Wiso is a Bluetooth-connected whistle for stopping assaults.

Wiso is a Bluetooth-connected smart whistle that people can use to sound for help if they're being physically assaulted. Through the corresponding app it also automatically texts, calls, or emails designated contacts with the victim's GPS coordinates.

Wiso is very clearly marketed as a product for women, and I have no problem with that. If this makes women feel safe, then by all means they should consider buying one. But I do have an issue with the company's ad, which portrays women as feeble and weak, as opposed to empowered by a whistle. It portrays Wiso as if it were a gadget in James Bond that assists in the rescue of the token damsel in distress. In reality, most rapes and sexual assaults are carried out by someone a woman already knows. A whistle likely wouldn't get her out of that situation. If someone were held up at gun or knife point, I don't think a whistle would help much there either.

I don't want to diminish Wiso's mission statement; it's admirable to want to keep women safe. I just don't think a Bluetooth whistle is the way to do that, and I think its marketing message is off. Now, if Wiso replaced its whistle with connected Mace, that could maybe thwart an attack.