An article ‘The Gender Marketing of Toys: An Analysis of Color and Type of Toy on the Disney Store Website’ written by Carol Auster and Claire Mansbach touches upon one of the most relevant issues in today’s social functioning such as gender stereotyping in the toy industry. The particular topic of the article looks into the cartoon industry and especially into the impact of Disney on various types of toys. The article begins with an explicit example of how Disney portrays little girls and boys while promoting their toys, and what is the potential consequence for the socially constructed roles. Such an examples with a visual proof indicate that despite a significant progress towards gender neutrality, large and influential corporations such as Disney still make a profit while bring a wrong portray both genders. That is how boys are commonly portrayed stronger and more ambitions and girls still get a more social role in the world of marketing. The paradox found in the article is that the colors often mark these preconditions. Thus, the main idea of the article was to raise awareness of the currently existing issues and prove that there are different mechanisms on how to prevent these issues from further proliferation. Topic sentence: Despite significant progress in countering sexism, the feminist movement should bring a new dimension for action to counter gender stereotyping, and the example presented in the toy industry is certainly appealing to the necessary changes in the domain.
First and foremost, a lot of currently existing examples prove that the issues raised by an authors remain relevant these days. Proof that such a well-known corporation as Disney uses the narrative of a gender stereotyping is compelling, given the amount of viewers and visitors of the company every year. Having conducted a sociological research, scholars concluded that the US. Disney Store was largely segregated. Moreover, the reason why attention was drawn to the color and their marking is because the company largely relies on marketing while making their ultimate profits.
A proof of portraying girls and boys according to marketing tools illustrates how deeply rooted these issues remain and what should be consequently done. The context of Disney is also strongly reliant on the age groups. Given that the key target audience of the company comprises of kids, they are the ones to perceive the gender stereotypization from the mass market since their early years. In that regard, the focus of the authors on how adult use marketing tools to attract more profits shows that the older age categories often impose the stereotypes, especially in the toy industry. The context of an article is supported by the stories of cusomters who share the perspective of gender stereotypization on their examples. According to the developpers of the concept, gender-based marketing shall aim at revealing the choices made by customers. Even a color palette is given a very detailed attention. For instance, authors claim that bold or pastel contribute to a more enhanced gender understanding of associating the choices. With that in mind, one can illustrate a personal perspective on those issues and prove why a currently existing approach is the toy industry is being made.
Secondly, the types of toys often determine the relevant choices that would be made. An interesting aspect, which arises from reading the article, is the fact that various types of toys cause different types of emotions. In fact, the more appealing a toy is to a child, the faster a customer would strive to get it. In that regard, the saying that ‘green is for aliens’ becomes true, as customers are not very likely to opt for that color (Auster, Mansbach, 2012).
There may be different assessments of the effectiveness of the author, but my personal impression is that the message was clearly conveyed. In fact, one can clearly see the set of play regarding gender stereotyping with the particular emphasis of what is right and what is wrong. A very clear depiction of the role of colors and focus on the sociology and behavioral trends is certainly something one could assess. A useful criticism proved with the visual material certainly provokes rethinking from the side of designers of the marketing tools which ultimately have negative impact on customers. In other words, after seeing what the potential consequences of gender stereotyping may be on their children, parents would be more likely to take this issue of gender-based marketing as well as the toy industry more seriously into account. On the contrary, the effectiveness may also be measured by profits which companies involved in gender stereotyping make. That is why, the argument with the necessary gender-based marking of goods still remains relevant. The main reason to change their flow of operation would be not because of some thought-provoking article, which appears in the media but after losing some significant profit which the Disney makes. In the capitalist world, this is largely how a world of marketing operates these days, and one could clearly note that the authors do not make very optimistic conclusions about the industry. Only in the long-term perspective, people may simply stop buying products which are marked with the gender stereotyping. However, before these measures will be reached one shall be aware that the current phase of the operation in the toy industry is not very promising, while referring to the gender stereotypes.
- Auster, Carol J., and Claire S. Mansbach. “The Gender Marketing Of Toys: An Analysis Of Color And Type Of Toy On The Disney Store Website”. Sex Roles, vol 67, no. 7-8, 2012, pp. 375-388. Springer Nature, doi:10.1007/s11199-012-0177-8.
