Research

Gendering in Media Marketing for Children’s Toys

Final Project Proposal

JCOM 4410

Mandy Morgan Ditto

A01258495

Children — like adults — are influenced by everything they see, especially the media they consume. And the media that each person consumes is a factor in determining how one perceives the world and society; it is how society is defined and made, because what people see is how they choose to act and be. Since childhood is the obvious start to everyone’s journey of becoming who they will be and deciding where they fit into society, the marketing and media children consume is crucial to the way their perspectives and decisions are framed. This is especially true in the way that gender is portrayed in the media, because how one identifies themselves is a foundational part of who they are. For children, whether it is the clear line between boys’ and girls’ Legos, or the pink and blue differences in the two toys aisles right next to each other in every department story, there is serious gendering in media marketing for children, and many experts know and understand the consequences of this.

Some steps to change the gendering of toys has taken place in American society, including Target taking “Girls” and “Boys” aisles and labels away, for any toys to be deemed appropriate for any children, and other companies are working to make those gendered lines less explicit in their children’s product lines. However, there is a still a lot of baking sets and dolls shoved down the throats of girls, while action figures and sports are smothering the boys.

Toy marketing from the 1970s to now

The marketing and media surrounding children’s toys is perhaps the best example of gendering, and this has been proven to make a difference in children’s development. However, most interestly, it is only in the past few decades that gender specific toy marketing has been so widespread. Elizabeth Sweet, a sociologist studying children and gender inequality at the University of California, said

Gender has always played a role in the world of toys. What’s surprising is that over the last generation, the gender segregation and stereotyping of toys have grown to unprecedented levels. We’ve made great strides toward gender equity over the past 50 years, but the world of toys looks a lot more like 1952 than 2012 (Sweet).

Sweet did research on the role of gender in Sears toy catalog advertisements in the 20th century, and found that almost 70 percent of toys had no gender markings at all, while very few were explicitly gendered. In fact, “In the 1970s, toy ads often defied gender stereotypes by showing girls building and playing airplane captain, and boys cooking in the kitchen,” Sweet said. However, by 1995 the gendered marketing started coming back and is now at an extreme.

And it isn’t just the packaging and look of the toy that can make it gendered towards boys or girls. A study conducted in 2005 looked at how the advertising for toys affected whether viewers believed they were for boys, girls or both. Those who were shown commercials with all boys playing with a toy were more lately to later report that the toy from the commercial was for boys, while those who had seen a commercial with all girls playing with the toy were more likely to report that the toy was for both boys and girls (Jennings and Pike).

Impact of toys on kids’ futures

Experts have found that the gendering of toys can have a far-reaching impact on children, especially in regards to future occupation and roles in society. Becky Francis, a professor at Roehampton University in London, conducted a small study about the gendering of children’s toys and found that boys were often given toys involving action and construction or machinery, while girls were given dolls and things more in line with “feminine” interests (Francis). Francis learned that “Boys toys tend to contain didactic information, with technical instructions and fitting things together with Lego and Meccano, whereas girls' toys tend to be around imaginative and creative play, which develop different skills,” (Barford). So not only are gendered toys marketed to be more pink or blue, but they are actually encouraging different, often stereotyped, skill sets.

In a 2013 Christmas toy study, Argos (a company based in the UK) found that not only does more than one in 10 parents admit to buying specific toys to help foster certain vocational skills in their children, there is also a link between the play adults enjoyed and the jobs they currently hold (Argos). According to the study findings, over 60 percent of adults working in design-led jobs — architects and designers — enjoyed playing with building blocks as children, while 66 percent of those in maths-related roles — accountants and bankers — loved puzzle-like toys as kids. This is similar to the numbers seen in occupations held primarily by men and women in the United States in 2014 (U.S. Department of Labor). The top most-commonly held jobs for women employed full-time were, by and large, secretaries and administrative assistants, elementary and middle school teachers, and registered nurses, with all three occupations being 75 percent or more held by women overall. In 2012, men held more jobs in retail and wholesale trade, manufacturing, construction, transport and warehousing and mining and logging than women in the United States, according to NPR (Vo).  Additionally, in the UK in 2013, men far out-represented women in science, research and engineering jobs, and in skilled trades, like construction, mechanics or IT (Jenkins). Women and men are already often pigeonholed into certain vocations and areas of study, simply because some are perceived as more “manly” or feminine.” However, according to much of this research, through certain marketing and buying of children’s toys, this push into certain vocations is starting when parents are choosing to buy the pink and white play kitchen set for their girl, or the black and blue tool kit for their boy. What is being done

The idea that baking and baby care are only for girls, when everything is pink and flowery — which are two more things that have been a tool of gendering in society’s marketing, that haven’t always been that way (Maglaty) — is only going to tell boys (and men) who like those things that they are doing the wrong things, or that they are not what society believes they should be. When the colors black and blue, and trucks and cars are for boys and men only, girls who like those will be judged for not being the feminine models that society believes “real” women are. But there are people, including parents, thinking about this more dysfunctional side of society, including Carolyn Danckaert, co-founder of a Washington, D.C.-based empowerment resource site A Mighty Girl. Danckaert says: “When parents explain that some people think only girls or only boys are good at something but their family disagrees, children can recognize stereotypes for what they are” (Hains). More neutrality has been coming back into the children’s toy marketing world, as stores like WalMart, Toys R US and Target have either toned down their gendering of boys and girls, or have eliminated the labels altogether (Robb). Education is the key to keep anybody feel like they have to be a certain something, which is unhealthy, but this education, awareness and change needs to start on the lowest level: with children.