Acer responds when accused of being misogynistic for introducing its gaming laptop: 'Acer does not make a difference in gender. Our objective is to provide technology to everyone'

Acer's Valerie Piau soured last week's announcement, along with announcing the new Nitro V 14 gaming computer and a number of gaming laptops. She linked the aesthetics of the laptop to the rise of women and casual gamers in the gaming industry.

Listen to the clip from the conference. Piau says, "Within the gaming and gamers, almost half of them are women, so women and casual players are on the increase, and the search for gaming laptops that are not only powerful but also beautiful."

In the IFA conference introduction for the laptop, it is implied that the white colour of the laptop is very beautiful and that it is more beautiful because it does not have the gamer aesthetic. This clumsy framing is not going down well.

It's not only a tired, misogynistic stereotype that we've been seeing since the inventions of marketing that women are casual gamers. It implies that Hardcore Gaming is something men do. There isn't really a reason given for casual gamers and females to be linked together, other than the fact that they both enjoy aesthetics. This is a strange comment, considering how RGB-laden PC games have been for the past few decades, a hobby that has been marketed and stereotypically associated to men.

Laptop Mag spoke with Eric Ackerson of Acer America. He seemed to condemn this line's implication, but not the line itself. He says: "It's absolutely terrible to try and say that it's a colour related to gender."

All of this is before we even get to the "pink taxes" that can be a result of gender-related marketing. Small machines are often more expensive than their larger counterparts due to the limitations of their chassis and their weight. This is despite the fact that they are underpowered compared to them. You pay for the size. This is not a problem, as it requires different engineering, industrial design and specialist parts to create small form factor chassis capable of handling the thermal demands of today's hardware.

Labeling one as a woman's laptop and marketing it specifically to women can be a problem, especially if you are paying for the aesthetics of smaller machines. Acer should be cautious not to take this dangerous path.

It's not that women won't choose the tech they want, but securing marketing and societal norms in order to sell a laptop seems cynical and at worst, prejudicial. Gendered marketing may lead to unfair consumer pressures, forcing consumers to pay more than they should.

I'm typing as someone who's headphones of choice are the Razer Kitty Kraken V2, which, while cute and pink, were never sold as headphones "for girls".

Strangely, this is not too far from a point which would otherwise be well received. We've been ranting against the aggressive gamer aesthetic for years. It is not only gauche, but also alienating. It's better to have a variety of laptops that appeal to a wider demographic, rather than just appealing to teenage boys. It would have been better to talk in these terms rather than clumsily pair up women and casual gamer and then suggest that this is the only reason for thinking about aesthetics.

We don't say Acer's marketing or design choices are motivated by sexism. But the company's refusal to accept criticism of its own words seems odd. It's difficult to watch a conference where someone says that Acer's aesthetics are aimed at women and casual gamer, and then hear another from the company say that certain colors aren't only for women. I contacted Acer for clarification and got the same impression.

A representative from Acer said: "Acer does not discriminate based on gender. Our goal is to make technology accessible to everyone, and offer consumers a choice." Although this is a nice sentiment I don't think the two statements are in sync. I would say they are almost opposite points. When pressed to respond specifically to an argument that these comments are misogynistic I was told that this is the only Acer quote for me at the moment.

It's a pity, as the Nitro 14 is actually a very nice-looking laptop. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person. I also think that it's a nicer laptop to take into the office than anything with "Acer Predator".