November 09, 2007

Toys R Us of the 1950s?

We're the parents of a walking toddler (boy) who just happens to have an affinity for anything that looks like good, wholesome, cleaning fun -- a swiffer, a mop, a broom, what have you. It's become more and more difficult to actually be able to use these in his presence because he insists on "helping". Being the clever parents that we are, we thought, "Hey, I bet they make toy ones that would make him let go of our toys!". (If only cleaning were actually so much fun).

Being interweb-oriented, I went to Toys R Us' Canadian site, and found two possibilities when I searched for "cleaning", since "broom" yielded no results. Of the two relevant results, I was rather surprised with what I read.

For the first set: "14 Piece Cleaning Playset English Edition", by "Just like home":


It's described as, (and I quote):
"This Mr. Clean playset will help get the house spotless, just like mommy does!"

Now, I try not to rant in our blog, but WTF?, "just like mommy does!"?! It's 2007, not 1957. After reading that I thought, "well, this has got to be the exception" since I would think that a major toy store wouldn't fall prey to such gender-biased stereotyping.

Then I went to the second set: "Cleaning Set", also by "Just like home":

This one is described as, (and I quote again):
"This toy is sure to be a favorite for the little girl who loves playing house."

Now, both sets are made by the same manufacturer, and there's a good chance it's a Chinese manufacturer (as 95%+ of toys are these days) that had badly translated copy for their product. But, for Toys R Us to actually have this as the copy for their website is pretty unbelievable. It seems that it's the rule and not the exception for Toys R Us website copy writers to try and pass on gender-based "roles" for the next generation. I'm not sure if I want to go look at "play kitchens" next.

I've got to say, I'm very disappointed with Toys R Us, and I'm now thinking that when we find a toy cleaning set, it won't be from them. So, do any indies out there make a toy cleaning set?

Update: Mrs. Tiggy Winkles (our favourite local toy store), has a cleaning set. But, notice it says, "Help mum and dad clean up!" That's more like it. I know where we're buying our toy broom from.

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2 Comments:

At November 09, 2007 8:38 PM, Blogger lisa {milkshake} said...

Ugh. I feel your pain. Funny that I read this today, because I'm reading this awesome book that talks about issues like this. It's called Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes (by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown). I know you have a son, but I think it's worth it to read the book no matter what gender your child is!

This site has some really cool toys: www.thewoodenwagon.com. I think I saw a wooden dust pan and brush there.

(Found you through the SB!)

 
At November 09, 2007 8:50 PM, Blogger Vivian Cheng said...

Thanks Lisa!
Both Eric and I are not drooling over toys for ourselv.. er.. Jack at the wooden wagon! So many cool toys!!

 

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