relationship between gender and consumer culture is more complex, and less easily understood in terms of simple ‘cause and effect’.
28.
The Review heard from retailers that the market for children's toys is a global one and that there is not a wide range of products for retailers to choose between.They suggested that they had little alternative other than to stock what will sell well, and that, indeed, customers looked for clear signals as to whether an item was intended for a boy or a girl. The Review heard consistently that retailers stocked pink items because they knew there was demand for them, and that if other colours were popular they would stock items in those colours too. But we also note that the ‘pink for girls’ approach can have a positive side (see Case Study).
CASE STUDY: PRODUCT PACKAGING
"In 2006, we used to sell our 'Bath Bomb' product in blue packaging, thinking that would give it a unisex appeal, and so increase our market potential. We were selling at a rate of 15,000 sets per annum.The product is legally defined as a 'chemical experimentation set' but, unfortunately, 'science' still appeals to boys more than girls. Once we changed to predominantly pink packaging and marketed it as a craft activity, we were shocked to see consistent sales of 80,000 to 120,000 sets per annum ever since! Experience has taught us that the success or otherwise of a toy depends largely on the pack design communicating quickly to the consumer whether a toy is best suited to boys or to girls."
Source: Bob Paton, Interplay UK, Toy Manufacturer
29.
There is a popularly held view that girls and boys play with stereotypical toys because they learn to see this as appropriate for their sex. This is contested territory: others argue there is greater evidence now of there being innate gender differences so that a desire to play with one kind of toy over another is at least as much about biological drivers as with socialisation and has to do with a normal, healthy development of gender identity (Buckingham, Willett, Bragg and Russell, 2010). What is not in doubt is that the commercial world provides plenty of reinforcement of gender stereotypes and is likely to do so for as long as there is customer demand.
