The Betty Crocker PMS iPhone App: More Hormones, More Dessert

Flickr/norwichnuts

If you're a woman reading this, you may have used the PMS excuse for anything from binging on breathtaking amounts of Valrhona to being in a terrible mood to, well, just fill in the blank ______. If you're a man, you may be sympathetic, or you may think PMS is a lot like Roswell. Whatever. If you're a marketing exec at Betty Crocker, you may not really care either way, but you have a stack of research and polling information on your desk and you're probably working your way through your second batch of brownies right now in celebration. Why? Because Betty Crocker has just come up with perhaps the most hilarious iPhone app ever.

It is the PMS-SOS app, in which your iPhone tracks your menstrual cycle and sends you downloadable coupons for desserts. The app promises to give women users "a little advanced warning, a bit more understanding and support, and a lot of chocolate." The app also offers e-cards and "pre-written apologies for any PMS-induced situation."

If you're a man, the app also sends you an alert and a coupon -- as presumably guys who have to co-exist with hormonal women need their chocolate too -- as well as giving "suggested escape routes." (Not kidding.) Proving that coping mechanisms cross genders, I guess, or at least market research does. Along with escape routes, there is also advice, as the app has a section entitled "Why Me," with handy PMS tips like "keep your mouth full, and you won't say things you'll later regret." Right. Just the thing for us all to do. Or perhaps worse, for a guy to say to a woman if she's in a colossally shitty mood.