Hey ABC, Maybe You Should Call It Panther Town.

Courtney Cox as a vulnerable Florida Panther

Courtney Cox as strong California Cougar

Note to the writers of Cougar Town: Our state animal is actually the almost extinct Florida Panther.

But then again, upon further investigation, it seems that weak and vulnerable to land developers in the 1960s, The Florida Panther was actually saved from certain extinction by the bigger, stronger Cougar of the west. Hmmm… maybe you Hollywood guys are onto something.

Cougar. Panther. What’s the difference?

Cougars pursue. The Florida Panther is less interested in pursuit, is rarely seen hunting as it is more interested in survival.

The Cougar stereotype has been around since the late 80s, and is said to have actually originated in the dressing room of the Vancouver Canucks. The players called the older single women who came to their games “Cougars”, and the term took off from there.

As we interview Florida women dating younger men who would fall into the Cougar category, more than naught the women say the men were the pursuers, and that they actually had no interest in dating at the time, spending most of their time working and caring for their kids.

Panther Town

Like all things Florida, it seems even our state animal, the still endangered Florida Panther is not a total native. And we find that many of the ladies of Florida who are “of a certain age” mirror the state animal; wanting to date (prowl), but more likely to stay undercover due to the daily stress of competing and raising kids in the South, where in many pockets, it is still very much a man’s world.

The less predatory Florida Panthers exhibit surprise and embarrassment when asked about the age difference between themselves and their younger partners.

Interestingly enough, the men who have secured these ladies virtually crow as they retell their version of “the chase”. Can you say M.I.L.F.?

We’re not saying there aren’t any Cougars in Florida.

But when it comes to Courtney’s portrayal of all things Cougar, her boy toy pursuer and her weak attempts at reentering the dating scene in Cougar Town feel more Panther to us.

Maybe a little out-of-state hutzpah isn’t all bad?

The Florida Panther was saved from extinction by the Cougar

The Cougar is native to California and Washington State and it has not only doubled its population since 1980, but its population is growing

 

When It Comes To Old Spice, Hot Florida Women Wear It Too.

Florida Women Not Only Wear Old Spice But They Reapply Throughout The Day

Take note Procter & Gamble, it’s official.

According to countless run- ins with “The Big Red Stick”, we can confidently say that more and more Florida women not only like it too but they use it too.

And they buy it in multiples. Even stashing  it in their cars.

Why?

Good armpit hygiene has always been top of mind for women in the sunshine state. Florida is the USA’s “humidity capital” and hot Florida women are keeping up with the boys. They can’t shower 4 times a day so what’s a girl to do?

Could it be that Florida’s women are taking a cue from their stinky boyfriends or teenage sons and skipping the shower by shamelessly covering their pits with the strong scent of Old Spice intermittently throughout the day?

The Old Spice wearing women we talked to were womanly in appearance, yet they were firm in their opinion that the “boys club” smell and packaging of Old Spice met their needs better than any of the “girl brands” offered out there.

Florida Women Stash "The Big Red Stick" In Their Cars

“It makes me think of my Dad,” one athletic teen said. “The smell covers up whatever I’ve been doing and I like that it comes in that really big red tube.”

Another attractive woman loves the fact that the blue stuff doesn’t leave a residue. and that the scent makes her feel strong, like a man.

Furthermore, it seems the value size has the most appeal. Maybe because converted Florida women tote Old Spice in gym bags and glove compartments like a badge of honor.

What do men think of the trend?

Blogger Kevin S. of “Now Smell This” writes, “A woman could certainly wear Old Spice; it smells like a carnation-themed Eau de Toilette.”

Other men complain that it’s a turn off to sex, because it makes their woman smell like a guy’s locker room.

 

Florida’s MOD Mom – Marketing to Florida’s Actualized Single Mother Raising Actualized Kids

She’s not kept and she’s not the current marketer’s vision of a mother.

She’s modified, modern, manager on duty, mom also dad and just plain cool as far as her kids are concerned.

SO HOW SHOULD A MARKETER TALK TO THE FLORIDA MOD?

Give your MOD TLC. Help her anyway you can, by making her life easier.

Be there when she needs a friend. After the kids go to bed and she has time to network online.

Give your MOD respect. She wants to be recognized for raising the next generation of Presidents. She wants to be heard.

Give your MOD a chance to win. She likes to increase the odds a little bit every day.

There are a lot of things she needs, because the world doesn’t make it easy for her.

Make it easy for her.

And she’ll love you forever.

 

Florida’s MOD Single Mom. Does the “Cougar” moniker fit her?

At AdGals, we’ve defined the Florida MOD as “the actualized single mother raising actualized kids”.

Because of this, she falls into the “dating with kids category” and is on average in her mid 30s to late 40s. She works full time and does much of her social networking at the office or online after the kids have gone to bed. Because she is a divorced or never married full time working mom, she shuns convention, is independent, tech savvy and in touch with what her kids are into.

So, why is it so surprising this woman would find it perfectly acceptable to date a younger man?

 

Glamour Magazine’s “Granny Cougar” Stunt

CAN GRANNY GO COUGAR?

The October issue of Glamour magazine places a woman who looks more granny than man-eating Cougar on the streets of New York where she sucks face with a hot young thing. Onlookers followed the couple, took pics with cell phones, heckled and even exhibited disgust. Seems that Granny in  a green polyester pantsuits make us think of apple pie and the American way. We get upset and angry if you mess with that.

Why does granny look so ridiculous as a Cougar?

 

New Show, Cougar Town, Gives An Inaccurate Portrayal of Florida’s Single Women Over 40.

As a female focused marketing firm, we were excited to see attention shed on Florida’s newly divorced 40 year-old woman reentering the dating scene. Although we weren’t thrilled with the name of the show, we were teed up and ready to take any cues and clues about this category that Hollywood was able to glean.

“Cougar Town”  opens on a graphic of the state of Florida. It is set in a fictionalized place somewhere south of Sarasota and co-created by Kevin Biegel, a former Sarasotan. So far so good.

Reality - Actual Florida Cougar Tamara Gilman, 47, now dates a much younger man who was the pursuer.

Unfortunately after thirty minutes our notepads are still empty.

It seems that  Hollywood has had a little jokefest on the real 40-something Florida woman, and as we found out later, she is not pleased.

Although most Florida women think Courtney Cox by all standards is a beautiful and smart woman, they don’t agree with what they saw on the season opener. Portrayed as a desperate women prowling bars for naive man meat by night, Cox continues the joke as a ditsy realtor hocking cleavage by day.

After talking to to real life Florida women who date men 10-20 years younger, it seems that the late night hunting of prey never happens. And that, in fact, the man (yes, we define them as men) we’re the pursuers, not the ladies.

Linda Franklin, creator of the therealcougarwoman.com, said most women labeled cougars are being pursued by the younger men, not the other way around.

Kim Preston, a Florida single woman over the age of 40  says, “I get hit on all the time by younger men and I find it cute and sweet.” She dates men closer to her own age.

Tamara Gilman, 47 and a native of Sarasotan and mother of two, says she was as surprised as anyone to find herself dating a man 22 years younger than herself. “It sort of happened before I realized. I wasn’t looking and I never set out to date a younger man.”This doesn’t sound like a woman who set her sights on “a young catch”.

Another woman says that the Cougar notion is really about “women who happen to be older who find themselves back in the dating game, some unexpectedly, some by choice, and they are doing their best to figure it out and have some fun, if that is possible.”

According to one website, a cougar is simply a “strong, sexy, proud to be over-40 woman who is financially independent and who refuses to be defined by the age of the man they choose to be with”.

 

Florida’s MOD Mom. Modified? Modern? Manager on Duty? You decide.

Today is Sunday. My favorite day for lying around and thinking about the Florida woman and how I might better serve her by defining her in an intuitive way.

And today, my thoughts turn to Florida’s single mother.

You see, you’re blogger/narrator has been a single mother. My kids often referred to me as “MOD” or mom also functioning as the dad.

Initial research was spurred a couple months back by Anne Coulter. When she appeared on “The View”, I decided it was time to stand up, brush myself off and own this single mom thing once and for all.

To my delight, I have discovered a big, bright and shiny world of MODs out there. Twittering, blogging, texting, eviting and in general supporting each other on issues only another MOD could truly understand.

Smart. Strong. Capable. I completely adore Ms Single Mama and now read and am sustained by every little thing she blogs about. I must have watched her YouTube video directed at Anne Coulter’s book “Guilty” at least five times. Where have I been?

I initially defined the MOD as Mom Also Functioning As Dad.

But four days ago, while on a Kinkos mission, I spied a shingle hung on the wall next to the managers door with”MOD” in big all caps letters. What? Huh? I was told that it referred to the designated “Manager On Duty”. Things were coming together.

While throwing in another load of laundry after the toilet overflowed (consider this my coming out day), it dawned on me that MOD could also mean “modification”. At some point, we lost the parts that weren’t serving us (from nail appointments to husbands) and replaced them with our own custom made parts (often found at Home Depot). Or we may have made choices right from the start that weren’t standard, much to the chagrin of the status quo, and so the process of modification began.

Either way, at some point we MODS realized that it is better to live this life of ours as ours. Better for us and better for our kids. It may be hard and it may be unconventional. But we (The MODS) strive to make it hip, cool, quirky and wonderful for our kids.

Hey, we’re mothers. We want to do what’s right.

And it seems, according to the blogs, we are having fun doing it. This new MOD thing is ours and we define and live it better each and every day.

On second thought, my marketing friend points out, all  of this feels very POST MODERN. We google and find the term has many wiki meanings including ” something concerned with changes to institutions and conditions”.

So, in the end, we define a MOD as an actualized woman raising actualized kids.

She’s not kept and she’s not the current marketers’ vision of a mother.

She’s modified, modern, manager on duty, mom also dad and just plain cool as far as her kids are concerned.

SO HOW SHOULD A MARKETER TALK TO THE FLORIDA MOD?

Give your MOD TLC. Help her anyway you can by making her life easier.

Give your MOD respect. We want to be recognized for raising the next generation of Presidents. We want to be heard.

Give your MOD a chance to win. We like to win at.

There are a lot of things we need because the world doesn’t make it easy for us.

Make it easy for us.

And we’ll love you forever.

 

Sex Doesn’t Sell Florida Women

Magazines like Cosmopolitan have got it all wrong, say researchers who reckon that sex bores female magazine readers. This somewhat surprising finding comes from three University of Florida (UF) advertising professors who tested young women’s emotional responses to ads featuring beautiful women from Vogue, Allure and other women’s magazines.

According to the researchers, the hotter the model’s attire or look, the more it left the experiment’s female subjects in the cold. What the college-age subjects found far more appealing than provocative sex kittens were natural, everyday types; a look the researchers describe as “wholesome”.

The study clashes with the sex-drenched conventions of glossy magazine advertising, said UF’s Robyn Goodman, adding that it also brings to light a disconnect between the generally male executives of companies seeking to market their products, and the female consumers they’re trying so desperately to reach. “If you look at most of the Fortune 500 companies, who are they run by? Men,” Goodman said. “So, you’re their advertising agency and you’re pitching these ideas to these men. Well, men have a very specific idea of what’s beautiful.”

The original goal of the study was determining what sort of models epitomized six different types of beauty – classic feminine, sensual exotic, trendy, cute, girl next door and sex kitten – that had been identified as classical advertising archetypes. The experiment itself involved more than 250 women looking at an identical set of photographs and rating the models for how well the six types described each. All of the photos had appeared in fashion magazines aimed specifically at female consumers, and included Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Allure.

The results were unambiguous. The more lustful the models’ expressions and revealing their attire; the more the subject’s emotional reactions revealed that they were bored or uninterested. Conversely, the more the models smiled naturally and displayed a minimum of skin, the more positive the women’s reactions.

 

From Trannies to Teens, Tampa Tiaras Are Flying. And It Seems Miss Gay Florida’s Got The Better Deal.

Central Florida Bratz of Plant City Tiara Transfer for Strawberry Queen

And he/she’s stirring up less controversy.

At Miss Gay Florida, The Sisterbrother Gals showed up and off to a crowd of well wishers and pulled off a competitve show that proceeded as it has for the last 21 years.

However, the Central Florida Bratz competing as Strawberry Queens were asked to not only keep their clothes on, but to pay more attention to their GPAs.

It seems the Central Florida judges thought the swimsuit portion of the competition for Plant City’s Strawberry Queen was looking more like a Miss Tropicana contest than the Miss America pageant format originally envisioned. Now the girls can study more as they worry about baring less.

Seems like a lot more fun to enter the Sisterbrother pageant. Not to mention, the straight girl pageant is passing out smaller tiaras.

Natasha Braxton of Miami took the over-sized, gem-studded crown Sunday in front of a standing room only crowd at the

Honey Pot in Ybor City.

Florida's Sisterbrother Gals

 

Ann Coulter Takes a Swing At Single Mothers

Ann Coulter takes a swing at single mothers.