About Aquabeads and their marketing?

[Catsize]

Not quite sure where DS(4) first saw Aquabeads but he recently declared a strong desire to get some. So, we went online to see the different types with a view to then getting them in a real shop (I know - the reverse of what most people do).

He looked at the different types and said 'No Mummy, I would like some boys' Aquabeads'.
I said that they were for boys and girls.
He said they were not, as every box had pictures of girls on and no boys. He wanted some for boys. The fact that the boxes were all garish pink passed him by, fortunately.

I drew an analogy along the lines of 'do you like baked beans?' 'Yes'. 'If they had a picture of a girl on, would you think they were only for girls and stop eating them?'. This seemed to work, as he said that would be 'silly'.

However, I thought he had a point. It was his idea to say to the people who make Aquabeads that they should put boys' pictures on too.

Bottom, line, we bought a set, he loves it, and we intend to write to the manufacturer.

I mentioned this to my brothers, separately, who looked at me blankly and clearly think I am bonkers. They said they had probably done their market research etc. etc.

I know that any letter we write will probably be ignored, but are we daft for even trying? Are we being unreasonable to think the marketing should be more inclusive, regardless of any supposed research? How would an orange or green box with a picture of a boy and a girl merrily aquabeading decrease sales?

Think I just hate the 'crafts are for girls' thing. Tell that to some of our finest painters.

[RumbleMum]

DS1 is currently making a pink love heart from his brand-new Aquabeads. I am trying hard not to be smug as he went through a massive 'I hate pink/pink things are for girls' phase about six months ago and we had lots of chats about how it's fine to hate pink if he just doesn't like pink, but he should always play with whatever he wants to (and respect the decision of others to do so too) and that the whole 'x is for girls and y is for boys' thing is silly.

No, sod it - I AM smug.

[RochelleGoyle]

Stand corrected, some of those are Hama beads.

[RochelleGoyle]

I know I'm missing the point a bit but I Googled 'aqua beads for boys' and found Toy Story, Minions and Mario sets in the first few results. There are probably others out there too. 😃

[Catsize]

Hmmm. Brilliant... He might have caught the gay from that doughnut. It is scientifically proven.

[ALemonyPea]

Cat, I was once in Greggs and a mum told her son he couldn't have a donut as it had pink icing on it so was for a girl. Didn't realise food could Ben gender specific either.

I refuse to buy kinder eggs now since they changed to pink and blue packaging, and I'm quite relaxed about boy/girl toys.

[waitingforsomething]

I agree completely. They shouldn't be marketing a craft item at girls exclusively - ridiculous. Nor should they make a boys version. They should put a picture of a girl and a boy playing with the beads on the front and keep the colours more neutral. It isn't hard

[thebiscuitindustry]

YANBU. There's no need for toys to be so polarised. Just make toys in every colour.

[Catsize]

Know what I you mean Moly. The adverts on Milkshake are one of the reasons I prefer the purity of CBeebies. DS has other ideas though...

You know when you hear parents in toy shops saying to a child 'no, you can't have one of those, it's for a [insert opposite of what child is]', have any of you ever said anything? I have been sooooo tempted, but can't get my pearls out in time.

[molyholy]

I can't bear the advert for some kind of gun shooter thing, were the girl is terrified of spiders and lots of boys come in to shoot the spiders and 'save' her. Also seen one before. Kinder eggs with pink wrapper containing my little pony. Think the 'boys' one is green or blue and contains teenage mn turtles. Fucking ridiculous.

[RumbleMum]

YANBU. I feel really strongly about this kind of thing and am slightly tedious about it. DS1 is only five and already knows better than to say any toys are just for boys or girls.

Check out the Let Toys Be Toys campaign - it's really getting some traction, both in the media and with retailers and (to a lesser extent) manufacturers.

I consider it a major success that DS1 asked today for aquabeads - he wouldn't have done that six months ago when he was much more anti pink.

[Catsize]

Thank you for the Beados and Quixels suggestions - will see what he thinks. For now, he is very happy with his Aquabeads, although he seems to enjoy painstakingly retrieving beads that fall into the wrong colour section, as much as creating artistic masterpieces. Although we did a fine star and a fish this afternoon. That was until his younger sister tried to join in.

[NashvilleQueen]

How about Beados (dreadful name)? They look a lot more neutral and are just the same sort of thing.

[SoupDragon]

Wouldn't it be nice if girl children could be used on the advertising of things and we could conclude that those things were for children rather than for girls?

This misses the point that the problem is that it is only girls being used.

The same problem when hot wheels cars etc only use boys.
Or when there are boy only and girl only advertising for Nerf guns and, in fact, specific Nerf guns for girls and boys.

[ALemonyPea]

It's not the fact that there is a girl on the packaging, it's the glitter/sparkly/pink stuff on the packaging. Not many boys will opt for that, no matter how you raise them.

[Earlyday]

Of course girls can be used on the advertising. What is off putting for my DS (age 6) is that the rest of the packaging is heavily pink with pictures of princesses etc.

However i imagine the manufacturers of aquabeads know very well what type packaging and marketing brings in the most profits.

[theycallmemellojello]

Wouldn't it be nice if girl children could be used on the advertising of things and we could conclude that those things were for children rather than for girls?

[MotherKat]

I do wish we could scrap all the gender specific stuff, I like the flow chart that's done the rounds.
Do you operate it with your genitals?
Yes = not for children
No = it is for boys or girls.

[Ilovenannyplum]

YANBU

I usually feel a bit meh about gender stereotypes and it doesn't really bother me but my god, the princess super pink girls only advert really pissed me off.

My DSS's love playing with Hama beads and I suspect they'd also love aqua beads too but I know if I showed them the box they wouldn't see past all the pink and would say no.
I can't understand why they think just marketing them at girls is a good idea?

[Thatrabbittrickedme]

We've spent much of half term doing arts and crafts. DS and DD enjoy equally. It's my favourite type of activity to do together with the kids and there has never been any suggestion in our house that it's a girl thing. I've never had any issues finding stuff DS feels is interested in - I tend to buy from Amazon, and run a search on arts and crafts. DS has Qixels - they are very good, and were his most wanted thing for Christmas just past.

This week DS (age 5) has painted rocks and shells, done a Dinosaur sticky mosaic set, writen/drawn a comic book on superheroes and done some scratch art (sea life and dinosaurs). We still have a Melissa and Doug 3D dinosaur painting set to complete (it's looking grey and rainy outside so maybe we'll do it today!)

[Charley50]

I agree with you that crafts seem to be marketed more at girls, and I'm another one whose DS loved aqua beads and Hana beads when he was younger. The Hana bead box we had was blue. I don't know what he thought of the aqua bead box he still used them.

[ALemonyPea]

X post with Squiggle. Qixels are the ones I meantioned.

[SoupDragon]

Hama beads do have the "Disney Princess" type things but they also have animals etc.

Thinking of all the adverts I end up seeing as part of DDs TV habits, I think the the vast majority of craft stuff is marketed at girls. Dohvinci, some card making laminator thingy, sequin art, aquabeads... All girls.

[ALemonyPea]

There is a boy version iirc, but they are square not round. Think they're based loosely on Minecraft.

I agree about the packaging though. I have three boys, and the majority of craft stuff is aimed at girls, they are put off by it but would enjoy doing it if in neutral packaging.

[squiggleirl]

If it's the spraying water piece he's interested in, try Qixels. They're Aquabeads for boys, with a strong Minecraft slant.

FWIW, Aquabeads and Qixels have been used by both boys and girls in our house. All loved them.

[SoupDragon]

But they can't win. If they have done boxes in pink with a girl on and some in a different colour with a boy on then people will accuse them of doing boy/girls toys and making them gender specific.

Unless you want to insist ever package for everything has a boy and a girl on.

You only have to look at the packaging for Hama beads to know that it is perfectly possible for them to win.

The IKEA versionofhama beads is just a box of beads and a packet of the peg boards. No gender whatsoever.