A change of focus

Over the last few days I've been thinking about my blog, which I only started a few weeks ago. I originally intended to focus it on bad science in advertising. This naturally led me towards ripping into beauty product and yoghurt adverts. I have since realised that most of the bad science in adverts is in adverts aimed at women. I'm not sure why this is. It may be that there are simply more adverts selling products to women than there are men. It may be that the industries that fake-up science to support their products tend to be those selling to women. Those industries may need to fake-up science because the market is pretty saturated (how many anti-wrinkle creams are there now?) Perhaps advertisers think women are discerning and a bit of "evidence" is what they're looking for. Or perhaps more sinisterly, advertisers think women are easily bullshitted. I don't know.

Whatever it is, I'm already becoming a bit jaded. The more I notice adverts citing science/studies/research the more I realise that the majority are probably just bad science. I know there is no cream or potion in the world that will actually reduce wrinkles permanently therefore every single advert making claims for an anti-wrinkle cream must be non-evidence based. And that is depressing. It is also too easy to rip apart and while it's good therapy to rant, I question whether I'm actually adding anything useful to the debate or changing anybody's mind. Additionally, I'm increasingly feeling the urge to write about other topics, mainly around the intersections between science and feminism. Boobquake was just the start. (I guess it did have one positive effect then!) So I've decided to widen the boundaries of my blog to cast a skeptical eye at science, feminism and the areas where they intersect. I'll still be keeping an eye on bad science in advertising though, because after all, it is fun to shoot at such easy targets.