Sorry, but young girls can be brainwashed by stuff. Some girls probably aren't, because they have the right guidance, or are very sure of what they want. But not everyone is strong-minded enough to resist this stuff. I am not sure I would have resisted it very well, had that stuff been as aggressively marketed to me when I was a child as it is to little girls these days.
In any case, I wasn't actually being awfully serious when I wrote it. I was agreeing with Grimma's jocular comment about slopes/poles. But now you've pulled me up on it, it has become a serious point for me. I think the preponderance of pink does have an effect on how girls view themselves, on their self-esteem, etc, and it's more sinister than people are prepared to admit.