Toy stores have always had separate section for the boy toys and the girl toys. Gender-specific marketing has a lot to do with the way people see certain objects. Advertisers produce commercials that reach out to the specific gender that they think is more likely to consume their product. Gender-specific advertising negatively affects consumers, society, and companies.
Gender-specific marketing limits the consumer choice. It affects the consumer in a negative way because it puts items in a category and may limit their way of thinking about that item and can make them choice a different item. When children are in a play setting, two different genders are seen. Girls often play with dolls and boys tend to play with action figures (Fitzgerald
…show more content…
It effects girls because usually when someone thinks of a police officer or doctor the person is expected to be a male. Normally, women are not seen playing a strong leadership role and are supposed to be less dominant than men. Unlike females, on the other hand where males are seen more superior out of the two genders. Most professions that require strength are targeted to men. Men are the expected ones in law enforcement fields and it is more accepted by society for them to be a doctor or a police officer. It effects boys because if they wanted to be in a career such as a nurse or caregiver it would be slightly frowned upon because it would be considered a job held by a woman. Donald R. McCreary wrote, “When confronted with males and females deviating from society 's sex-based gender role prescriptions, people tend to respond more negatively to the males ' transgressions”( 517). Males in professions that are targeted to females are assumed to be soft and having women tendencies. This is also the case when it comes to profession of teaching. Society once saw teachers as primarily being a role held by women, not men. Women historically were seen as the teacher and schoolmarms that provided education to youths over the …show more content…
It limits a company’s earnings potential because the market for that specific item would be targeted to only one gender. This makes the profit rate decrease because the target market for that specific item would be only a man or only a woman. By targeting boys in the marketing of mini racecars, hot wheels may have a lower profit rate because its main target is little boys. If the product was a unisex product it would have an abundance of profit coming its way because it is hitting the needs of more than one specific gender. According to Kate Fitzgerald, every toy makers dream is to make a toy that every boy and girl finds irresistible. A “smash” toy can generate a large sum of profits almost overnight and one that can appeal to both genders would be considered a double-whammy (1). For example, board games, puzzles and bubbles which is not gender labeled has a better chance of greater profit potential than a toy like the mini race cars. It would be better for companies to have items like the ones listed above for better sale
Auster, Carol, and Claire Mansbach. "The Gender Marketing Of Toys: An Analysis Of Color And Type Of Toy On The Disney Store Website." Sex Roles 67.7/8 (2012): 375-388. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Men and women both drive cars, it’s a simple necessity to be able go to work for most people, however, from the commercials on television, one would assume that men are the primary purchasers of cars. In Steve Craig’s essay, Men’s Men and Women’s Women, he analyzes four commercials to illustrate how advertisers strategically targets the viewers. Craig argues that advertisers will grasp the attention of the viewer by the gender ideals that both men and women have of each other. Not only do advertisers pick a target audience demographic, but they also will target the audience at specific time to air their commercials. By analyzing an Audi and Bud Light commercial, one can see that Craig arguments are true to an extent but it appears that commercials have gone from an idealized world to a more realistic and relatable stance. for are still [true, however it seems that commercials may have altered to appear more realistic.] [relevant to an extent. This is to say, it appears that advertisers may have altered their commercial tactics. ]
Rajecki, D. W., Dame, J., Creek, K., Barrickman, P. J., Reid, C. A., & Appleby, D. C. (1993). Gender Casting in Television Toy Advertisements: Distributions, Message Content Analysis, and Evaluations. Journal Of Consumer Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), 2(3), 307.
Gender roles in toys are overwhelmingly obvious. The breakdown has not changed in so many years that we all comply with and follow without question. Taking a trip to the local Toys R Us store showed me just how obvious the line was drawn for the sexes, showing a specific division of the two. The stores layout clearly establishes the line between girl’s toys and boys toys. There are very few isles that will intermingle within the sexes. For this project I selected the following age groups; infant, preschool and school age with a focus on girls toys.
Toy companies have strategic ways to market their products to consumers. One of the most common strategies is to market their toys to a specific gender. This shows with the separate aisles that are designed for each gender. So, this separation of gender could lead way to the idea that “Toyland is boy and girl land” (Auster, Claire). These ideas of “boy and girl land” play upon the stereotypes of each specific gender and impose these conventional stereotypes on children. When these girl specific aisles lack in the ...
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
The toy industry makes it seem acceptable that only certain toys are suitable for one or the other gender by marketing them as such. For a parent to differ, it would mean stepping out of the box, possibly alienating their child from others with a choice that might seem odd. Rather than making their child feel or appear awkward, parents continue to support the gender biases found in toys, thereby promoting gender socialization. It is important however, that parents, as role models and consumers, must be diligent in their choices and make decisions that will help either negate or balance out gender biases in
In the article The gender Marketing of toys: An Analysis of Color and Type of Toy on the Disney Store Website, Auster and Mansbach conducted research to examine the gender marketing of toys on the internet. They looked at what characteristics of “boys and girls” toys share, such as color of toy, type of toy, and witch toys were labeled for girls and boys. The pre - research of this study suggested that children are making gender distinctions of themselves and their group based on the types of toys that are bought for them. Bright and darker colors are meant as a distinction for “boy” toys, while pastel colors are meant for “girl” toys. The previous research also suggested that toys for boys and girls express traditional gender roles and that gender neutral toys are more likely to
Based on my observation, Walmart is one of the toy retailers labeled and categorized toys by gender. They placed “Girls” and “Boys” signs over their toy aisles. Initially, I studied the toys under
Advertising has become a means of gender socialization because it is a way for people to learn the “gender map” that lays out the expectations for men and women based on their sex.
Advertising surrounds the world every second of the day. This form of influence has had the power to influence how society views gender roles ever since men and women began to appear in advertisements. Through the exposure to many different gender portrayals in advertising, gender roles become developed by society. This stems from how men and women are depicted, which forms stereotypes regarding the individual roles of men and women. People often shift their definition of an ideal image towards what they see in advertisements. From this, they tend to make comparisons between themselves and the advertisement models. Advertisements tend to be brief, but impactful. The different portrayals of men and women in advertising show that advertisements
The days of blue is for boys and pink is for girls are coming to a victorious end. Now more than ever, child products are marketed specifically towards just girls or just boys, and not for children in general. This outright gender specific marketing can have poor effects on the children consumers, who feel pressured to play with the toys made specifically for their gender. A boy who likes Barbie or a girl who likes race cars and trucks may not want to play with the toys they really enjoy because they feel they are not supposed to be for them. The idea of gender-neutral toys is becoming more and more popular, because this change is greatly needed. The removal of gender specific toys from current marketing and stores has the capability to empower
To sum up, it is often said that advertising is shaping women gender identity, and some have been argued that the statement is true, because of the higher amount of sexual references of women that advertisement show and the damages that occur on women’s personality and the public negative opinions of those women. As well, the negative effects that those kinds of advertisements cause to young generations and make them feel like they should simulate such things and are proud of what they are doing because famous actors are posting their pictures that way. Others deem this case as a personal freedom and absolutely unrelated to shaping women gender identity. On the contrast, they believe that, those sorts of advertisements are seriously teaching women how to stay healthy and be attractive, so they might have self-satisfaction after all.
Second I went to Target while in this store I took some time and looked around a bit to take in all that they have to offer for toys. As I look in the aisle it came to my attention that they were very much close together all the store was all in one spot and easy to find. On the aisle they were listed very well some has things that said educational toys, toddles, and games. When looking down the aisles you could see how they setup their toys for girls and boys like one side would be boys with action figures and the other side would have Barbie and stuff to dress them up with. One thing that I did not find was a toy that could be or both genders they pretty much just had one or the other and the only way you could tell you was in the boy or girl section was just by the colors of the toys is all really. So if someone was to walk into a store to find a toy for gender-neutral they would have to really take some time and look for them that would be suitable for both genders. I feel would children could learn from these toy is that there are boys toy and girl’s toys and they are to play with their own kind of
Many marketers still do not understand the importance of gender marketing which has lead to loss of sale. The basic reason of this concept gaining importance is ‘the changing role of women’. A woman today is not just a homemaker.