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Original poster

To think kinder are really sexist?

87 replies

DSM · 03/10/2013 20:00

Kinder eggs have launched new eggs - one with a pink topped wrapped and one blue.

Pink one contains dolls, blue ones cars.

How are they even allowed this?!

OP posts:
moldingsunbeams · 04/10/2013 14:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IcedCoffeeQueen · 04/10/2013 14:31

yanbu I hate things like this we are supposed to be moving forward instead society is regressing.

Ds1 had dolls as a toddler, favourite colour was pink, only last winter at age 6 wanted a pink umbrella, fast forward one year age 7 and under the influence of his peers, he categorizes everything into boys and girls and doesn't believe me when I tell him boys and girls can like whatever they want, he wouldn't even use a black brolly this morning because umbrellas are for girls apparently, girls are not allowed to play football or like the colour blue etc. You can teach to your hearts content in their home life doesn't mean they wont pick up on the views of others especially their peers its a much wider problem imo.

LaGuardia · 04/10/2013 15:49

The people on here who complain about gender stereotyping are the ones who have had only boys or only girls my boy will wear pink because I really wanted a girl etc

Rosa · 04/10/2013 15:51

We got a pink one with a crocodile in it ....

I think the smurfs ones are white.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 04/10/2013 15:55

They're not all dolls and cars.

We had 9 of each colour (party), there was one doll and two or three cars. The rest were the 'normal' toys, spinning tops, balls, little figures etc.

I don't know why they even bothered doing them pink and blue- it puts people off buying them, and it doesn't even help you to know which toy's in which! Confused

pixiepotter · 04/10/2013 16:08

It is you who has jumped to the conclusion that pink is for a girl and bluer for a boy.
Kinder don't say that.You are the one doing the gender stereotyping here!!!

passmetheprozac · 04/10/2013 16:10

Do the eggs specifically say that the pink one is for girls and the blue one is for boys? Or have you come to that conclusion?

comingalongnicely · 04/10/2013 16:15

If it means that you can reduce the chance of your kid getting a toy they wouldn't play with (a doll for a boy or girl that doesn't like dolls for example) and it stops you wasting money then not as "evil" as made out eh?

As for the colours, who cares - if your kid likes cars are they going to be bothered if it comes in a blue, yellow or pink bubble? Probably not...

TheBigJessie · 04/10/2013 16:18

Oh, come on. It is not a magic co-incidence that the colour most seen as a girls' colour in 2013 Britain has been assigned to dolls and the colour most seen as a boys' colour in 2013 Britain has been assigned to cars.

They didn't make that decision in a vacuum!

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 04/10/2013 16:20

If you couldn't find the normal ones, and didn't want your DC to see the pink/blue, you could just unwrap them first...

The colour is only on the foil.

TheBigJessie · 04/10/2013 16:20

Children understand colour symbolism very, very well, by the way.

Take a three-year-old into a building society or a waiting room he or she has never been in, and they will immediately realise that any primary coloured fencing means a children's corner and toys.

passmetheprozac · 04/10/2013 16:28

But unless kinder specifically say the pink one is for girls and the blue one is for boys, the only people that are perpetuating the gender stereotypes are the people spitting feathers about it and accusing kinder of doing this.

Let the toys be toys, its the assumption that the cars are for boys and the dolls are for girls that are perpetuating the stereotype.

ukatlast · 04/10/2013 16:29

'Kinder eggs have launched new eggs - one with a pink topped wrapped and one blue.

Pink one contains dolls, blue ones cars.

How are they even allowed this?!'

Because it is a free society - it's a colour and it means if you want a doll you know to buy the pink one and vice versa.
I have always boycotted Kinder eggs for my kids because the toys they contain are choke hazards and children have died as a result.
Choke hazards inside food aimed at children being banned I would support, the colour of the wrapping not so much.

One thought on the pink/blue thing is that I was amazed to find out in the not so distant past pink was the colour for boys and blue for girls.

In my younger days I also used to bang on about gender-stereotyping but having had two boys and seen friends' girls, I have decided that like sexual orientation, nature is more important than nature and genes are everything basically.

ukatlast · 04/10/2013 16:30

than nurture...

moanyhole · 04/10/2013 16:35

i brought home three pink ones recently.only one of my children is a girl but they all wanted the girl toy

BrokenSunglasses · 04/10/2013 16:49

I think it's a good idea.

I used to be gutted when I got a car in my kinder egg when I was a kid.

TheBigJessie · 04/10/2013 17:04

passmetheprozac So, it's just a coincidence then?

If the colours weren't chosen to easily communicate gendered assumptions, wouldn't they have simply written "car toy" and "doll" on the sides?

If colours don't communicate, why not use words? Hmm?

moominleigh94 · 04/10/2013 17:48

I sometimes get them from ALDI, just for the chocolate really. Can't find the kinder bars anywhere, and I like kinder eggs Grin

I quite like having the choice (because I'm a child at heart and really wanted the toy) I picked a pink one the first time... got some weird little pink heart-shaped padlock that didn't actually work. Ended up wanting OH's toy instead (he got a blue one) so the next time I got a car instead Grin

I think it makes life easier. If you've got a girly girl or a boy who likes dolls/pink, get the pink one - if you've got a tomboy or a boy's boy, get the blue.

Ponyo73 · 04/10/2013 19:28

Wholeheartedly agree with ukatlast. It's just been a colour thing that has survived since the day dot! Pink for girls and blue for boys. If your girl or boy wants the doll or the car then fine but it's just the norm that they make these choices. You don't see boys clothes in pink or girls in navy blue because we instinctively are drawn to certain colours. I'm sure transgender people feel this from an early age. There s definitely a psychology behind it, pink is light and sweet to the eye whilst blue is a more sombre colour.

stubbornstains · 04/10/2013 19:39

I'm a girl, and I'm sombre as fuck Grin

Tavv · 04/10/2013 19:48

YANBU. It's lazy, cliched and sexist.

Ponyo73 · 04/10/2013 19:54

I can be quite sombre me self on the occasion! DH isn't back from the local tavern so I shall don a dark tabard and kick his arse on his arrival. I don't know how to put the little emotions in on messages and that is really annoying me as putting a funny, little symbol can make the difference, eh what?

nicename · 04/10/2013 19:55

Does it really matter?

If I was a kid I'd want pink and be royally pissed if I got a sodding car. I wasn't a girly girl but did like dolls and teddies.

My (gay) sister would deffo go for the blue (as she always chose blue) and be pissed if she got a dolly. She always chose blue and got action men, toy cars, guns (it was was the 70s), had short hair and would only ever wear trousers. She pretended to faint when she was presented with a dress when she was a bridesmaid (she was about 10). She was bribed with a drum kit in the end.

Not a great suprise when she came out really.

OldSchoolMamma · 04/10/2013 19:56

Life is too short. If buying a blue or pink kinder egg is your biggest problem then you are extremely lucky.

passmetheprozac · 04/10/2013 19:59

But it is down to the consumer surely? If you buy a pink topped egg for a girl because it's pink then that is your own choice.

Kinder have not said that pink is for girls, blue is for boys. It is commentators assuming that it is what it means. To me this is going against the whole argument that we should 'let toys be toys'

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