NY Times article

5th paragraph down - Metrosexuals have MINI Coopers.

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You've linked to a subscription based site. Why don't you cut and paste the referenced paragraph?

:smile:

 

waht are metrosexuals?

 

"So it was with a mixture of relief and mild embarrassment that Mr. Martinson was recently asked by a friend in marketing to be part of a focus group of "metrosexuals" — straight urban men willing, even eager, to embrace their feminine sides.

Convinced that these open-minded young men hold the secrets of tomorrow's consumer trends, the advertising giant Euro RSCG, with 233 offices worldwide, wanted to better understand their buying habits. So in a private room at the Manhattan restaurant Eleven Madison Park recently, Mr. Martinson answered the marketers' questions and schmoozed with 11 like-minded straight guys who were into Diesel jeans, interior design, yoga and Mini Coopers, and who would never think of ordering a vodka tonic without specifying Grey Goose or Ketel One."

NY Times Sunday Magazine section



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If by "interior design" they mean the Italian Job poster that I put up in the garage then count me in!!!

 

Yeeg -- may the gods save us from yet another exploitable demographic :???:

 

I read the article yesterday and laughed as well...didn't expect the MINI to be mentioned though.

I suspect by interior design, they're talking about guys that aren't into the frat house design school anymore It's actually in the Style Section of the Times.

 

I'm not to upset about this because BMW has said they designed this car for men and women (what men like in cars and what women like it cars, and they did many studies on the looks alone). Which I think is just smart, getting both markets.

 

....The F*** did he just call us?!!!

 

I'm a native New Yorker and I DO NOT read the New York Times. Although they have loosened up a good deal in the past few years, the Times still hangs on to the 'upper east side' attitude. One of money, and looks and 'style'. You could be a cocaine snorting pedophile, but as long as you LOOK good, you're seen as chic and fantastic. Who decided that my MINI lets me touch my 'feminine side"? In my travels, I have been stopped by a good number of very straight black guys asking questions about the car! I'm pretty sure THEY wouldn't take kindly to the 'feminine' crack.

Just this past weekend, I was stopped at a traffic signal and two NYC Sanitation men [in their 5 ton truck] who wanted info, asked questions and called my MINI "teriffic". I trust THESE guys' opinions before some fabulous creative type at an ad agency.

 

I'm a guy.
I drive a Mini
I do yoga (Bikram mostly)
But I have never done yoga in a Mini.

 

If they want to check the real demographics of Mini owners they should search for that old thread were we poste who we were.

I didn´t know there were such things as "metrosexuals". The first thing that came into my mind where old men nakes wearing only a long coat and showing themselves to passers by in the Metro (Subway)


Mini-street-racer, that red smiley is the funniest one I´ve ever seen!

 

The idea that you can identify any kind of gender/sexual information about an individual by the kind car they drive, clothes they wear or drink they swill offends me. At the same time, I realize that many people self-identify by these means. Perhaps it's a way of attracting others of like minds. Fine, I won't stop you. All it really serves to do is to turn you into easy prey for the marketers who want us all to fit into neat categories. Government does the same thing in the way it crafts laws. Can you say baaaaa?

(I think I must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed today)

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Frau Blüecar -- MC IB/W. Motoring since 3-10-2003

 

I've just emailed the wonderful folks at Euro RSCG [check their website] and have, with great restraint, told them what many of us think of their "Metrosexuals" concept. Somehow, I didn't curse wildly. I urge all MINI owners to add to their Monday morning email.

 

That's a hoot! Some genius has taken a product that's been designed to appeal to both men and women, and tried to reverse-engineer a single demographic from it. In doing so, they've demonstrated that they haven?t a clue about either marketing or product design.

Maybe they should consider some other career. Its mildly annoying, but pretty funny when you think about it.

 

I'm sorry, but if you are buying Diesel jeans, you are gay. GAY GAY GAY. Hell, I'm gay, and wouldn't dream of wearing such designer trash. But to say they are straight is outright laughable. They are not looking for guys in touch with their feminine side (if they were, they'd ask guys working in the floral industry), they are looking for pretentious snobs that only care about how others view them. What does that have to do with being "feminine?" Does that mean that women only care about their outward appearance and NOTHING else? How trivial, now WRONG and how jaded. Excuse me while I go throw up.

R

 

...OK. I'm calmer now. last time I checked, I belonged to the flag-waving, christian-rightwing-extremist demographic because of my love of collecting guns. Before that, I belonged to the soon to be thirtysomething living with the parents-comicbook-TCG-action figurecollecting demographic, before that I collected loads and loads of guitars. how is it again that just because I appreciate design, in all its forms from mechanical to interior to art, and own a MINI, I'm now a "metrosexual"?

 

DaveBret -- exactly. If "women" are the creatures depicted in the magazines we see at the checkout counters, then yes. Praise be to Aphrodite that I know far more women who do not fit this shallow stereotype!

I think I see what's going on here, though. In recent years, more and more of the external manifestations of gay lifestyle have made their way into the mainstream of pop culture. I had a conversation on this very topic with a group of gay friends a couple of weeks ago. They gave examples (that I can't recall right now) of items that were in fashion with them two or three years before they showed up in straight culture. They thought it was very funny.

With the "metrosexual" demographic, I think Mad Ave is trying to get "gay" stuff into the big dollar arenas sooner. I suspect they'll miss the mark wildly. I can't wait to ask my friends what they think of this.

 

The type of guy that popped into my head reading the article was Bateman - the main character in "American Psycho"

 

I don’t care about consumer trends. I don’t wear Diesel Jeans, but do have some Levi’s. I don’t do interior design, I do home repair as things require it. No yoga here, I surf as time permits. But I do drive a MINI because it’s the most awesome handling car on the road and believe if any of these sensitive guys interviewed was riding in “MY” MCS they will want to get out at the first Yugo dealer so he could get in touch with himself.

 

I am not a demographic! I am a FREE MAN!

 

A few months ago I had occasion to visit a fire house in downtown Manhattan.

After parking MYT LITL in front, about a half-dozen of NYs Bravest came right over. I thought they were gonna tell me to get my car the hell out of their driveway. But, no.

They only wanted to check out the MINI. They walked around admiring the car and asked many questions. Any two of these guys (heroes) could have picked up the car and walked away with it.

Metrosexual, my ***. <<<<<<<<<<<<&l t;<

 

>>I am a FREE MAN!

Free? Sweet! I don't have to hire that neighbor kid anymore. My yard need trimming, my kitchen needs a new coat of paint and my car needs washed. Are you availble this weekend?

 

>>>>I am a FREE MAN!
>>
>>Free? Sweet! I don't have to hire that neighbor kid anymore. My yard need trimming, my kitchen needs a new coat of paint and my car needs washed. Are you availble this weekend?

I may be cheap, but I never said I was easy.

 

>>>>>>
>>
>>I may be cheap, but I never said I was easy.