Most sexist toy out today? Probably.

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 12/08/2013 at 00:10 • Filed to: None

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(Disclaimer: This probably looks like something you'd see over at Jezebel. And for all I know, if they happen to have a lurker here with an itchy share-finger, it might soon end up over there. It has nothing to do with cars, but I cannot get it out of my mind for the life of me.)

It always bothers me how when you walk past the toy section in a store, the "boy" aisles will be fairly colorful, while the "girl" ones are just a massive tunnel of pink. Everything is pink. I tend to be able to ignore that, mostly since I'm not in the market for any girls' toys, but then I came across these shitty things when I was shopping for ammo for Humans VS Zombies (look it up because I'm too lazy to explain).

That was the first I saw of Nerf's "Rebelle" line. (So the word "rebel" isn't suitable for our little princesses unless we make it look more feminine?) They are tacky white guns with pink and purple accents which can only be loaded with designer bullets, apparently. Sure the blue/orange darts fit, but how DARE you let an innocent little girl own a BOYS' TOY.

I just... I can't even... If a girl wants to play with guns, I would be willing to bet she would be happy with an ordinary yellow, black, and orange one. (Oh, also, notice anything strange about the Rebelle guns? Yes, they are [mostly] disguised as bows. So that the girls can pretend to be Katniss, of course.) There's no sense paying quite a lot extra just to make sure every single object in her possession is as frilly as possible.
Really, in most cases I'm totally willing to back down and admit I'm in the minority for thinking that gender-specific toys are bullshit. But this... this takes the cake. It is no different from the existing product, only it's pink to draw girls in. Because I guess actually using girls in their advertisements was too much work to show that, hey, guess what: Nerf guns do not require a Y chromosome to operate.

Please don't leave stupid comments telling me that this is super unrelated to Oppo. I already know that it is, so that would be pointless.

Velocity- Peuguette Connoisseur > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:15

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IMO I doubt these sell at all. They'll probably end up being a huge flop. I don't really care about "gender-specific toys" being gender-specific, because that just seems to be the way it is (if a girl wants to be less girly she can just buy boy things, right?). But anyway, to the point....when I first saw a commercial for these things I laughed a bit. They just seem so stupid. What girl would want this? If they like Nerf, they'll buy Nerf, not "Rebelle" stuff. If they want to be more girly, they probably won't be buying Nerf things anyway. I think Nerf just made up their own market for this, and it sucks for them because this market doesn't exist.

Also, Trixie is best pone. (Totally off topic)

EL_ULY > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:22

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make sure you add "ist" on your Google search, might get gross lol

this is all I could find

Joe_Limon > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:22

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I remember thinking to myself while watching a commercial for them "noooo stupid girls, the glasses are there to protect your eyes, they aren't a fashion accessory you place on your forhead..." To this day I have never seen any promotional product for that toy where the girls actually have the glasses anywhere but on their foreheads.

Rainbow > Joe_Limon 12/08/2013 at 00:25

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That's actually a very good point. Of course, that said, I can't think of a single Hot Wheels ad where the boys are touching the cars. Usually there's a single monster truck sitting on a table while one white kid and one black kid stare at it with their mouths wide open.

aquila121 > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:25

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I imagine you'd have a similar feeling regarding this .

Rainbow > Velocity- Peuguette Connoisseur 12/08/2013 at 00:29

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Yep! I completely agree. I'm just waiting for the colorful darts to hit the clearance shelf so I can stock up. My guess is they'll get down to 75 cents per 10-pack in some stores before anyone buys them. Girls who like Nerf mostly won't care what their darts look like, and boys will be the same way, with the exception of these ones. The vast majority of boys (who aren't college students playing HvZ) will avoid Rebelle darts like the plague.

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:29

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I guess it would depend upon whether or not they "nerfed" the girls toys vs the boys toys. If they have the same power and range, then why not allow a girl to have a pretty gun instead of a "boy" gun?

Rainbow > Jeff-God-of-Biscuits 12/08/2013 at 00:34

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It's not really that as it is they decided exactly what those "pretty guns" should look like. It's actually a really great idea if they added other special themes and designs as well. Like green/silver/glow-in-the-dark "Alien Blasters" or something. As long as there's more variety than just 'normal' and 'female.'

Rainbow > aquila121 12/08/2013 at 00:36

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It's not as outlandish, at least. Plus it's only a pink accent, so it can easily be made to be about breast cancer. Though I do think they're kind of morons if they don't offer other color options.

Nibby > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:36

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My cousin's 3 year old son's favorite color is pink, watches shows like Sofia the First, and still plays with cars. I think he'll turn out to be a fine lad.

PRBot II > aquila121 12/08/2013 at 00:36

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I used to have one of those!

In black.

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 00:53

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I guess I am just having a hard time understanding your objection... Do you object to the design (color and appearance) of the girls nerf guns or the fact that they have created nerf guns with girl themes? I'm a bit confused.

Rainbow > Jeff-God-of-Biscuits 12/08/2013 at 00:55

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Sort of a combination of both. It's more the implication that girls can only like Nerf guns if they look like that.

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 01:00

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I guess I saw it as more of a "oh, you don't like the way the boys guns look? here, what about these..." kind of approach. Left it up to personal choice, the same way a boy could buy one of the "girl" guns if he wanted to. I did paint a Barricade up in pink and purple for a friend's daughter, so they are all ripe for customization.

She loved it by the way. She shot me many times to show me how much!

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 01:07

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But on a positive note, you will be able to get lots of ammo cheap, and you will have people actually give your rounds back to you rather than keep them.

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 01:25

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Off topic, but if you really want to dominate a nerf fight, get yourself a Cold Steel big bore blowgun. Scary accurate with tons of range and power. Takedowns before they can even get into range. I would recommend the 2 piece though, much easier to transport than the 5 ft stick I have.

Ferrero1911 > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 01:33

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Jezebel has already covered it. Although there was not as much discussion as I would have thought

http://jezebel.com/5982924/hasbro…

Chase > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 02:00

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Pink used to be a "boys color", and blue was a "girls color". First article I could find that explained it decently (i've read a longer one than went into much more detail, but can't find it) - Here

"a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”

"In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. In Boston, Filene’s told parents to dress boys in pink. So did Best & Co. in New York City, Halle’s in Cleveland and Marshall Field in Chicago"

Rainbow > Velocity- Peuguette Connoisseur 12/08/2013 at 02:16

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Oh, also, forgot to clarify. It's not the gender-specific toys themselves I mind, but the way they're blatantly separated and treated as a one-or-the-other sort of deal. Really, they should all just be organized together. Dolls and action figures in one aisle, separated only by brand. Barbie's Mustang can go in the vehicles section with the Hot Wheels and Tonkas. Just better selection without the "embarrassment" of shopping in the wrong section. Maybe GI Joe wants a pink convertible instead of a green jeep; it's going to be much easier for the kid to decide when ALL of the toy cars are in one spot, rather than hiding half of the options behind Littlest Pet Shop and Monster High and whatever other things there are.

Eazy-O > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 07:06

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Oh boy, am I gonna get flamed. You've seen the Jezebel article by now, yes?

Lemme quote:

But honestly, BFD. I hate when people act like it's so terrible when a toy that's supposedly unisex gets a traditionally feminine makeover, as though hearts and bows and pink shit are lame. Of course, you don't have to like that aesthetic, but if you think that it doesn't have a rightful place on basketballs and water guns then maybe you should take a step back and think about why.

...and this is the one time I agree with Jezebel more than with Oppo.

I don't see this as sexist, as much as it's product design for a certain demographic. Women are just a demographic in this case, as much as old people, young families and petrolheads are. Except when you release a car obviously 'made' for these demographics, they welcome it with open arms and sing praises. Case in point: petrolheads and hp/weight ratio, young families in Europe and cheap MPVs, old people and plush/comfy/high seating cars. Now, of course, these don't translate literally and there is overlap with (for example) certain old people popping so many pills they don't even feel their spine vibrating as their second midlife crisis sportscar bounces along the road to the country club. Still, nobody calls that car age-ist, just 'cause it's inappropriate for old people.

Hasbro simply found their products did not sell well to girls and tried to improve on this by producing a line that is, according to market research, more appealing to them visually. Heck, they could simply conclude that girls don't even merit an investment into a new product line and wrap it up altogether. And it's not like anyone will ostracize girls playing with the regular old black-orange nerfs.

And let's not forget, for kids these days, the colour palette on the bullets is fairly unisex. Hell, even I love violet and own several clothing items, but I digress.

Anyway, the most sexist toy out there is the vagina. Most of the boys want it, but can't have it. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

In conclusion, what you've got here is the most baseline of feminist arguments and I honestly think it's not a problem at all. Go deal with some real women's issues instead of complaining over pink toys, sheesh.

If I've not come across as a complete dick already, riddle me this: What kind of Nerf toy would you market to females?

Stef Schrader > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 07:34

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Hey, now. My favorite toy is purple and pink.

Of course, I'm sitting on a pile of puffs that are all shades of the pastel rainbow, plus there's some that aren't pastel at all.

I don't mind the pink/purple toys to a point, but it's seriously overkill. At least they're trying to introduce something cool into the girls' aisle, though.

Probably wouldn't have played with a heartbreaker anything, though, FWIW. I hate hearts.

BJ > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 08:22

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You definitely need to read this: No Girls Allowed

It's a bit long, but it goes through the history of video games and uses the changes in that industry to explain how marketing and profit drive the gender-specific treatment we see in all toys. It's definitely worth your time.

And you're not the only one who feels this way. I've made a concerted effort to expose my children every type of toy, in every colour, so that they can make their own minds about what they like. I can't negate all the outside influence, but I can provide positive reinforcement to their choices so that they feel the freedom to take a different path.

50ford500 > Rainbow 12/08/2013 at 09:58

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I can say with 100% certainty that they would sell a ton of these to my wife or my daughter or even my niece. If any of them want a particular item comes in pink I gurantee it wil be bought in that color so not sexist at all. Good marketing though.