7.Genderization

Marks & Spencer to introduce gender-neutral toys by Spring 2014By Aoife BarryThe company said it had listened to feedback from customers.MARKS AND SPENCER is to introduce gender-neutral toys after listening to feedback from its customers.In a tweet to British Labour MP Stella Creasy, the company said:Creasy had earlier retweeted a comment from another Twitter user regarding the ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ sectionsfor toys in Marks & Spencer.Earlier this year, Kerry Brennan of the Let Toys Be Toys Campaign told The Journal.ie that their group wantsto convince retailers to change how they advertise toys.Today, Let Toys Be Toys welcomed the news from Marks and Spencer. Brennan said:Since we first contacted M&S in Spring 2013 about their ‘Boys Stuff’ and ‘Lil’ Miss Arty’ ranges, we’ve seengradual improvements in their packaging and signposting of toys, and their most recent comment makes itclear that they’re serious about responding to consumer concerns about equality and fairness in themarketing of toys to children.Brennan said that the problem of sexism in the toyshop “goes beyond the retailers’ signs”.“In many stores, pink-and-blue colour coding and gender-specific packaging and promotion of toyscontinue to send the message that some interests are only for boys, and others only for girls,” she pointedout.The campaign has led to a number of retailers making changes to how they advertise their toys to children.Boots, Debenhams, Hobbycraft, Sainsbury’s, Toys R Us and TK Maxx are among the stores who havepledged to promote their toys in a gender-neutral way.290 She Culture CRT: Genderization