working in the city.  Cars considered a “Man’s” car, were stripped down and smaller engines were put in them, this allowed women to have a car with sportier styling, but with less power.  This specifically fed the stereotype that women cannot drive fast performance cars.  Additionally, an important note made in this article about this time period is the fact that women’s pay was much less than men’s, so cars targeted for women were subpar when compared to cars geared to men, this kept the sticker price down.  This mentality continued through the 80s and 90s and was the time that the minivan was introduced.  The minivan, again, targeted women for their gender specific roles of being the stay at wife who had the responsible for transporting kids and household items.  As typical household transitioned from a single income family to being dual income family, so did women specific automobiles.

            From the mid to late 1990s, automobiles went through another evolution; this time the “Chick Car” was born.  Chick cars are sporty and affordable.  Examples include the BMW Mini Copper, Mazda Miata, Mitsubishi Eclipse, VW Beetle, Toyota Rav4, and the Audi TT.  These cars target a market of women who can afford to buy the car without financial help of anyone else and are fun to drive.  While the target market for these cars is known, industry-marketing firms will not market these cars as being chick cars, if they did this would possibly reduce its customer base grammatically.  In fact, many marketing campaigns now either picture men with these cars, or no people at all.  

            Is women specific cars bad for the evolution moving past the stereotype of women and cars? Yes and no.  Even though the marketing of women specific cars have evolved from station wagons and mini vans, the marketing of higher end cars is still targeted at men.  However, there has been a movement of women specific clubs and organizations that are geared to women and their love for the automobile.  

Describe why you do or do not agree with the author's main points:

            In my opinion, this article is spot on with analyzing evolution of women’s relationship with cars and how the automobile industry has exploited it.  However, as women’s roles in being breadwinners are becoming more prevalent, this will change.  Soon it will not be a middle-aged white man pictured in a BMW commercial; it will be a middle-aged successful woman of any nationality.  As gender roles evolve, so will the auto industry.

Describe why this article is or is not important:

            From a popular culture standpoint, this article is important.  It analyses the popularity of the relationship with women and automobiles.  Yes, it exploits the common stereotypes of women in gender the role of being a homemaker and its relation to the marketing of and the use of automobiles.  However, it also speaks of the evolution of breaking this model.  

                                                                  Reference

Lezotte, C. (2012). The Evolution of the “Chick Car” Or: What Came First, the Chick or the Car? The Journal of Popular Culture , 516-531.