While some toy companies are giving up on long-held preconceptions about gender-specific products, LEGO has gone the other way. Shedding its gender-neutral past, the company now makes toys specifically targeted at either girls or boys. These products have no shortage of critics, but LEGO says it has good reasons for the separate product lines. [More]
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Toy Companies Slowly Letting Go Of Strict Gender Categories
By 10.27.15
A few months ago, Target got a lot of publicity when they decided to remove gender labels from their toys, bedding, and electronics sections. In practical terms, this didn’t change very much: toy marketing didn’t instantly change, so you can tell who each display was “for” even without a sign. However, the rest of the toy industry is slowly changing, realizing that kids don’t like being stuffed in boxes and told what to play with. [More]
Target Promises To Stop Sorting Kids’ Merchandise By Gender
By 8.7.15
While every kid has preferences, there’s no reason why little boys can’t play with dollhouses or why little girls can’t play with plastic dinosaurs. Some parents, kids, and other activists have started to ask retailers why store sections for anything marketed to kids is always separated into strict “girls” and “boys” sections with signage to match. One retailer announced today that they’ll be changing that. [More]
Beastie Boys In Copyright Infringement Tussle With GoldieBlox Over Use Of “Girls” Parody In Ad
By 11.25.13
It seems like you couldn’t go on Facebook or Twitter this week without seeing at least eleventy billion posts sharing a new ad from GoldieBlox, a company that makes toys and games aimed at getting girls interested in science, engineering and tech stuff. It’s a fun video, with a Rube Goldberg-esque “set’em up and watch’em” fall bit and a reworked parody of “Girls” by the Beastie Boys. But the company is now suing the band over what it sees as its right to use the song, something the Boys are not cool with at all. [More]
JCPenney Removes "Too Pretty To Do Homework" Sweatshirt
By 8.31.11
After a jcpenney sweatshirt that said, “I’m too pretty to do my homework so my brother has to do it for me,” caused an uproar among bloggers, the retailer has removed the garment from their website and issued an apology. [More]
JCPenney Sweatshirt Says "I'm Too Pretty To Do Homework"
By 8.31.11
JCPenney is selling this hot pile of a sweatshirt that says, “I’m too pretty to do my homework so my brother has to do it for me.” UPDATE: The shirt has now been removed from their website. [More]
Bikinis For Children: Now With Padded Bras
By 4.15.10
What constitutes an appropriate swimsuit for elementary school-aged girls? Is a bikini inappropriate? How about a padded bikini? This summer, U.K. discounter Primark tried marketing a bikini with a padded top, aimed at girls as young as seven. It didn’t go well. The chain removed the suit from its racks only hours after tabloid The Sun declared the product a [pedophile] bikini. [More]
Conservative Panties In A Twist Over Breastfeeding Baby Doll
By 8.11.09
A Spanish toy company has a new doll out that allows girls to play-breastfeed. Girls put on a special haltertop with daisies over their nipples and draw the doll in when it cries. When the doll’s lips press against the girl’s pink daisies, the baby makes little suckling sounds.
Most Popular Toys Of 2007
By 11.16.07
Are you buying gifts for kids this year? Let us save you the trouble of asking them what they want: for the 5th year in a row, Barbie has emerged at the top of the list of toys most desired by little girls. For boys, the top item was Transformers. (Hey! Why not a Barbie Transformer? That would be awesome.) In a development that we imagine caught toy executives totally off guard, neither group of kids placed “toys made with lead, GHB, or intestine magnets” anywhere on their lists.
