Honestly, I've had PLENTY of time, to think about this blog.  The story I'm telling here is true, and yet, I frankly wish I had HALLUCINATED it all. As it was, 2 small children can testify to the wonder of it, and their Grandmother, who took me to the Sears store, where it happened, IS, from my experience, a good, conservative (albeit, emotionally sensitive) Christian woman. 
This, ONLY in America, I'm sure; a sign, no doubt, of our materialism, and hunger for a Cecil B DeMille holiday experience. 
Three days before Thanksgiving, neighbor Kathy invited me to run errands with her and her two grandchildren. One boy and one girl, both under age 7 but well-spoken, active and curious, I took their hand, in Sears, and traversed the floor of the store, to look at their Christmas trees and available, for purchase decorations. As Kathy was returning an item to them, that she'd found, after getting it home, was damaged, I anticipated a lengthy discussion would ensue, between her and Customer Service. Wanting to assist her, I carefully took the hands of the grandkids, and offered to distract them, while she dealt with store officials. 
Approaching the artificial trees, I saw 4, in the display. On a pedestal with a little white picket fence around the edge, the base of the trees intermingled with lit up wire and inflated icons of the Season; A stuffed Santa bobbled in the air, a red-nosed reindeer stood precariously aloof. All 4 trees were decorated differently, but no particular style or patterns emerged, upon initial observation.
Coming closer, I noticed large tags with red plastic push buttons, hanging within reach, individually from each tree. The children, noticing the red, wanted to PUSH those; I carefully lifted them, alternately, from tree to tree, helping them see the results of their efforts. 
With each button push, a monologue bagan; the trees "talked" about their features, for approximately 20 seconds. By the time we'd pushed the buttons, on all 4 trees, we realized that the voices WERE GENDER SPECIFIC.....
There were 3 "boy" trees, and 1 "girl" tree, in the bunch. 
It's my elementary understanding, that, for the purposes of pollination, at least SOME real trees DO exhibit GENDER. At the same time, WHY DO THIS, to an ARTIFICIAL TREE? Pondering the matter further, I wonder if there were more MALE voices than FEMALES in my LOCAL display, due to a sexist, chauvinist assumption that SOUTHERNERS here in the BIBLE BELT might just me MORE APT to purchase a tree that "speaks" authoritatively WITH A MALE VOICE? 
On the silly side of all this, I proclaim that I DID NOT check, to see if any kind of support garment was under the "male" boughs, nor did I observe any "bra" type, for the "female" tree. 
Certainly THIS IS JUST TOOO.......er....TOO, you know? 
As I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE, that SOMEONE in Sears marketing IS TRACKING the sale of the "female" vs "male" voiced trees, I can only HOPE that their sale JUSTIFIES this inanity..... 
oh yeah, AND THE SALARIES of those, who came up with this nonsense, IN THE FIRST PLACE. 
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| Gender Specific and ARTIFICIAL: On Talking Trees at Sears |
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hereshannon
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Dec 1 @ 10:46AM
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"As I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE, that SOMEONE in Sears marketing IS TRACKING the sale of the "female" vs "male" voiced trees, I can only HOPE that their sale JUSTIFIES this inanity..... "
Probably right, could be why Sears is going down the tubes!
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kywonder
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Dec 1 @ 11:30AM
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But nothing Gwennie amuses kids more than talking trees. We had a little talking tree that the grandbabies other granny gave them because they loved hearing it talk so much. So I am sure that somewhere there is a little boy or girl who gets a wonderment out of those talking trees. I know it amused my grandbabies for years.
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Etowah
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Dec 1 @ 10:03PM
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Rolling in the floor laughing!
Well, I guess city kids like to talk to trees in English, but country kids know that trees have their own language! LOL
Seriously, I bet Hereshannon was right. Somebody with too many college courses in marketing had determined that a certain percentage of male and female kids made the decision on what tree to buy.
The question is . . . how many people can afford this Christmas to buy talking Christmas trees?
I'm waiting till the tree lots get desparate. They will practically give the trees away then.
Of course, you know what my dogs do when they see trees.
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Peabianjay
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Dec 2 @ 11:32PM
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Paranoid much? lol
I'd guess the explanation is much simpler:
a) Buying the tree is more often done by men than women. (Curiously, bachelors rarely get one, but bachelorettes often do.) Men are more likely to buy a female tree. (I'd guess, but only guess, that the reverse isn't as true.) Thus, leaving more male trees remaining in the store.
b) Store employees put out trees randomly. Think they actually love their jobs so much to select them carefully? The odds of randomly getting 3 male & 1 female is nearly the same as getting 2 of each.
As for tracking them....check for yourself. If tracking is done, the two trees will have different UPC codes. (Any other method of tracking would be pointlessly expensive.) If they do have different UPC codes....then, yes, tracking is done ....like each and every product (including you, if you have a points card) in the store.
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