This Pharmacy Instituted a Controversial 7% ‘Man Tax’ to Call Out Price Discrimination

When an independent Manhattan pharmacy posted signs on their storefront earlier this week advertising a 7% “man tax” on products, the business intended to raise awareness about the so-called “pink tax” that women implicitly pay on pharmacy products, according to a recent NYC Department of Consumer Affairs report. They did not necessarily expect a wave of vitriolic Internet backlash.

In an interview with Gothamist, the Thompson Chemists owner, Jolie Alony, noted that the 7% “man tax” sign is actually rather misleading: instead of increasing certain prices, Alony was simply applying a 7% discount on women’s products and making up the difference out of pocket.

Locals don’t seem to have been all that bothered by the changed policy, according to Alony who told DNA Info, “the men customers were actually good…some of them approved of it,” the shop has been targeted online with plenty of hate, others pointing out that the store could consider alternate, less discriminatory approaches to evening out gendered pricing.

“We wanted to share that women deserve to get a break, and men deserve to be charged 7 percent more. Women are spending more in general and we make less, so we deserve to have a break,” Alony told The Daily Dot.

It’s not clear how long the promotion will last. As for their response to the displeased comments on their Facebook page?

“Please, avoid locker room banter,” Thompson Chemists wrote.