Gender and the toy aisle?

Catheryn Small: Developmental toys are more likely to be gender-neutral, with bright primary colors, animals, etc. But you are right, toys for kids over the age of around 5 (and that's being generous) are definitely marketed as 'pink' toys or 'blue' toys. And it is so integrated into our collective psyche that I don't even have to say which is for whom.

Troy Monsivais: There are lots of things that are gender neutral. Many art and craft items, slinkies, yo-yos, blocks, many board games, etc.Of COURSE marketing tactics are used to sell toys to a gender-anchored world. people generally know when they are going to a toy store who they are buying for and an idea of what they want to buy. Just like shopping for anything else, people don't want to wander an entire store looking for a specific category of item when it is intuitive to group them together.I think girls' toys tend to cater to the sense of vanity and female appeal prevalent in our society. They still suppor! t some long-honored roles of homemaker and caretaker - but not as heavily as they used to since women now work outside the home predominantly.I think boys' toys reinforce the butch male ideal, with a twist of ick and violence more than there used to be 20 years ago. I see fewer boy toys (like Bob The Builder) stuff that reinforce career gender roles....Show more

May Stands: Toys, like almost all products, cater to a specific part of the market. Toy A will sell more units if it makes a very effective appeal to girls instead of an ineffective appeal to both sexes.

Jorge Detlefs: The manufacturers build to sell, whatever the market calls for. And the market is the parents of the little tykes. Whatever sells best, they make more of. It's simple economics.As far as change, this is only mildly related, but I used to get mail order catalogs from a company that had continuous contests with stereotypical silhouettes on the catalog cover representing past winners. I ! wrote to the company asking if I was not eligible to win, sinc! e all of the silhouettes were apparently of women. From then on, the silhouettes were of both men and women....Show more

Joan Stavropoulos: This sounds like someones homework to me. So sorry my answer wont be that specific. Businesses are in the business of making money. They do not care one way or the other about gender or sexual orientation on a personal level. They will sell whatever, to whoever, is giving them money. Period.That said, they spend lots of time and money researching who is most likely to want to buy that specific product and will gear the marketing, advertising, and packaging toward them. Also ever notice that quite often the commercials and the package are usually better than the actual product. I'm sure that parents have a role in the final decision which is often gender biased....Show more

Maurice Breuning: The last time I saw gender neutral toys was when I walked into a German Toy store. A whole bunch of "gender neutral" toys in there. I'! ve never really liked pink, so whenever I bought something in pink packaging, the packaging went straight into the trash after I took the toy out (this was when I was little).

Ricky Frazer: yes because that is who their target audiance is