to be flippin annoyed with 'The Entertainer' toy shop?

[onelittleclara]

Went into a branch of this toy shop yesterday with my boys. Was walking round and I noticed that they now have the shop divided into two sections:
'boys toys' and 'girls toys'. Was so angry I dragged my children straight out. If my sons wanted a doll (which they do play with) as soon as they see it labelled a 'girls toy' they are going to reject it outright. Surely a toy is a toy? Surely they are losing a potential 50% of their customers into the bargain.
Grrrrrr.

For anyone who is interested, someone has already complained about this issue to the Entertainer and these are links to the letter and its response...

jadedladies.blog.com/2011/12/07/dear-gary-grant-md-of-the-entertainer-toy-shop/

jadedladies.blog.com/2011/12/08/a-most-unsatisfactory-response-from-the-entertainer-md-gary-grant/

Errr reading your post Boulevard I would have thought the reason she got upset was because she was teased

If she likes dinosaur shoes and chooses to wear them, I'd say she definitely has the intelligence to know that the boy/girl thing is just a suggestion.

WorraLiberty - I guess only the OP can say exactly what she meant by her post but I read the two points separately, in that she took her children out of the shop because she was angry at the marketing, not because she was terrified on that occasion that the sight of a doll in the girls section would make her sons reject them. I read the second point as an example illustrating why the marketing was wrong - that seeing a doll marked as a Girls toy would make her son reject it.

I do take your point that children need to be brought up more robustly, but I also think the Girls/Boys divide is a very stubborn one to break in children's minds and marketing like the Entertainers' doesn't help.

I see what you mean oranges...it's hard to know how literally to take the OP really.

I think the Girls/Boys divide is a hard one to break anyway because apart from advertising, a lot of children have very clear ideas brought about by their parents and grandparents...so in the end if the kids don't bow to advertising pressure, they'll bow to peer pressure sadly.

It's not a toy labelled "for girls".

it is half the shop done in pink, with "girls toys" signs at the entrance. The other half of the shop is done in blue, with "boys toys" at the entrance.

I also don't think that young children can be blamed for "bowing to peer pressure". Human beings are social animals and our young learn how to behave by copying. Chastising children for not expressing their independence when their biology is telling them to mimic is also hard to understand.

I just don't think that young children should be blamed for following these messages, as "bowing to peer pressure" or being unintelligent or whatever, when in fact it is quite normal for them to be this way.

It would be much easier and better if these messages weren't propagated so much in our society - by sectioning off toy shops and the like.

I can't imagine they are doing this to try and pigeonhole small children, but presumably because it brings about better sales, the same way they group items in supermarkets.

They are a relatively small toy shop chain that has no power to create stereotypes - 'girls' and 'boys' are separate in society and they have noticed that and are trying to use it to make their layouts more effective.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I can see that perhaps my 'anger' as described in the initial post was a little OTT. oranges123- you get it totally. My frustration was at the marketing and my decision to leave the shop was a consumer based one. I took my money elsewhere. I do not know of any other toy shops that actually label the sections, although I am at ELC's increasing typing by colour. DS's are 5 and 3 and although we regularly have conversations about adverts (the Friends Lego one currently) and the gender typing peer pressure they are subject to at school/preschool, and yes they are intelligent enough to decide which toys they want to play with irrespective, they are still very much subject to influence from images/messages that surround them. Heck so am I, which is why I am on a diet.....
So even though I'm telling them pink is just a colour and just because a toy is pink doesn't make it a girls toy, this is being undermined if the sign accompanying it tells them that mummy is wrong, and that it IS a girls toys. Its a contributory thing. By itself yes perhaps I ABU to be anger, but as part of a larger picture, not so much.
SardineQueen - its the WGC one I'm referring too.

Oooooooh that's 3 different posters who have not gone into or have left that shop.

That's pretty bad isn't it. It's not even a very long thread.

Maybe the tide is turning

PS It's such a shame - the toymaster there was a really good toyshop and we always looked in there and now it's gone boo

ELC may do pink and blue versions or in some cases of the products pink and red but they do not section them off in different areas of the shop. Also you'll notice in the catalogue that they'll have boys playing with the traditional "girls" toys and vice versa. They don't market them specifically for boys or for girls.

They'll never stop doing pink versions, contrary to mumsnet belief customers want the pink versions. apart from the pink globe which got sold off at less than half price

Yes! I'm so pleased to see this thread (albeit belatedly!). I wrote a letter of complaint to The Entertainer on this subject and their response was to say that they've conducted a lot of research and this is what parents want!

The interesting thing is that their website is not laid out in the same way at all. The first menu level is to select toy types - construction, craft, dolls, vehicles and so on. Why not lay out the store in the same way?

We won't be taking our DD in there ever until they sort this out. What a limited way to bring up a child to say, from birth, half of this stuff isn't for you?

To be honest, OP, I totally agree with you but I think it's equally as sad that your boys would reject something that was labelled as a "girl's toy".

Blimy! I have never talked with my boys about gender toys. They have always bought what they wanted. However, having said that, they wanted neutral toys up to the age of about 3, from 4-7 they were most definitly "YUK thats for GIRLS" and after that they went back to having whatever they liked. So its pretty normal in my experience to go through a stage of "girl/boy" wants.

Either way who cares what the shop does? Teach your children that anyone can have anything and they will grow up believing that - even with a small detour in between!!!!

Don't think it's as simple as that, unfortunately. There's only one or two of you, and then possibly another ten telling them the opposite. I have two feminists for parents and I'm still sometimes shocked by what I'm thinking on autopilot.

The owners are conservative Christians,so presumably have fairly traditional ideas about gender roles, reflected in the shop layout and signage, as well as stock selection.

I've given up shopping there, not just because you you nearly always find things cheaper elsewhere, but also they don't sell a lot of the toys DD most likes because they are in some way 'unChristian', eg the Harrry Potter and Monster Hunter Lego ranges, Monster High dolls etc.

I am also a bit dubious about what projects they may support with their charitable foundation - can't find much information, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was ascertain amount of religious bigotry involved.

Think this thread will interest some of you.

Strangely, they are happy to stock things like Bratz dolls, which don't strike me as particularly inclined to promote Christian values...

I still don't get why Harry Potter's meant to be so un-Christian. I mean, You Know Who's a baddie. Or is the Bible the only thing that's allowed to talk about Satan?

Oh, and of course one of the charities they do publicly support is Operation Christmas Child - see MN bunfights passim for why I don't want to support that, even indirectly.

I'm not too sure about the HP logic either, as good always wins against evil in HP (eventually) but I remember from rows over the books that a lot of evangelical Christians seemed to think that any talk of magic in a positive way would suck children into Satanism and the occult...

LOL I just read that as "Stalinism".....haha need more sleep I think!
Don't they realise how barmy they sound? chroist.

Havent read all the comments but JrRR Tolkein was a CHristian and LOTR is based on biblical stories.

Im glad shops have sections, its much easier to go where you specifically need to, i have a daughter so go straight to the girls, no need to go to the boys, plus with a disabled child I dont have time or patience to go faffing around looking for girls stuff.

The entertainer does not ram beliefs down anyones throat but its nice to see at least ONE shop at christmas with nativity scenes in its window, not going to go into all the CHRISTmas debate here, Im not religious but i respect others beliefs/non-beliefs.

Having said all that i wish they werent so expensive!!!!!

Errrm...local supermarket also sections ethnic food, Indian food, Chinese food...or is that non pc now too?

and The entertainer also has generic sections with playmobil and lego etc.

"Errrm...local supermarket also sections ethnic food, Indian food, Chinese food...or is that non pc now too?"

But those sections make sense.

If you were buying korma sauce, you'd probably also want naan bread. If you were buying sweet and sour sauce, you'd probably want noodles.

The boy/girl sections make no sense.

Why are boys not being sold craft stuff?
Why are girls not being sold action toys?

Surely you buy based on what your child enjoys? So how would sorting by interest prolong your shopping trip?

What are the cons for shops organising things by interest? Eg. all craft stuff in a section labelled "crafts", all roleplay stuff labelled "roleplay"?

But, marjproops, if you go straight to the 'girls' section, it means for example you won't see any science stuff except for the perfume/bath bomb type kits (because the assumption is girls aren't interested in real science), no construction toys (girls don't build things), no Lego except for the pink 'Lego friends' range and so on.

The problem people have with this is the perpetuating of stereotypes and assumptions about what girls want to (or should want to) play with. Certainly a lot of the things my daughter is interested in would not be found in the girls' section, and having to go looking for them in a section labelled 'boys' sends out all the wrong messages. Of course the Entertainer is not the only shop guilty of this: the last Lego kit I bought my daughter (Ninjago) was right under the sign saying 'boys' at Wilkinsons.