A few months ago, we told you how the advertising industry makes ads look so amazing. If something looks good on an advertisement, the chances of you buying that product increases. That, however is only one of the many factors that companies consider when they create products. 

Talking about electronics companies, among the other factors, one of them is based on the likelihood that whether or not the wife of the person buying the product will accept the purchase in their home. And they actually keep this in mind when designing products. They try to reduce the traits that a wife might not like and add features that she might. 

Jaw dropping stuff! I know. 

ReactionGIFs

And it is true. There is an economic parameter called the Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF). According to Wikipedia, it is an assessment of design elements that either increase or diminish the likelihood that wife will approve the purchase of any expensive electronic gadgets. So apparently when companies create a product, they keep in mind this factor and try to increase the WAF of their products, so that husbands need to do lesser convincing and have their wives accept what they purchase.

Quora

Let’s look at how this term came about into being. Writing for the Stereophile magazine in 1983, Larry Greenhill said that he first heard term from his friends and music professor Lewis Lipnick. Lewis says that the term originated when the men used to bring high-end loudspeakers into their homes to complement their Televisions. But in those days, the loudspeakers used to be so huge that they overwhelmed most living rooms. According to him, his wife, actress Lynn-Jane Foreman believed that if husbands got something like that for themselves, they should balance it out with equally expensive gifts to the wife, like opera tickets, and jewellery. 

Given how times have changed, it does look very sexist to generalise something about a gender.

TonePublications

It’s anyway a better idea to have a discussion with your other half (whether wife or husband) before splurging on anything expensive for the house!