Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
The Battle of the (Gendered) Toys

Brian Reid, a parent writing for The Washington Post’s “Smart Living” blog, ponders why boys always get the cooler toys at fast food places like McDonald’s:

At your larger, more-marketing driven outlets, you have a choice: there is a “boy” toy and a “girl” toy.

At a rather young age, my eldest daughter determined that this was a total crock. She has a vivid memory of dinner at McDonald’s with a friend where “boys” were offered some cool spy gear and “girls” … well, she doesn’t have a vivid memory of that. Even though that’s what she found when she opened the Happy Meal.

He’s conducting an (admittedly unscientific) experiment to see whether fast food employees – when asked by a parent to “surprise” them with either a “boy” toy or “girl” toy – are more likely to give out “boy” toys, because they seem less gendered. (Via KidScreen.)

Aug 31, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #