Women make up a large part of the gaming masses, 48% according to a recent analysis, and Razer is a popular brand among women. The company even tailors products to women, that are then advertised by women, and which appear to sell well among women. That's why it's surprising to see the company deploy an advert that plays on a sexist stereotype of women.
Here's how the ad plays out: A woman and a man are sat on a sofa. The woman is speaking to the man. The man is holding a controller and wearing a gaming headset. The man reaches for his headset to turn on Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). The audio of the woman's voice ceases and the man continues to play his game. The next shot is the same pair walking down a corridor, once again the woman's voice is mostly muted. Then the same skit again while the pair are sat in gaming chairs.
The on-screen caption reads:
Active Noise Cancellation: on
Drama: off
The caption below the video reads: "Don't let yapping get in the way of your winning."
Clearly, the video plays to an old-fashioned trope. It's tone deaf at a time when women make up a large portion of the global gaming community, including PC gamers, and could probably do without a big brand wading in with a tepid bit at their expense. It also plays on the outdated idea that gamers are a bunch of blokes that hate talking to their partners.
The video was first published over two months ago but it's still live on Razer's official TikTok account as of today, October 23. Users have been most active commenting on the video in the past couple of days, however. Comments such as:
"I just put my razer headphones in the bin ♥️"
"the casual misogyny is INSANE"
"welp guess I'm done with razer after 15 years"
"Alienating female consumers is wild work when nearly half of all gamers are women."
These sorts of comments are spreading onto unrelated videos about Razer products. That's how I found out about the ad. I was watching a video about someone's cat having an adverse reaction to their new Razer Kuromi headset, and one of the top comments reads: "razer's sexist btw".
When I searched for this alleged sexism, many videos on the topic were subsequently revealed to me, some with tens of thousands of likes—many thousands more likes than Razer's actual ad. Razer's video sits on a little over 2,400 likes and 3,100 comments. That's a 'you messed up' ratio if ever I saw one—alienating your audience for little to no gain.
What's surprising is how easy the whole thing could've been avoided. ANC can be useful for blocking out a variety of unwanted noise: a leafblower, fan, or neighbour playing music too loudly. You don't have to think for long to land on an idea less offensive to half of your audience.
A recent report published by the ESA suggests women make up 48% of the gaming market across 21 countries. Women play on mobile more than men, but make up for a large proportion of the PC and console population, too. Women play more puzzle, simulation, and arcade games than men, but they're not lagging far behind in the share of action, racing, and role playing games.
Women might make up a similar portion of the gaming market to men, even playing more games in some countries, but the culture of gaming has been slow to catch up. If you don't always feel welcome in the boy's club, Razer playing on that idea to advertise noise cancelling headphones isn't going to help.
I've contacted Razer for comment.
1. Best overall:
HyperX Cloud Alpha
2. Best budget:
Corsair HS55 Stereo
3. Best wireless:
Razer BlackShark V3
4. Best mid-range wireless:
Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3
5. Best audiophile:
Beyerdynamic MMX 330 Pro
6. Best wireless audiophile:
Audeze Maxwell
7. Best for streaming:
Audio-Technica ATH-M50xSTS StreamSet
8. Best noise-cancelling:
AceZone A-Spire
9. Best earbuds:
Steelseries Arctis GameBuds
