What's really in a colour?

So I was sat on the train today and saw the guy in front had a PSP but his PSP was not the standard black. Oh no, this was white!

This made me ponder for the rest of my journey, just why has white become the new black.

Well, I reckon the reason why white is now the coolest colour is all down to a gadget that was first launched in 2001 - the iPod. Since the iPod came out in it's distinctive white jacket every other manufacturer of gadgets has jumped on the white bandwagon. As pointed out at the beginning, you can now get PSP in white, Nintendo's new game console Wii is white.
OK, so I've run out for my list but you get the idea. What's next? Perhaps SLR camera's will be launching in White. But does white really sell that well?

A guy I know used to work as a car salesman, we discussed why people buy white cars. It's something that I still don't understand but he did tell me that they called the cars 90 day white because it would take 90 days longer to sell a white car than any other colour. If white is now so cool and trendy perhaps now is the time to buy a white car to put your white iPod and PSP in. You could also put your food mixer in there as well if you wanted.

Which raises another question on the colour of gadgets. Moving on from white, which was predominantly used as the colour for kitchen accessories we now have the choice of yellow, blue, green and ..... Pink! Yes, you lucky ladies can now do your mixing and blending using a pink machine. You can drain your vegetables and pasta using a pink sieve. You can toss the salad using pink tongs and eat your food from pink plates. Oh what joy!
Okay so there are other colours out there, not just pink but why the necessity to colour code everything? Surely too much of one colour is overbearing, isn't it? And does it make it work any better that the standard white or clear plastic or even stainless steel? No! But they will charge a few dollars or pounds more for the option of having a different colour.

So why did I pick on pink, well I'm fed up to the back teeth of having pink shoved at me everywhere I go. I can't even go to a hardware store without seeing pink power tools. Why do you need to make a power tool pink to attract women? Surely the purpose of what the power tool does enough? Even in the decades gone by of the '40's and '50's when women weren't seen as being as equal and as capable around the house, they were using standard screwdrivers and hammers to fix the broken draw in the kitchen while hubby was out to work. They didn't need it to be pink. And who decided to bring in this god awful colour to the toolbox? I hate to say it but it was probably a woman! Dear me, we fought for our right to be treated equal to men and then we go and get pink power tools.

I know it isn't the colour's fault but I really hate pink. I never used to hate it, as I child I liked pink and even now I have the odd top that has some shade of pink in it. Yet I now despise the colour. I don't like how pink is associated with girlie things or to make things seem girlie. Just let the colour be!

Of course, pink isn't just for women and girls. Men are also now jumping on the pink bandwagon. It is now cool for a man to wear pink shirts. Is it? Is it really cool for men to wear pink shirts? That's what everyone keeps telling me but I just think it make you look poncey. I don't like men in pink shirts, it's just not right. If we go back to the argument that pink is used to make things more girlie and feminine, then what is a pink shirt doing to a man?
I rest my case!
Sorry, but I like my men to be men, butch and burly. It doesn't mean that they don't have a caring side. Why have we turned men poncey? Most men will use some sort of moisturising lotion if they have dry skin, particularly if they work outside. But that's not good enough, now they have a whole skin care range as well. I don't have a problem with men trying to look their best but are we making them too soft? "I'd love to help you change that wheel but I've just put hand cream on and don't want to get them dirty again" All I asked you to do was stop the spare rolling away!

Nope, I think the colour pink is turning us all soft and pathetic. It's probably just as well that my favourite colour is blue :-)