Why do marketers keep assigning sex to gender-neutral products?

Men and women are different, to be sure. But the two sexes don't require different products as often as we are told. Shampoo? Soap? Moisturizing lotion? Recently we wrote about Hello Kitty Beer and Pretty in Pink earplugs, both gender-neutral products that are specifically targeted towards women. Now Unilever has debuted Signal brand toothpaste... for men. Sound crazy? Probably is, but marketers have discovered that there are enough consumers out there who will pay more for products they perceive are made more specifically for them. Because of this it's likely that we will be seeing even more marketing of products towards men or women, even though they are essentially gender-free.