_ Take a look in any toy store, there is a boy side and a girl side. The
boys side consists of cars and trucks, while the girls side is full of
pink toys and glitter. These differences between aisles is an example of
how stereotyping is presented between genders. The media and
advertisements are filled with stereotypes especially television
commercials. Children spend a great amount of time glued in front of the
television and in turn are exposed to these gender based commercials.In
the article Gender Stereotypes in Advertising on Children's Television in the 1990s: A Cross-NationalAnalysis by Beverly Browne, she states that "in 1988 in the United States, children viewed more than 20,000 commercials
a year" (Browne 83). This is a statistic from more than 20 years ago.
Now children have access to even more commercials via the internet,
YouTube and their phones. While browsing the internet myself in search
of more information on stereotyping, I came across a few rather interesting ads.
Stereotyping and Gender Roles in Advertising
_ This is an advertisement for a baby doll called Little
Mommy and reads, "Every baby needs a Little Mommy™ of
their own / From the time they are born to the time they are grown /
Someone to nurture, teach, giggle and share style too / She’s extra
special and oh-so-sweet… / That Little Mommy™ is you!" The
way that the add is written and the colors send a message that girls
are stylish. This advertisement also excludes boys which tells them that
they do not carry the role of a parent as girls do.
Gender M & M'S
These M&M's are displaying that boys and girls are different. That blue represents a boy and pink represent a girl. Society has definitely shaped this thought into our heads but to advertise it for children to see if they want a special treat from a vending machine has gone too far. Boys and girls should not feel that they are completely different from the opposite sex.
The above video argues that the new Lego themed blocks called "Lego Friends", "segregates the new "Friends" version of Lego's from the rest of the Lego world" (YouTube). This new theme is aimed towards girls from their purple packaging, purple and pink bricks to the accessories that are included, consisting of a brush, blow dryer and makeup for the Lego friends. The characters included in this line are constructed differently than the original Lego line. As the video argues, "The new mini dolls are taller, curvier and wear little skirts" (YouTube). An article from MPBN reports that Michael McNally, the brand relations director for Lego, argues that this new line is just another theme added to the already well known Lego brand, ""Lego Friends is not the only Lego solution for girls--it's simply another theme that we've added to really, hopefully engage a broader audience of girls in construction play than are currently choosing to do so" (Sharon). He says the company learned two important things from its research: "that girls do want to build things; and that they want to build things around story lines or characters who look more like them than the traditional blocky Lego figures" (Sharon).