Toys & games

[iklboo]

I was looking at the Tesco website for toy ideas for some upcoming birthdays. One of the toys was a chemistry set. In the description it said 'Gender: Boys'.

WHY Tesco? WHY are chemistry sets just for boys? Should I return my (very ancient & dusty) chemistry o level because I was the wrong gender to sit it?

In fact, WHY gender stereotype the toys in any case?

Sorry. Frothy rant over.

I'm sure they do. 'Ooh chemistry is dangerous. That's for boys, then.'

Hmmm, but if you look at gifts for boys they've got a flower pressing kit and then if you go to the next page of the 'gifts for boys' section there's something called "Fuzzoodles Glamour Girls".

the people who sell these toys are not interested in who they offend (unless it gives them bad publicity) all they care about is selling more toys, and thats thier job.

cutting out half the potential buyers doesnt sound like a good stratergy, do you think it might be cleaver advertising, like "no one can eat 3 shredded wheat" got playgrounds full of kids saying how "stupid that advert is, i ate 5 once!".
it's just an idea, if they say 'this toy isnt for your daughter', maybe that makes you but it for her?

peoples I think it's the other way round - you increase sales by creating a gender segregated market as it discourages sharing and handing down of toys between children of different sexes.

If you only make neutral colours and market it for both sexes you sell only one set to a family with a boy and a girl. If you make the same thing in pink and in blue, you sell two of them.

I agree widow . Retailers do this to flog more stuff.

Likewise packets of plain white baby vests or t-shirts can be passed round, but a tiny pink or blue logo in the corner cuts the sharing down by half.

There's also the factor that now people shop so much by internet, retailers need to classify everything for browsing. So you'll always get "boys" and "girls" as the top line category. The stuff in each should be similar though!