Today, Girl-Talk looks at truth, justice, and the American way - and where it fits in the whole women's thing; marketing to us, selling to us, watching us shop, and taking the time to engage us for our opinion.

Truth: women are the prime caretakers of...everything. And everyone. Regardless of our marital status or how many children we have (0-infinity), women are Moms at heart. We're nurturers. We're always nurturing someone or something; our newborn, our husband, our parents, our neighbor's cat, our own cat, plants, cars, food - you name it. When women get involved with 'things' - breathing or not breathing 'things' - we attach human qualities to them and...we talk to them, we cuddle them, we love them.

I know you want us talking about your products and services. Make it happen by - getting us emotionally involved. Use color, unique design (soft, rounded corners are always enticing- women crave gentleness in their lives), outrageous concepts. Here's a fun story about Ikea furniture - follow their lead:

[from Cool Reveries]

survey says

"According to Ikea, 11 percent of people are now having secks in their kitchens ... Maybe people are having trouble putting their Ikea bedroom sets together." Ikea says Jay Leno told that joke on the Tonight Show, but as reported by Deborah Baldwin in The New York Times, (3/2/06) the real joke was the survey itself: "Blame that journalistic chestnut known as the trend story, the one with the 'more and more' phrase up top," she writes. "With journalists scrounging for statistics to shore up their latest anecdotal observations, publicists are helpfully flooding the zone with scientific-sounding findings."

Now, on to Justice:

Hot off the presses from Fast Company magazine, I invite you to click over to their recent article titled, "Fast Talk: What's the Biggest Change Facing Business In the Next 10 Years?"

Let's specifically look at what technology expert Esther Dyson has to say on the subject, to quote, "There is an erosion of power going on...People will increasingly personalize their Web experience and determine how they interact with their environment and the people around them. The Web creates transparency, which will make competition tough and in turn, business better." She further notes, "There will be a profound change in psychology as people realize how much power they hold."

According to Girl-Talk, this is happening now. Anyone reading this is part of that change. Justice demands power to the masses - and never before has that demand been met so successfully. One ought to remember, however, that with great power comes great responsibility. How will YOU use this ability to influence the world around you? Will you embrace women to learn from our intuition? Will you allow us our nurturing - without criticism (instead of: oh, don't mind Sally, her cat died, she's useless today; how about: someone send Sally condolences and ask her how we can help - let's make sure she meets deadline for the Parsons account.   Trust me, Sally will be your slave forever, if you do that!). Do you have a blog to engage us in working through the changes in our world...or, are you still too focused on the bottom line? Are you ASKING questions or - too busy ANSWERING them? Are you telling us how important you are or complimenting us on how important we are?

Now, on to the American Way: From Cool Reveries, again, this little ditty about the softer side of...Sears: make note, this is Girl-Talk from the trenches...

A survey for Sears concluded that a woman's best friend is her tool kit, and reports: "Three out of five women would rather receive an hour of advice from Bob Vila than Dr. Phil ... A survey done for eBay and Country Home magazine found that for millions of women, collecting is 'a way of life'" and "that eBay had made collecting 'easier' and 'more fun'."

eBay's PR department really likes the survey thing, apparently: "Another eBay survey, also probing the secret lives of women, uncovered a shortcoming among those who remodel. Nearly half said the most difficult part of the process ... is staying within budget." eBay's advice: "Many of today's best bargains can be found on the internet." Tim Manners editor

I close this issue of Girl-Talk with a challenge - what burning question about your products or services is keeping you up at night? Send your questions to me, subject line: Girl-Talk, and I'll help you find some answers.

If you'd like to be a focus of a Girl-Talk session - all you have to do is ask!