The Bag That Does It All For Whom?

The morning of the VP debate I was so nervous that I couldn’t write a post on politics.  So, I wrote a post on Gossip Girl instead.

On the eve of the 2nd Presidential debate, although I’m much less nervous, it seems that I’m following the same pattern. I had planned to write an open letter to President Obama, encouraging him and giving him a few pointers (like if I really could and/or like if he would ever read them), but instead I’m writing a post about  a Coach bag.

This, however, is no ordinary bag.  This is the bag that does it all. This is The Utility Tote that, according to the ad, you can “wear as a tote or a crossbody, take it anywhere…spacious enough for work or weekend…”   Take a look at the photo.  You can put everything in this bag:  a [big] wallet, an iPad (and a laptop), Tolstoy’s War & Peace, a cosmetic bag, a brush, perfume, a curling iron, flats, and a few thongs (if you dare to wear them).  Plus, look at all those pockets:  one for the phone, one for the phone’s earplugs, pens, and keys. It looks like it might even be possible to fit a small water bottle on the side pocket!

I saw this bag and I was ready to run to the store to buy it, or at the very least, to click on a virtual button and wait a few days.  So imagine my surprise that when I did click to get a bit more information, it was revealed that this is a bag FOR MEN.

I’d like to know in what universe a man needs a bigger bag than a woman.  I thought that murses were big enough for what men usually carry around.  Then, again, it depends on the man.  My husband doesn’t even put a cover on his iPhone so that it doesn’t bulk up his pockets.  His iPad goes in his briefcase, and sometimes when we go out, I end up putting his phone in my purse.

During family outings, I end up carrying things for my two sons in my purse, because having carried them inside my body for 9 months must have re-wired my brain to think that now I have to carry things for them in the most prized extension of my body: my purse.  And when I say carry things for them I mean things that they don’t want to carry (like a light jacket) and things that I carry for their use like:  tissues (wet and dry), hand sanitizer, mini Off mosquito spray, and so on.

So women need big bags, women need functional bags, women need The Utility Tote.

I don’t get why Coach decided to market this bag to men, I really don’t.  But maybe I’m not supposed to.  Maybe I’m supposed to worry about more important things, like the presidential debate tonight.