Toy Ads and Learning Gender

I recently watched afternoon cartoons on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and I was shocked to find a flood of highly gendered toy commercials. These ads not only market toys to children but it also promotes and encourages gender specific values that are very limiting to boys and girls in different ways. The values and skills promoted in these commercials can play a critical role in the socalization of youth and their development of emotional expression, conflict resolution, the confidence to pursue various careers and the ability to maintain healthy relationships as adults.

Reel Grrls is an amazing after school program that teaches girls and young women video making skills in a safe and encouraging environment. The Reel Grrls remix was made by Sahar & Diana, check out more remixes made by Reel Grrls participants: http://www.politicalremixvideo.com/2010/03/21/reel-grrls-remixed-ads/ and learn more about Reel Grrls: http://www.ReelGrrls.org

More info and links at http://www.feministfrequency.com/2010/11/toy-ads-and-learning-gender

Created for Bitch Magazine's Mad World Virtual Symposium: http://bitchmagazine.org/blogs/mad-world

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Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Advertising
• Barbie
• Cartoon Network
• Commercials
• Gender
• Iron Man
• Nerf
• Nickelodeon
• Reel Grrls
• Sexism
• Socialization
• Toys
• Youth

[TheAetherealMeadow]

Your videos are just so full of awesome and legit and spot on! =D I loved the ending! XD From now on, when I put my make-up on, I'm not gonna be "applying" or "primping". I'm gonna be FIRING, SHOOTING, and BLASTING it on! XD

[feministfrequency]

@TheAetherealMeadow This is one of funniest comments I've ever gotten! I'm cracking up over here!

[anitasseo]

its so good, i watch it over and over, just in case i dont forget. i would only suggest adding the sources (the billions, the percentages; where did you take them from?). cheers!

[feministfrequency]

@anitasseo I have sources and other resources on my blog, there should be a link in the notes section.

[strath007]

Two or three years ago, I happened upon a commercial for Playskool kitchen and laundry toy sets. A toddler girl giggled as she played with the dishwasher, stove, washer, and dryer, while the voiceover said something like, "Give her the tools to grow up into whatever she wants to be." Riiiight, as long as that's a housewife!

All of society suffers from misguided perceptions of gender roles, but ads like these make it that much harder for parents to guide their children toward healthy identities.

[feministfrequency]

@strath007 OMG that is crazy, if you ever find that online please send it to me!

[Profriend1]

As a parenting mentor, I recommend that parents not allow kids to watch TV at all for the first three years of life, and in very limited amounts from 4 onward. It has little value and huge negatives for brain, creative, and social development. For one, some studies strongly suggest close ties between early TV watching and ADD - it's all those rapidly changing images. Kids who learn to read from a parent do better in the early grades than kids who learn from Sesame St. Sorry Kermit!

[raindrops283]

@Profriend1 Until my early teens, I had to ask permission to watch TV -- and had to say exactly what I wanted to watch when I asked. My parents didn't restrict much in terms of content, but I do remember not being allowed to watch G.I. Joe. To this day, I've never ever seen a clip.

I will do the same with my own children and I tell this to all of my friends in the hope that they will do the same with theirs.

[aquabluecat123]

I remember that I always "stole" my little brother's legos and action figures to play with.

The Barbies got old quick, after I had finished popping their heads off and playing "Doctor" with them.

I never liked the girly toys as a child, I remember thinking they were boring. I guess they lacked and still lack any creativity or fun aspects.

[fffdavid]

Gender-targeted marketing is a problem but what makes me really angry is parents who reinforce the notions already being fed to their children by the media. The worst example of this I've experienced in real life was a girl, only about 3 or 4, who picked a Scooby Doo t-shirt off the rack and was begging her mum to buy it for her, her mother said no because "That's for boys." It was navy blue with the Mystery Gang and the show's logo on it, completely neutral-gendered. What, would pink be better?

[KagomeChic]

@Profriend1 I'm not telling you you are wrong, but I do have a different opinion... Or maybe I'm just an exception. I'm 18 years old, and the first child in my family. My parents turned on the TV all the time to keep me distracted while they cleaned or whatever. I thrived in creative and artistic subjects such as art and creative writing and was overly social. I am now in college studying digital media which is a major based strongly on creativity and social interaction.

[MetaFoXMartin]

The problem with Sweden is that even if direct commercials towards children is banned this only goes for channels aired inside of Sweden, CartoonNetwork can still air their commercials since they are the Swedish channel outside of Sweden. It's a real pain to watch these commercial (esp. the dubbed ones...) and know that people get away with it.

[Shadowfire00X]

Just once I'd like to see a commercial where a platoon of badass little girl commandos gets into a play war with NERF machineguns.

[KennethSorling]

You can't have discovered this genderism in advertising *just recently*. When was this not ever so? Advertising has always been a cesspool of rancid sexual stereotypes. Butch, manly, awesome stuff for boys, and girly-girly cutesy stuff for that other kind of child, you know, them with the cooties.

I wasn't at all surprised by the examples offered above, but nonetheless a bit sick to my stomach. Especially the Bratz stuff is so blatantly sexist that it defies description. It's so depressing.

[petnogakatten]

These commercials are disgusting. I'm proud of my country (Sweden) that has banned commercials for children :)