Toys R Us

TOYS R US is a magical place. When you step in you instantly feel like a five year old lost in the most wonderful building in the world, regardless of your age, gender or ethnicity. And yet, certain toys are clearly meant or not meant for you depending on those very categories. Just one look at the box of a toy informs us of its intended playmate. In the store, were specific sections devoted to toys for girls or toys for boys. Our group, comprised of three guys and one girl, were immediately drawn to the Nerf guns.

On the box of all Nerf guns, there is always the picture of a teenage boy with intensity burning in his eyes, looking down the barrel of his spring powered plastic weapon of choice. The box all but shouts Nerf guns are for cool boys.

Being the cool boys they are, all three of the guys in our group immediately began intensely examining the array of Nerf weaponry. We picked various objects and began to excitedly compare the features of each gun, already planning the epic battles that would soon unfold on the battlefield of the boys hall. Meanwhile, Victoria awkwardly stood there. Why is it that we did not envision a Nerf Gun battle involving all of CITY Term? Why couldn’t we see ourselves playing with girls? Was it that we assumed they wouldn’t want them to play or that we didn’t want them to play? In fact, there is nothing about Nerf guns that precludes girls from playing with them. There’s no reason they would not want to play with them besides the fact that Nerf guns have always been marketed solely towards boys.

Boys want to play with these Nerf guns fundamentally, because men shoot real guns. Because it’s a semi competitive game based on war, something that has always been associated entirely, and dominated entirely by men. Boys aspire to be men. But boys, especially in this era, have very little to do with war. What has remained is the social association between the two.

Nerf Guns are fun, everybody should want to play with them, they’re little foam bullets that don’t hurt, that anybody can use, that require virtually no semblance of coordination and skill. Yet the guys immediately left poor Victoria all alone to jump at the arsenal of Nerf weaponry, presuming that she would not want to join us.

In discussion, we realized that we were in fact an example of the gender roles we were so quick to criticize in class the day before. No amount of discussion or self-awareness changes the fact, that we are all subject, to social pressure.

"Havin' dem Bitchezz"

“Look at this view”, “Good things come in threes”, “Don’t be jealous”. What’s the first thing that you think of when you hear these three phrases? Women. With no knowledge of the advertisement, one would automatically know that women are the basic premise of the ad just by looking at these quotes. Featuring Drake, Trey Songz, Pittbull and Rihanna, the advertisement promotes Kodak’s new camera the EasyShare. In Trey Songz’ ad he receives a picture of Drake in front of a sign saying “Drake Sold OUT” and responds with a picture of him on a balcony with a girl in the background. His catch phrase is “Look at this view”. The premise of the view is the background however, to the audience, the implication of the view is the woman. He then goes on to send the picture to Drake, Pittbull, Rihanna and Facebook. These ads are a series, with one celebrity for each commercial, four commercials in all. In the series, the competition of pictures trails on to Pittbull and Rihanna, who each submit a response, Pittbull’s being a picture of him with three girls and the caption “Good things come in threes” and Rihanna’s video being one of her surrounded by many women with the caption “Don’t be jealous”. In this series of commercials the viewer is exposed to many different kinds of success. It begins with Drake pronouncing his success with his sold-out concert but in order to one up him, Trey Songz flaunts his romantic evening with his partner. Pittbull does the same but instead of flaunting romance he flaunts numbers, numbers of women. Front row at fashion week, Rihanna tops them all with a video of her with many women, a lot more than three. All in all, with the premise of the camera being to easily share photographs and video footage with friends, the implication is that in this circle of successful idols the amount of women each celebrity is surrounded by defines their success. With Rihanna’s commercial, we found it interesting that she was included in a competition with men and in order to be included and beat the other men, she had to comply with their standard of success “havin' dem bitches.”

By Lara, Miles, Amelia, Phelix

Just Like Home?!

The toy that jumped out at us most, was in the “girls” section of the Toys ‘R’ Us. It was called “The Deluxe Cleaning Set” made by the company “Just Like Home.” On the box it shows a little girl enjoying her “realistic look” cleaning supplies. The set includes a toy broom, dust pan, mop, scrubbing sponges, swiffer like mop, replacement cloths, heavy duty gloves, and a mop bucket. The set comes in either light blue or lavender.

We feel that not only does this show consumers that women are supposed to grow up to clean but they should enjoy cleaning and think it’s fun. The fact that this set was in the “girls section” and showed only a girl playing on the box emphasizes the notion that cleaning is a feminine task and not masculine. The words on the front of the box, “just like home” support the idea that young girls should grow up to clean. Also it indicates the company’s premise that at the children’s own homes the women take on this role. This and the selection of baby dolls, kitchen sets, and other cleaning sets made us wonder why society influences little girls to “play grownup” long before they should.

Some questions that this raised for us were: Why are little girls attracted to these toys? While we understand that there is a pre-existing stereotype for women to be domestic that causes the industry to produce toys like this, we wonder what makes these toys so interesting to young girls. If these toys weren’t so clearly marketed towards young girls, would young boys want to buy them too? Are products like these causes or affects of gender stereotypes? If the packaging on these toys were made more gender ambiguous would it contribute to the gradual changing of female domestic stereotypes?

-Mary T., Kate, Marin, Sophia M.

Grab a Bud and Head to the Game

The advertisement that jumped out to us was the Budweiser screen in Times Square. It showed many Budweiser products on the large screen with interchanging sports and men as well as many refreshing images of ice and frothiness. No women were featured in this ad and the male scenes were associated with sports, primarily in the baseball field. The stereotypical American male is drawn to sports and by associating beer with the all- American past time it will definitely appeal to them. Not liking sports makes a guy different by not being masculine; therefore, this ad suggests that not liking beer makes you un-masculine. It’s expected of guys to enjoy sports, and by linking the two together it is showing that guys should be expected to drink beer to fit in at the sports games they love. This ad excludes women by not showing any female figures and focusing on sports. This could be an attempt to say that women do not or should not enjoy sports as much as men do, and therefore do not like beer as much as men do. This ad even extends to the point of suggesting that when a girl drinks beer or enjoys sports, they are losing their femininity.

Although we find this add to be stereotypical and generalizing the All American man, we have this type of advertising many times in toys, magazines, and commercials. Because of its prevalence, we can assume that these advertisements are the ones that sell. What does say about our society?

Blair, Adela, Rachel

KIDS THESE DAYS...

We started our trip to Toys R Us by asking ourselves what types of toys we liked to play with when we were younger. Quela, Abby, and Mika mentioned Bratz, Barbies, and Hot Wheels, and Christian said he used to love action figures and Hot Wheels as well. There were overlapping interests for the “boy” toys, but not for the “girl” ones. Arriving at Toys R Us, the result was the same. There was a multitude of little boys and little girls running around in the Lego and Bionicle sections, but no boys in the Barbie house, and if there were, it was unwillingly for the most part. No labels clearly designated “boy” and “girl” sections, but when we asked an employee where best to find a toy for our young niece, he definitively answered, “2^nd floor. That’s the girl’s floor.” The 2^nd floor consisted of a plethora of pink and butterflies, the premise being that girls like pink, and boys do not.

Along with colors being assigned to certain genders there were unspoken implications in the packaging that we saw that seemed to say: Boys like red and blue, cars, fire, and things that move fast. Girls don’t like “boy things” and boys don’t like “girl things”. These premises lead to the implications that boys will deem it socially unacceptable to play with Barbie, and it will become socially unacceptable for girls to play with cars.

After going down the escalator we went right and found ourselves in the electronics section. After browsing the various products, we noticed a pattern; the most notable being the color scheme. For example, we came across iHome music players available in two colors; one being blue, the other pink. This further shows how color is so directly involved in societal gender roles.

After discussing what our reactions were to visiting Toys R Us, everyone in our group came to the mutual agreement that the toy industry is abhorrently sexist. They make assumptions and premises based on the stereotyped genders that are imposed upon young children today. These toys, whether it’s a remote-controlled helicopter or an Edward Cullen Barbie doll, are geared towards either the boy or the girl by embedding within the toys a specific influence of gender.

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Sex Appeal, What Are Times Square Billboards Really Trying To Sell?

As we traveled through Times Square amongst the sea of advertisements two stood out to us the most. One a couple in Ugg boots dressed fashionably laying on top of a pile of logs and the other a sexy women peeling down her bikini against a beautiful beach backdrop showing her tan line. What we realized was that these billboards were trying to sell more than a trip to the Dominican Republic or a pair of Ugg boots, they were selling sex appeal.

The people in the Ugg add were romantically sprawled on top of the logs and what we realized was that this tactic seemed to aim towards men. We believe that Ugg is trying to interest men into buying their product for more business by showing off the fact that other men wear it. Ugg's are primarily known as being very feminine footwear. They are now are trying to be masculine by calling their product line "Australia," a place known for its outback and wilderness. Also the add shows a man caressing an attractive women next to him, which shows that if he wears Ugg's he will attract her attention.

The add for the Dominican Republic (DR) was a blatant reminder "sex sells." It catches your eye by showing you a half-naked women peeling down her bikini to show off her tan line with a "TAN SQ" inscribed in it. Obviously geared to attract men of the idea that if they take a trip to the DR they will be confronted by many sexy women. Any man who has felt the social pressure to fell masculine will immediately fell like traveling to the DR to meet these sexy women.

The social pressure on men to be as masculine as they can be is not only being used by media, but also fueled by the media to sell their product.

By, Joe, Jack, and Peter

"Wow Matey!"

Times Square is the commercial intersection of New York City. It is an overlapping of stores, billboards, window displays, restaurants, tourist traps and every aspect of the area is lathered in advertisements exclaiming, “this could be you!” Yet it was underneath the bright lights, and the numerous airbrushed giants that we found a shocking depiction of sex and gender in the big apple. Being mid October, the city has been growing Halloween stores right and left, like pimples on an adolescent. However, one particular Halloween store that we stumbled into in Times Square contradicted some of our fondest childhood memories.

Instead of our misty images of pumpkins and ghosts from the past, we found ourselves in a pot of sexual innuendo and scantly clad representations. In whichever direction you looked, your eyes found images containing long legs, short skirts, excessive cleavage, and pouty lips. Not only did the models look unreal and representative of porn stars, but the innuendo that accompanied the package was overwhelming. Strip officer, Tara U. Clothesoff, Beer Pong Babe (with a skirt reading “don’t forget to wash your balls”) Chick-A-Dee’s chick who was chocking a chicken, Naughty Nun, and Light Me Up Ladybug. These costumes covered a whole two floors.

Although there were some male costumes that were full of sexual innuendo, and penis jokes, none of them seemed as risky or revealing as the women's outfits. One particular representation that we found fairly contradictory was that of two sailor outfits. The males was plain white, entitled “Sailor” and covered up almost the entirety of his body. The models pose on the packaging was almost child like, and the model himself had plenty of what you would call “boyish charm”. However the counterpart to the “Sailor” costume, was the women’s equivalent, “Wow Matey!” made by Delicious: Sexywear of New York; this costume was in many ways an opposite. Depicted on the front was a young women with a bare stomach, her costume was tight and very revealing. The models pose included one hand on her hip, and the other playfully coiled in her pigtail. She was very thin, very tan, and to many men, very inviting.

We observed, that in this particular costume shop, men were not being objectified as objects of sex, whereas women were. And in the few cases, that men were being objectified, it was always in a powerful, masculine manner (pimps, wrestlers, warriors.) Different to the women, who it seemed were always there “to serve” the men and bring them pleasure. Not only was this somewhat disturbing, but we also found a whole section entitled “Teens and Tweens” who had similar outfits for young men and women.

The implications of these “sexy”, scandalous, skimpy costumes are that, they are giving women and young girls alike the same message. That they should be merely attractive whores. Some of us thought objectification of any kind was bad, yet others believed that objectification was okay, as long as it was being done to everyone. Our goggle-check also showed some interesting habits, like laughing and posing with all of these costumes while simultaneously being horrified. However, we all left wondering, what this store reflected of our modern day depiction of men, women, sex, and gender?

-Gracie, Paul, Tori, Leo