I recall in my early childhood–I must have been four, five or six at the time–when my brothers and I were swayed to buy gendered toys due to advertising (and partially because of my parents). At the time, the only toys that were similar to action figures in our house was my older sister’s doll collection. Naturally, my brothers and I worked with what was at hand, until we saw our first G.I. Joe ad on TV: the action packed, high testosterone, hyper-masculine ad that blessed our eyes influenced my brothers and I dramatically. We demanded that we get these toys instead of the dolls. It was astonishing as one moment these dolls were the magnum opus of our entertainment, the next they were seen as a waste of plastic. From that day forward, we refused to go anywhere near the dolls and solely devoted our attention to the G.I. Joe’s. I can’t remember the memory too vividly as I was so young at the time, but I can assume the concept of masculinity probably wasn’t in my arsenal at this moment in time. Possibly, the drive to appear masculine in society was already embedded in my mind, or something clicked mentally during that commercial because I never wanted to be seen with female toys from that day forth. The memory overall is still strange to me, and it’s something that I’ll probably never fully understand due to the lack of complete memory of the entire situation.
I myself was a doll kid, but also actively bought action figures. But I would only buy sets or single figures that were women- let’s just say I have a lot of Wonder Woman and Princess Leia action figures for sure. The gendered marketing of toys is absurd but! Here we are!
I think it is interesting that you mention how your parents influenced what toys you bought. One obvious reason is because they were the ones paying for them. However, I think parents have a strong tendency to reinforce the gender binary, not necessarily because they’re close-minded, but because they don’t want their kids to be deemed “different.” In class we talked about how marketing to a single gender can improve sales because the audiences are more targeted. I wonder if that is necessarily true for kids toys too? I’ve noticed that toys today that can uncontroversial-ly be enjoyed by both boys and girls–things like squishies, slime, and board games–are still marketed for one or the other. I wonder if toy companies will begin marketing their products to larger audiences as times change and society becomes more inclusive, or if they will continue to believe that division is the best model for sales.