We’ve been taking a look at TV toy ads to see how they show children’s play, and what picture they give viewers about boys and girls. The results are pretty depressing.
It’s that wonderful time of the year, when the toy industry goes into overdrive trying to convince children which toys they desperately need Santa to drop down the chimney. But many of Santa’s surprises will have been produced and promoted in the belief that boys and girls should have different toys and should be targeted separately. ‘Tis the season for excessively stereotypical selling practices.
Download the full research report: Who gets to play? What do TV toy ads tell children about girls’ and boys’ play? Dec 15
It was during the frustration of the Christmas shopping period that the Let Toys Be Toys movement began. In the run up to Christmas 2012, a group of parents on an online chat forum, fed up of the archaic gender stereotypes being fed to children, decided to tackle the toy industry. Our pilot survey uncovered some of the areas we wanted to change; over half the high street stores we visited used Boy/Girl signs to tell shoppers who toys were meant for. We decided to ask retailers to take down the signs and organise by theme instead. A year of campaigning later, our 2013 survey found a 60% reduction in gendered signs. In 2014 we found the use of gender categorisation across online shopping sites had reduced by 46% over two years.
This year we’ve been watching television adverts. Joy to the world.
Toy ads – what we found
Volunteers for Let Toys Be Toys watched 9 UK channels over 30 hours of programming to see how boys and girls are represented in TV advertisements for toys in the UK. The results should be no surprise to those parents who watch commercial television with their children; a majority of TV adverts show boys and girls playing separately, in very stereotypical ways.
- Boys were shown as active and aggressive, and the language used in adverts targeted at them emphasises control, power and conflict. Not one advert for baby or fashion dolls included a boy.
- Girls were generally shown as passive, unless they were dancing. The language used in the ads focuses on fantasy, beauty and relationships. Out of 25 ads for toy vehicles, only one included a girl.
Ads targeted at boys were mainly for toys such as vehicles, action figures, construction sets and toy weapons, while those targeted at girls were predominantly for dolls, glamour and grooming, with an overwhelming emphasis on appearance, performing, nurturing and relationships.
Ads that featured boys and girls together were usually in categories such as action/board games, art/craft materials, interactive toys and soft toys. The action games we watched all had boys and girls playing together, although boys outnumbered girls 3:2, and these ads all had male voiceovers.
Some ads that featured boys and girls together showed them as adversaries, for example the girls screaming and running away from the boy’s Wild Pets remote control spider, or the boy trying to break into a girl’s secret journal.
More alike than different
We think boys and girls are more alike than different, which is something science backs up. We know that interests cross genders, so why do marketers persist in encouraging children to believe they should only have certain, gender specific, interests?
Why does it matter?
Marketing toys by gender limits children’s choices, limits their chances to learn and develop and feeds bullying.
Recent research by the Young Women’s Trust found that young women have more stereotyped views about the work that’s suitable for men and women than older women do. What are the chances that there’s a link between this and the fact that gender-stereotyped marketing to children has massively increased since the 1970s?
We’re asking for more responsibility from toy manufacturers. It’s past time they stopped using harmful stereotypes in their advertising and marketing. We’d like to see companies use their creativity and innovation to market toys in a way that helps children to grow up in a world that supports imagination, not limitation.
Download the full research report: Who gets to play? What do TV toy ads tell children about girls’ and boys’ play? Dec 15
What can you do?
Shop outside the box this Christmas! Don’t let narrow stereotypes limit our children’s choices.
- Support retailers which don’t promote stereotypes – visit our Toymark directory.
- Seek out alternatives – check out our stereotype-free Christmas gift guides.
- Talk to friends and family about why stereotypes matter.