Memo to Geek Dudes (and Dudettes): The Inevitable Maxi Pad Jokes About the iPad Are Lame (And Steve Jobs Doesn't Care Anyway)

January 27, 2010 at 3:22 pm PT

Well, that didn’t take long–even as Apple CEO Steve Jobs was launching the new iPad tablet computer today at an event in San Francisco, legions of geeky dudes–and also a lot of women too–let fly with the feminine-protection jokes.

It is the name, iPad, that Apple (AAPL) chose for its newest device that sent them deep into wink-wink-nudge-nudge territory about how it sounded like a Maxi Pad and would hurt the brand.

Get it? Get it! Like a tampon! My seven-year-old could come up with a cleverer comparison.

But Silicon Valley being what it is, this is exactly what you get. And that goony meme has definitely now swept out into the mainstream now.

But, visiting the demo room after the launch and chatting with my All Things Digital partner Walt Mossberg–with BoomTown listening nearby–Apple CEO Steve Jobs dismissed all the incoming he said he expected to receive about the name.

“You forget, but they made fun of iPod name when it came out,” he said, in part. “What matters is the product and what it means to consumers.”

Jobs noted that in a year’s time, the name iPad will become rote to people, as long as they like the mobile device and consider it innovative and its software useful.

In addition, he said it was an inevitable brand extension from iPod and iPhone.

“Plus the fonts look great together…iPod, iPhone, iPad,” he said.

As for the feminine-protection jokes, Jobs only smiled his patented “whatever” smirk.

Indeed, whatever, dudes.

In any case, here is that MadTV iPad video from the now defunct television show a while back, which is the only funny joke so far:

Tagged with: All Things Digital, Apple, Apple Tablet Feature, BoomTown, brand, California, device, digital, dude, dudette, feminine protection, geek, hardware, innovation, iPad, iPhone, iPod, joke, Kara Swisher, MadTV, Maxi Pad, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, software, Steve Jobs, tablet, television, video

comments so far. Add yours.

Anonymous

Actually, if you were following Twitter in real time, the source of most of these jokes are females. Nice try though.
Anonymous

Kara, I think that only the womens are making fuzz of the name for every guy I know it means NOTHING, I trukky believe the problem will be with women.
Anonymous

Kara, I think that women are really who are making fun about this, for every guy I know it means NOTHING, it was a woman who made me the first Kotex observation, I truly believe that it only sound weird to women.
Anonymous

It’s far and away the women who are making the jokes, at least if you’ve been on Twitter and Facebook any part of today. I guess if you’re really, really looking hard for some sexist angle to fill up an article, you can pluck this one out of the air. I doubt your female readers have such thin skin.
Anonymous

Um. I think that’s a pretty “duh” observation… Of COURSE Steve Jobs doesn’t care. And yes, good try, but it’s clearly been more women joking about this. And it’s pretty damn funny, mostly because “iPad” is a f-ing lame name.
Anonymous

Women are definitely making all the jokes. Yes, the humor is elementary, but it wouldn’t be running rampant if it didn’t highlight the dearth of female employees in tech companies. There is no way a female marketing executive would have green-lighted “iPad.”

And, of course Steve Jobs is publicly shrugging it off. This is a huge marketing blunder, an embarrassment. Privately, I bet heads are going to roll.
Anonymous

love this blog. you are right – jokes are lame :)

- Nicole, Blogger for flashtweet.com
davebarnes

Well, Kara, my wife's first reaction to the name was: “MaxiPad”. My brain made no connection to such products, but hers did.
http://twitter.com/KseniaCoffman Ksenia Coffman

I think it was actually women who first reacted to the name; not men (geeks). Men I asked on Twitter said “my mind did not go there,” while women snickered and thought the name was 'hilarious.' Could it be the unconscious 'sexism' akin to unconscious racism of “HP's racist computers” (famous YouTube video) – i.e. if it works for whites (or males) it should work for everyone?
melodyakhtari

Actually, I agree with Ksenia.
I saw mostly women reacting to the name, claiming that it was an oversight on the part of Apple's marketing team. Women are obviously more comfortable with that topic than men are, which explains why it was women who vocalized (er… twitterized) their reactions more than the gents. To be honest, that's where my mind went first, too.

How much sleeker would a name like iSlate have been?
Bruce Evans

Remember the original iBook looking-like-a-toilet seat jokes?
Hopefully the iPad jokes will fade out as fast.
I loved that iBook design. Nitrozac still has hers.

Oh and btw immature nerd boys, the personal hand-held computers on Star Trek are called IPADDs. You'd never joke about those, would you? :)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=533455223 facebook-533455223

There were no iPADDs in Star Trek. You may have been thinking of “PADD”,which is an acronym for Personal Access Display Device, a hand-held computer interface.
rojo

Written like a true fangirl.
timjones17

iFail to get the joke
Bruce Evans

doh! that's what I meant to write.. PADD. shame on me.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=823510234 facebook-823510234

1) It does sound like a feminine product – this is not a maybe or nudge nudge… IT sounds like one
2) That video is really unfunny
scritti

Kindle vs iPad: The battle over ebooks

Could a brawl be brewing between Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs? Probably not, but with Wednesday’s introduction of Apple’s iPad, many tech industry watchers wonder if the market has room for both gadgets. In debuting the product, Jobs gave a brief shout-out to the Amazon Kindle (which some saw as a backhanded compliment), saying “we’re going to stand on their [Kindle] shoulders for this.”
donnp

So words like “pad” and “flow” evoke menstruation for women?

Get over it girls: the world doesn't revolve around your bodily functions.
campy123

of course Steve Jobs smirked – he is impervious to feedback and oblivious to the sexism at Apple. and trashing the many intelligent women who are baffled at this blunder hardly makes a case that fanboys even know women exist in the world.
boycott the stupid thing, ladies! they can stick their iPads…
pjargon

I'll agree with you on the point that steve jobs obviously doesn't care. If the product doesn't do well (and that's quite possible considered the limited features) the jokes about its name will persist for decades. Remember the Newton? Imagine if they'd named that after a female hygiene product – we'd still be laughing.
hmilligan

And since women are the decision makers for 83% of consumer electronic purchases, you'd think Steve Jobs and Apple would care. Yes, it's the product, but the reviews of the product are not great, and the name doesn't help it.
MajorDave

I think both sides are right to an extent.

Yes, Steve *is* impervious to feedback and the sexist Apple environment.

Yes, Steve is right that in 6 months nobody will care.

The Nintendo Wii is still a stupid name with obvious bodily-function jokes which were made at its launch. Everybody has stopped even noticing this now…
just_a_passerby

Much ado about nothing. Like it or not, this is the best name. iTablet has too much baggage, iSlate is clumsy, and lacks the obvious play on iPod and iPhone the same way iTV would have, which may be why they didn't use it.

Besides those three little letters there is no connection to feminine products. Are the offended women in the audience going to call NASA next and hassle them about “launch pad?” Might as well. It's just a computer folks. Relax.

I have no dog in this race, but jumping on Jobs seems silly to me too. Maybe he doesn't listen to feedback, but so what? Why do we assume everything must be ruled by committee? I doubt we'd get the same style, elegance, and forward-thinking innovation. Is there something inherently wrong about having a strong opinion and wanting to do things his way?

When I create a painting I don't look to a focus group for the title. It's his creation. He can call it whatever the hell he wants. If he gets it wrong, he gets it wrong. Not the end of the world.

Memo to Geek Dudes (and Dudettes): The Inevitable Maxi Pad Jokes About the iPad Are Lame (And Steve Jobs Doesn't Care Anyway)

comments so far. Add yours.

AllThingsD by Writer