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Sarah Mason
Mass Media and Society
December 3, 2013
Media in the media: Gender-based toy ads
Introduction
A total of 94 million Barbie dolls are sold each year in the United States. Thats one child
per two Barbie dolls (Zimmerman, 2008). Toys are in high demand and media companies spend
an average of $17 billion each year on campaigns and promotional efforts to target children with
ads for their products. A quarter of television commercials targeted at children are for toys, which
are marketed to children according to gender stereotypes. Toys that are targeted at girls tend to
revolve around beauty, domesticity and nurturing. Toys that are targeted t boys tend to revolve
around building, action and aggression. Although it seems clear that children are being exposed
to a significant number of toy ads that suggest gender stereotypes and gender roles are
acceptable, the media does a poor job covering what our society is going to do about the issue.
News media also discusses that marketers use techniques to attract children; however, it does not
incorporate scholarly research or theories indicating relationships between the media and
childrens preferences and attitudes. There is a gap in news media coverage concerning the
medias influence on childrens behaviors and values and why gender-based toy ads exist in
society that has sought to rid itself of gender inequities in the last 50 years. Coverage of toy ads
by news media tend to suggest that toy companies are at fault. The media says that toy
companies are producing toys within a homophobic society and do not want to risk losing profit
by making gender neutral toys. However, toy companies say that boys and girls are biologically

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different and have different drives and therefore different playing patterns, suggesting that
children seek out toys that will satisfy and fulfill them.
The primary function of toys is for children to have the opportunity to be creative.
Scholars fear that toys are constraining and destructive to children because gender-based toy ads
suggest to children that gender stereotypes are functional in society. There is also scholarly
research that suggests childrens brains between the ages of 2 and 11 are malleable and most
open to influences (Bakir & Palan, 2010). Studies that use neuroscience brain imaging have
found that children do not have the cognitive capacity to interpret media messages and are more
susceptible to adopting gender stereotypes. I found scholarly research indicating that social
learning does exist among children and the media (Martinez, Nicolas, & Salas, 2013). Children
learn through observation and when they are exposed to gender-based toy ads, they learn how to
behave and what to expect in different situations. In this paper I will address the gap between the
new medias coverage of scholarly research indicating the idea that children learn from the media
and the advertisements they are exposed to and therefore gender-based toy ads are teaching
children to value gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles.

News media coverage

Function of toys:
News media tends not to deny that gender plays a role in the toy world. Sweet (2012)
says that toy departments are segregated by pink and blue aisles, specific to gender. The pink
aisles contain toys that involve beauty, domesticity and nurturing. Such toys are Barbie dolls,
kitchen sets, make-up, princess dresses and any pink accessory. The blue aisles consist of toys
are associated with building, action and aggression. Such toys include race cars, action figures,

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guns and sports. DellAntonia (2012) says that toys that promote gender stereotypes are
exploiting natural play patterns and are limiting creativity because toy companies use gender
stereotypes to promote products to children. The main function of toys traditionally has been to
communicate values and expectations, train children for adult roles and inspire creativity.
Despite the fact that children in todays society have equal opportunities regardless of gender, the
world of toys is saying otherwise. The main function of toys today is to give children the
opportunity to be creative, understand spatial relationships, develop fine motor skills and learn
about problem solving. Orenstein (2011) says that it is difficult for children to develop life skills
from toys that emphasize, reinforce and create gender differences. News media coverage of
gender-based toy ads indicate that the creative value of toys is being interfered.

Bans and censorship:

Although gender has always played a key role in toy ads, there have been periods in time
that girls and boys have been portrayed in toy ads on equal playing fields. One example that
Orenstein (2011) refers to is the 1981 Lego ad. The poster shows a tomboy wearing baggy jeans,
a T-shirt and sneakers holding a Lego creation, suggesting that girls can enjoy building and
Legos just like boys. She indicates that gender equity in society has become less of an issue that
it was 50 years ago. Gender played a dominant role in toy marketing during World War II, but by
the 1970s gender-based toy ads began to disappear. Boys were seen in ads playing in the kitchen
and girls were shown playing with airplanes and constructing things. Then again in 1995, gender
started reappearing in toy ads again. Now in the 21st century, it is rare to find a toy that is not
marketed through some gender stereotype (Sweet, 2012).

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The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood seeks to limit the quantity of marketing
that children are exposed to. The CCFC took on the issue of gender roles in toy ads and created
the TOADY Award, which stands for Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young Children. Each
year the Toy Industry Association presents its TOTY (Toy of the Year) Award, so in response the
CCFC chooses the worst toys of the year. One of the nominees this year is the Lego Friends
Butterfly Beauty Shop due to its promotion of gender stereotypes. DellAntonia (2012) argues
that the Lego Friends design set is too limiting because it provides girls with supplies to build a
beauty shop using pink and purple Legos instead of the traditional red, blue, yellow and green.
The media suggest that toy companies are producing products based on gender
differences simply because toys are in high demand. What media coverage lacks is the arguments
of the toy advertisers. I can assume that from my mass communication experience, toy
advertisers argue censorship of toy ads violate First Amendment rights. An average media
consumer would likely not take into account the advertising industrys side of this debate. I find
it interesting that journalists omit an argument that deals with their same rights as creative and
active media producers.

Gender-neutral toy ads:

In countries other than the United States, gender neutrality is coming to life in the toy
world. Molin (2012) refers to Top-Toy, a licensee of Toys R Us based in Sweden that is coming
out with a gender-blind Christmas catalog for toys. Reklamombudsmannen, Swedens
advertising watchdog approached Top-Toy about several of their gender-based toy ads, asking
them to avoid showing girls playing with dolls and boys playing with spy gadgets. Molin states
that in response, Top-Toy replaced girls with boys on packages and photographs for dolls, beauty

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sets and other girly toys. Jan Nyberg, Top-Toys sales director says the changes reflect cultural
trends, and the company has had to adjust their packaging for the global market.
Similarly, Hamleys in London now organizes their toys by theme rather than by gender.
For example, an aisle is categorized by toys that are used outdoors or soft toys, such as stuffed
animals. Rather than using traditional blue and pink in favor of gender, Hamleys uses genderneutral colors such as red and white (Orenstein, 2011).
The news media recognize other countries who are making changes toward genderneutral toys; however, our own society does not appear to be making any sudden changes in
marketing toys. A representative from Sweden says that the advertising industry has recognized
that children do not have the same ability to evaluate marketing communication as adults, and
therefore self-regulatory organizations funded by the industry, such as Reklamombudsmannen
are necessary to ensure gender neutrality in toy ads (Molin, 2012).

Toys as vehicles for social change:

Another trend in news media is that journalists tend to focus on preexisting toys to
promote gender neutrality. For example, Barbie has been a hot topic for toy advertisers to use in
helping transform gender stereotypes and promote gender equity in the realm of toys.
In an article by Zimmerman (2010) he discusses Mattel Inc.s effort to poll its audience
on Barbies next career move. The goal of the campaign was to promote careers that are not
stereotypical for women. Barbie fans were asked to vote whether Barbie should be an architect,
anchorwoman, computer engineer, environmentalist or surgeon next. A number of female
computer engineers caught wind of the campaign and launched their own campaign, urging
fellow female computer engineers to vote their geeky job as Barbies next career.

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Barbie has held 124 professions and has been said to mirror and sometimes anticipate
societal changes. Zimmerman indicates that since Barbies birth in the 1950s, she has served as
a role model for children, especially young girls. In recent years, women leaders have teamed up
with Mattel to create an empowering Barbie for children to emulate. Marie Wilson, the founder
of the White House project, helped Mattel create a President Barbie. Mattel has launched a
voting-campaign to get audiences involved in selecting Barbies next career path. One possible
change that can be made in advertising toys to children is using toys such as Barbie that have
large fan bases and pushing the boundaries of gender stereotypes. Preexisting toy ads can be used
as vehicles to communicate societal changes and advancements (Zimmerman, 2010).

Scholarly research
The problem exists:
One common trend I found in my scholarly research is that scholars all can agree that the
problem exists and is posing threats on society. In an article by Merskin (2002), she indicates that
because children are exposed to a significant number of advertisements each year, it is important
to examine portrayals of gender in advertising. She says that television commercials are one of
the main sources for childrens expectations and prejudices because studies have found that the
media has the potential to influence childrens behaviors and attitudes.
Merskin coded 381 commercials from the Turner Cartoon Network and found that
commercials tended to target boys more often than girls. The commercials were coded on several
different premises, which included product category, target audience, sex of the narrator, setting,
gender of the cast and race of the cast. She then determined the target audience as either male or
female. Merskin found that the majority of toys ads were male. She also found that networks

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tend to use boys more often than girls in their ads. One-third of the commercials contained boys
and less than a quarter of the toy ads had girls in them. Merskin concludes that because there are
so many boys present in toy ads, marketers are demonstrating the safe bet advertising strategy in
which creating a product that boys will enjoy will automatically spark interest in girls too.

Children learn what to value and prefer:

Bakir and Palan (2010) say that marketers seek to reach the greatest number of children
in the most effective way. Common techniques that marketers use to appeal to children include
portraying fun, action, emotion, the products appearance and the products unique features. The
authors also indicate that children develop cognitive frameworks to help better understand
gender-related information. This is why children often turn to stereotypes because they are able
to simplify cognitive processes and categorize gender-related information into meaningful units.
Bakir and Palan say that gender-related content is a common element in childrens toy ads and
should be evaluated because children are exposed to a great number of ads. The authors found
that children develop gender-related conceptual frameworks based on a combination of
biological, social and cognitive factors. Therefore, the environment that children are exposed to
is important factors in developing behaviors and attitudes. This is especially true because
children are more malleable and open to influences of gender roles because their brains are less
developed. The authors conclude that it is safe to assume that at some point in a childs
childhood, an advertisement will have some degree of an influence. This is based on the idea that
children learn through observation.
In another article, Martinez, Nicolas and Salas (2013) coded 595 commercials for toy
typologies, gender values, voiceovers, period, actions and interaction to analyze the differences

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between toy ads aimed at girls and toy ads aimed at boys. The researchers found that a greater
number of boys were present in toy ads compared to girls. In addition, the researchers found that
the values associated with boy toys, such as trucks and action figures are competitiveness,
aggression, power, creativity, individualism and ability. The values associated with girl toys are
beauty and motherhood. Martinez, Nicolas and Salas also refer to research that has found toys to
be fundamental instruments in a childs social and cognitive development. Due to the influential
power of ads that target children, the authors conclude that legislation must urge equal
representation or gender-neutral toy ads.

Harm of gender-based toy ads:

In an article by Shifin (2006), he says that advertisers are beginning to target young
children at an increasingly young age. This is due to toy companies desire to establish brand
preferences among children at a young age. Advertisements promote values and therefore can be
help somewhat responsible for homogenous ideas in our society. Not only are toy ads indicating
the importance of spending money and buying toys, but the advertising industry appears to be
encouraging gender stereotypes and the importance of gender roles.
Shifin refers to neuroscience brain imaging that has found children are defenseless
cognitively and psychologically against advertising. He discusses the techniques that advertisers
use to make viewers more susceptible to their message. Examples of these techniques include
linking toys to popular television programs, product placement and celebrity endorsements. In
addition, technological advancements are allowing marketers to gather personal information
about an individuals habits, attitudes and behaviors to better target them with products and
services. Toy companies are ignoring research that has found the vulnerability of children to the

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media. This poses a great threat on society. Researchers are questioning how far marketers will
go to target children. Shifin refers to capitalism and explains that toy companies are seeking to
maximize profit and therefore do not see a problem in changing their toy products because
people are continuing to buy gender-based toys (Shifin, 2006).

Social learning theory:

The majority of scholarly research that I found regarding my topic discussed how the
social learning theory is at play in toy ads (Sommers, 2012) Children are exposed to a plethora of
advertisements each day. Based on Albert Banduras social learning theory, it has been theorized
that children learn how to behave and what to expect based on observations. Advertising in itself
is a mode of communication in which people observe a message and are encouraged to process
the message and make interpretations to apply to their own life. Scholars indicate that children
lack the ability to make their own interpretations, so essentially they are being exposed to
persuasive messages and unable to make any judgment based on their own knowledge (Bakir,
Blodgett & Rose 2008).

Evaluate media coverage and scholarly research

The majority of news coverage does not present scholarly research and findings that
support the influential power of the media in childrens lives.
Improvements:
One thing that I noticed while researching my topic is that there is not a lot of recent
publications regarding gender-based toy ads. The majority of the news media that I found related
to my topics was fairly recent, all of which was published within the decade. However, many of

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the scholarly sources that I found while gathering information were from the 1980s and 1990s. A
lot has changed in our society in 30 years and I think it is important to re-evaluate issues
surrounding gender-based toy ads. A new wave of research on the topic might help bring
attention to the issue.
Another improvement that should be made is that the news media should do a better job
of presenting scholarly research and scientific findings to the public in their articles. Studies have
found a significant relationship between the media and social learning; however, journalists do
not do a very good job emphasizing the importance of this finding. This may in part deal with the
fact that journalists are also involved in influencing audiences and do not want to bring attention
to the fact that the media can play a major role in influencing individuals behaviors and
attitudes.
Lastly, the news media does not suggest a significant difference between an adults and a
childs ability to interpret media messages. Children are not cognitively developed like adults in
order to fully comprehend persuasive messages and marketing communication. Therefore,
children should be treated as more passive because they are more susceptible to media messages
than adults.

What is well-known and what is lacking:

It seems to be true that both news media and scholarly research on the topic clearly
indicate that there is an issue at hand. Toy advertisers do not seem to be denying the fact that
gender-based ads are the dominant way of communicating toys to children. It also seems to be
well-known in scholarly research that children are incredibly vulnerable to the media and are
likely to adopt the values that are communicated through advertisements. This knowledge is

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lacking in news media because journalists do not refer to scholarly research indicating the
relationship between social learning and advertisements among children.
In addition, news media tended to refer to other countries like Sweden and London that
are transitioning into gender-neutral toy ads and censoring toy ads for gender stereotypes.
However, such advancements have not occurred in the United States, or if there have been
movements, it was difficult to find information about gender-neutral toy ads occurring in
America.

Gaps in research:
One gap in research is that it is a known fact that advertisers spend billions of dollars
each year on marketing products to children. Why then, do advertisers refuse to fund studies to
research the effects of the media on childrens preferences? If marketers are willing to spend
money on targeting children with ads, it would seem that funding research would not be that
costly. Also, journalists and scholars agree that gender-based toy ads exist in society; however,
there is no real research on why they exist in a culture that has said to have made great strides in
the last 20 years regarding gender equity. Lastly, there have only been two documented studies
on monkeys and toy preferences. The research that has been conducted has found a significant
difference between male monkey toy preferences and female monkey toy preferences. There are
two non-human primate species that can be researched and compared with human findings. This
is a significant advancement in technology and should be looked into and published (Hines &
Alexander, 2008).

Conclusion:

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There is an obvious issue concerning gender stereotypes and toy ads that target children.
News media does a sufficient job identifying the problem, but it does not present enough
scholarly research identifying why the problem is important to address. I know from my own
experience researching the effects of the media on children that scholarly research is the primary
place to learn about how advertisements influence children. Other countries are making
advancements toward gender-neutral toy ads and American journalists cover these
transformations well. It would be helpful to bridge the gap of research if news media journalists
were to include scientific research indicating social learning. I did not find a single news media
source that indicated a mass communication theory was at play in the issue of gender-based toy
ads. This surprised me at first, but then after reflecting on what I have learned this semester, it
makes sense for journalists to not want to publish information that makes the media look like a
negative impact. The authors of most scholarly research articles are doctors and psychologists
that are seeking to publish their findings, they are not interested in protecting the media like
news media journalists are.

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Bibliography

Bakir, A., Blodgett, J. G., & Rose, G. M. (2008, June 1). Childrens responses to gender-role
stereotyped advertisements. Journal of Advertising Research, 39(1), 35-48.
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Bakir, A. & Palan, K. M. (2010, March 1). How are childrens attitudes toward ads and brands
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DellAntonia, K. J. (2012, November 29). Worst toy awards target Lego Friends. The New
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