The simplistic colour division of boys’ and girls’ toys has rankled feminists for years. While boys are hit with the marketing of “macho” action figures, Lego sets and construction toys, typically in shades of blue, green, khaki and black, girls are deluged by a sea of pink plastic, from dolls in bright pink boxes to pink make-up sets, pink castles, pink teddy bears – even pink scooters. It’s a crass gender separation and, for many adults, it represents an outdated view of male/female stereotype.
The pink/blue division may seem like a timeless tradition, but you don’t have to look too far into the past to find its roots. Until the 20th century, there was no firmly established rule that girls should wear pink – or that pink was a particularly feminine colour – but, by the 1940s and 50s, British and US babies were being dressed in pink or blue to define their gender from birth.
Like all colour symbolism, this stark means of identification brought with it a somewhat crude sense of identity – but encouraging such a base and tribal division of children didn’t do anything to promote gender equality.
For marketers, of course, the new gender colour-coding presented an enormous opportunity. Driving children towards a mass of either pink or blue in a toy shop was such an easy way to drive their fledgling consumerism. Toy and fashion manufacturers had found a very easy, and instantaneous, way to sell their products to the masses. With a heady mix of overenthusiastic parents and easily swayed toddlers, the child-centric industry had a field day. The pink/blue divide thrived … until the turn of a new century.
Although the toy shelves are still full of gender-defining colour, there has been a shift. Many 21st century parents feel it’s unfair to brand children using such one-dimensional terms and they believe that the colour coding used by marketers is not only a cynical – and often aggressive – route to selling toys, but also a reinforcement of social, financial and cultural gender inequality.
Children are confronted by gender-defining colour from every angle, from the television characters they adore to the kids’ merchandise offered for sale at the theatre, cinema and family festivals, to the highly gendered toys that are stacked high in every toy shop and superstore – but parents are taking a stand.
Pinkstinks, a campaign started by twin sisters Emma and Abi Moore, targets products and marketing they feel prescribe stereotyped and limiting roles to young girls, believing the “pinkification” of girlhood affects both boys and girls. Their campaigning has even received vocal support from Ed Mayo, former chief executive of the British National Consumer Council, who said: “This colour apartheid is one of the things that sets children on two separate railway tracks. One leads to higher pay and higher status – and one doesn’t.”
A growing number of independent toy manufacturers are now offering gender neutral alternatives, and some of the larger retailers are being forced to follow suit. Under pressure from the parent-led Let Toys Be Toys campaign, Marks and Spencer agreed to use gender neutral packaging for its toys from 2014, and the Entertainer, Boots and Debenhams have taken down “boys” and “girls” signage in their toy departments.
With such a voracious parental appetite for change, the swathe of “pink for girls” in toy shops may have a limited shelf life. There is nothing wrong, of course, with dreaming of being a pink-frocked princess in a pink castle if that’s what you want as an individual – but not if it’s purely what a toy manufacturer wants you to aspire to. And hopefully, in the years ahead, a change of colour code in the toy industry will signal a wider move towards true gender equality in British society.
Introducing Valspar…
Established in 1806, leading American paint brand Valspar is inspiring the UK to get colour confident with the launch of its extensive range of high quality paints and unique tinting technology, which has the ability to match any colour the eye can see – that’s around 2.2 million shades. Using their unique colour-matching technology, any colour can be scanned; be it the blue sky from a holiday photograph, or a vibrant pink from a favourite garment, and recreated in paint form.
Available exclusively at B&Q, Valspar’s Premium paints feature a super scrub formula so paint won’t fade or chip off when cleaned and it comes in a range of wide range of high quality interior and exterior paints in a variety of finishes. Valspar is available at B&Q stores nationwide, visit valsparpaint.co.uk or visit any B&Q store to find out more.
