Z at It’s The Thought That Counts asked us to submit for commentary a product called the BeBand on sale at Target. The Band is designed for pregnant women and women who’ve recently given birth:
(Note the carefully placed rings! This model is no unwed mother!)
The box says that it will “cover unbuttoned pre-pregnancy jeans,” “hold up too-big maternity pants,” and allow you to “fit into pre-pregnancy pants sooner after giving birth”:
But it’s interesting that that’s the fine print. The large print emphasizes beauty (“Be Belly Beautiful”) and the product is also sold under the name BellaBand.
Questions:
I’ve never been pregnant, is this a new product? If so, is it a useful product or an invented need?
Even if this is a useful product, what do you think of the emphasis on beauty on the part of the marketers?
Is this not just another part of a demand for women to be freakin’ gorgeous at every part of their lifecycle?
NEW! (Mar. ’10): Along the same lines, R. Walker told us about a product called Shrinkx Hips:
For the low price of $54.99, “Shrinkx Hips provides constant, even pressure to gently guide hips back to their pre-pregnancy position” (if you wear it for 8 weeks). R.W. said it seems like a torture device, and I rather agree. But hey, apparently it makes you look like that model afterward, so what’s a little pain?
