I have owned a Victorinox Swiss Army knife for 30 years. I’d wanted one as a teenager — I would see an animated display of a giant one opening, closing and spinning around in the shop every time I went to the mall as a I teenager, and I wanted one. I mean, how could you resist all those gadgets in one little gizmo: there was not just a flat-head screwdriver, but also a Phillips head one! A can opener! Tiny scissors! Tweezers! A corkscrew! And more!

Back then I’d occasionally mention to friends and family that someday I’d splurge and buy myself one, but people would usually comment that I was nuts, because what would a girl do with one of those?

But one day when I was in college my father and I were walking in the mall, and I happened to mention to him that I was going to buy myself one someday. And what do you know – he bought it for me for Christmas that year! Yay!  It even came in handy almost immediately. I was working as an office temp, and the staff had planned a farewell party for one of their colleagues. They had coordinated having people bring in food and beverages, including bottles of wine, but had forgotten to get someone to bring in the corkscrew. My Swiss army knife and I saved the day. 🙂

Anyway, 30 years ago I don’t recall if the Victorinox company sold anything other than Swiss army knives, but I’m guess back then their marketing department didn’t aim anything specifically at women.  But nowadays the company has a diversified product line, with something for everyone. Here’s an ad to prove my point:  Chris and I ran across this as we sat flipping through the on-board magazine on our German Wings flight to England back in December:

Magazine ad for Victorinox products, December 2013

Chris asked if the slogan for that product in the lower right would be “Smell like the Swiss Army?”

Hmm. Probably not. Does Victorinox really think this is a way to get more women to buy their products? Smells a bit like desperation on their part, at least from where I’m sitting. 😉