[Mick]

"Turbo" ironing




A high street store is getting macho with its marketing in order to sell household irons to men.

Argos is trying to make buying an iron as appealing to men as buying a new car by promoting the "turbo" power of its more expensive models.

The chain is also using sales jargon such as "ultimate control" and "precision" to encourage men to do battle with their creases and buy irons worth up to £229 in their current catalogue.

The company say men increasingly want to see irons as a power tool, rather than as a traditional domestic appliance and want macho models to match.

There has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of men who do their own ironing over the last decade, claims the store. It says that an increase in male grooming and a growing number of single men living on their own is behind the new interest in the domestic activity.

"The world of ironing is taking on a new identity, and for the very first time it has a Y chromosome," said Argos' iron buyer, Eddie Kemp.

Argos says it will continue its macho marketing by describing the amount of steam produced by each iron in a similar way that the power of a car engine is described