Cards Against Humanity
Cards Against Humanity: For Her is exactly the same as the regular game, but it's pink and costs $5 extra.
Cards Against Humanity is back at it with "Cards Against Humanity: For Her," a limited-edition version of the self-described "party game for horrible people," custom-tailored for women.It's exactly the same game as before, with exactly the same cards. It's just that the box is pink. And it costs $5 more than the standard edition of the game, which retails for $25.
"We decided that hey, it's 2017, it's time for women to have a spot at the table, and nevertheless, she persisted. That's why we made Cards Against Humanity: For Her. It's trendy, stylish, and easy to understand. And it's pink," says Cards Against Humanity community director Jenn Bane in a press release.
Yes, it's a joke. But it's a joke you can actually buy.
Cards Against Humanity is lampooning the so-called "pink tax," where women are asked to pay considerable surcharges for what are supposedly the "female" versions of everyday items like toothbrushes, shampoo, and deodorant.
In Bane's own words, the idea is "very stupid," she tells Business Insider, and she's very skeptical that anybody will actually buy "Cards Against Humanity: For Her."
"Women don't fall for gimmicks, especially not gimmicks as stupid as this one," says Bane.
'Dumpster fire'
Still, Cards Against Humanity has a history of making a lot of money from very stupid things: In 2015, Cards Against Humanity made $71,145 by selling absolutely nothing at $5 a pop. More recently, in late 2016, Cards Against Humanity over $100,000 in donations to dig a hole in the middle of nowhere for absolutely no reason.
And so, just in case Bane is wrong, Cards Against Humanity has committed to giving the profits from "Cards Against Humanity: For Her" to Annie's List, a Texas-based PAC dedicated to getting more women elected into public office.
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A black "Question" card and a white "Answer" card. Whichever player has the funniest "answer" to the question wins the hand.
The choice to support Annie's List, in particular, is a response to the state of American politics, which the company sees as a "dumpster fire," says Bane. This, too, is kind of a Cards Against Humanity tradition. Over the years, the company has used the proceeds from stunts like this one to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups like Donors Choose and the Sunlight Foundation.
Either way, Bane says, this is just another example of how Cards Against Humanity models its unconventional marketing on a good improv comedy routine.
"We set up the joke," says Bane, and it's up the game's devoted player base to decide what happens next.