Would anyone like to join in an effort to convince retailers to stop categorizing toys by gender?

[OneHandWavingFree]

Following on from this thread and similar ones, a few of us are interested in discussing ways to send a message to retailers that it is not acceptable to designate 'boys' and 'girls' toy aisles which reinforce the message that science and adventure are "boys stuff", while girls should be primarily occupied with looking 'sexy' or practicing for domestic drudgery.

The first steps might be to draft a letter and identify a few retailers to target for an email campaign. Other ideas of how to get the message across are very welcome too, though.

Would anyone like to join in?

Sorry I missed all that as I was typing with one finger! The 100 mark! Congrats to all, big thanks to H and OHWF!

Sorry bit slow off the mark on this! I thought the exact same thing when DS was playing with a lovely doll's house by Le Toy Van. Why did it have to be pink all over and covered in flowers? Why couldn't it be more neutral?

Casey - cheers!

I get what you're saying about signs with pictures, and pink and blue writing in shops / catalogues. I think that's the same thing as "Boy" "Girl" signs, because they're about in-store marketing by the retailer. Similarly, I think when the retailer comes out with their own range of toys that are called "Boys Stuff" (like M&S has), that's the same thing too.

I think the focus (intially) needs to be on how retailers limit choice, for now. All fo the above are examples of that.

Lego Friends, Pink Jenga, Pink V-Tech Walkers, etc. are very, very much a related issue, but not the current focus of the campaign. So people needs to be able to get into discussions about it, but as you say, I think that when we post 'officially' as the campaign, our current focus should stay on retailers, not on toy companies / manufacturers.

But I'm not trying to 'run' this - it has a life of its own now :) I'm just posting my own opinion as one of the people involved, and am happy to be argued with if people think that's the wrong approach.

Sorry about typos!

Welcome, ginandtonic - will you settle for a ?

I agree OHWF, I do feel strongly about the pinkified stuff but I think the LTBT will do better as a very specific targeted campaign.

Thanks OHWF I completely understand. it's good to discuss these things cos there are so many things that are intertwined it can be hard to unpick.

Like with the colour pink. In theory pink is just a colour, nothing wrong with that, boys are free to choose a pink toy. But the reality is that you'd be hard pressed to find a boy over the age of 5 who would choose a pink toy because he's been socialised to believe its for girls and that this means if he admits to liking a pink toy he will be teased. It's all so sad. I see it happen to DS and it really feels like an uphill struggle.

Still I'm getting maudlin now so I better get myself to bed. I will probably dream of giant pink toys hitting me on the head!!!

Morning all.

I think it is fine if if the FB page includes a bit of pink Jenga etc, but with a predominant focus on what retailers do - as they will be the target for the campaign ask.

Mrs Mushroom - I agree with you about girl/boy sections where all they have done is take the sign down. I noticed this in Tesco - there were no big girl/boy signs, but they hadn't replaced them with anything else, because there was nothing else you could logically write on the signs to explain which toys were where!

The survey is designed so that we generate a ranking. From worst to best. I would receommend we concentrate the campaign particularly on the worst, but also publish the ranking and scores - so if sainsbury get 80% we will state that they dropped points for their online store.

I think this self organising campaign is amazing!

Next jobs (I propose)....

Twitter account (is that Murder of Goths? 2-3 people could tweet on one account ...)

A logo/graphic identity (not a logo really, but the words Let Toys be Toys made into a campaign ...) - does anyone have good skills for this? Could they post up some ideas/ options to discuss?

Mumsnet I guess this is different from most MN campaigns- more self organising (similar to blankets/wooly hugs) , and we don't want to lose that. But it would be good to have some official MN clout too. I wonder if there should be a different kind of thing e.g. "Powered by Mumsnet" for these kind of grassroots projects? Could we invite MNHQ here to join the chat for a bit, or send an official delegation to PM with them?

"Made into a campaign identity" I meant to type....

Himalaya I totally agree the self-organising aspect of this campaign is great, and working brilliantly.

I'd quite like to see them come here to join the chat, it's in the spirit of the rest of the way we've organised things!

I'd be really interested to hear what makes a mumsnet campaign from their point of view, and what it would mean for us in practical terms.

It'd be great to get their support (in whatever way works best) :)

Oh, and one other thing for the "To Do" list - I think we should contact Dr Laura Nelson (who did the Hamleys campaign last year), maybe acknowledge her on the FB page etc... Say we are picking up where she left off, ask for her advice etc...

I'd like to offer to help with the Twitter account - not doing the general tweets necessarily, but building the audience by targeting people who we think might be interested, (by following them, hoping for follows in return (it works!) and tweeting individuals.)

I'm currently studying as a mature student (as well as working freelance) and did this last year for our uni radio station. We managed to get nearly 500 followers after starting from scratch.

I had some thoughts about images for the FB page. The more creative we are, the more likely people are to share. Someone here was good at design but I can't remember who!
These aren't massively funny or clever but maybe a starting point for other ideas.

1. A little boy next to the 'girls' prams saying "so why can't I pretend to be a dad again?"
2. Ditto for little girl and doctor's set
3. On one of the original threads someone linked to a 1970's Argos catalogue . I think a montage of 'then and now' could be really effective.

FB admins - can u link to this article today in the Guardian ?

.... The author is a MN blogger - we should also add her to our list of "friendlies" to contact, along with the Pink Stinks crew.

I think we need a team of folks to coordinate this kind of "outreach" ... I'd be happy to be on it with a few others?

Love the lego image!

hi all, have just caught up with this thread. Proud to have been about the 5/6th 'like' on the fb page !!

I have posted a few things there which aren't in-store images. Thought it might be relevant to show how play translates into real life at a young age. I can see that admin are reposting some images, happy that those are picked which go closest with the core message but hope you don't delete other ones!

Off to Costco later which has a few aisles of children's books and toys. As they are light on signposting in general I don't expect there to be boy/girl divisions but I might peer closely at the packaging. Will also try to do the survey for a couple of good online examples I know of.

Too late, but my vote would have been for let toys be toys.

I'm not very socially media savvy but I'd be really happy to help out with the twitter account if there's anything I can do. If it's just a matter of finding people / organisations who would be interested, I could certainly help with that.

A question on the timing- are we waiting for the survey results and setting up the online petition before we start targeting followers so that when they come to the site there will be a petition for them to sign? I was going to invite all my friends but I wasn't sure if we were waiting or not ...

Other possible ideas for images:

A kitchen shop with sign above it. Girls.
A car showroom with sign above it. Boys

however, some people/idiots might think this is what we are advocating!

Although not crazy about the gun, that image of the little girl with the gun is very thought-provoking. It turns all assumptions on their head.

I think something along these lines would be great as a campaign image

hello, I'm coming a bit late to the game here but I am fully in support of this and have signed up to the FB page; will have a look at doing the survey stuff later as I've got some time over the weekend. Very excited!

Wow, been on ages catching up.
Himalaya - cheers, article linked to.
Who's sorting the twitter account out? happy to help if any more are needed. fb page 153 at the last count - excellent! Has it been decided that anyone will approach MN about it becoming official, maybe just ask them to have a look in here?

Just popping in to check if MNHQ has been to talk about this yet. Has anyone contacted them yet?