海角大神

Water, water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink.
Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.

Princesses: They鈥檙e everywhere. Over the past decade, marketers have made 鈥減rincess鈥� a synonym for 鈥済irls. They use princesses as shorthand 鈥� a way of saying, 鈥淗ey, girl: Buy this!鈥�

But ever since听听spelled out the problems with princess culture in,听parents have come down with a serious case of princess fatigue. Sure, princesses are still popular 鈥� but in many corners, parents are so over it.

The girl culture industry is savvy, though. Aware of the pushback, they鈥檙e changing tactics. They鈥檝e been working hard to rebrand 鈥減rincess鈥� as the equivalent to 鈥渆mpowerment鈥� 鈥� as today鈥檚 girls鈥� version of听. (See听, for example.)

The problem is that despite the branding, princess culture is very limiting. Marketers can claim 鈥減rincess鈥� has the capacity to empower girls all they want; but at the end of the day, in the marketplace, princess culture always reduces girls鈥� interests to being pretty and finding romance 鈥� as the听Disney Consumer Products Division redesign of Merida from听Brave听proved.

As a result, the ubiquity of princesses actually limits young girls鈥� imaginations. They aren鈥檛 seeing many other versions of girlhood promoted to them. Although听听of听听is always reminding people that there are听many听ways to be a girl, pop culture is showing girls too many minor variations on the princess theme and calling these similar items 鈥渃hoices鈥� 鈥� selling girls short in the process.

The upshot is that today鈥檚 girls are like the sailors in Coleridge鈥檚 famous, poem 鈥淭he Rime of the Ancient Mariner.鈥� They鈥檙e adrift in a sea of princesses, and their imaginations are parched. Being sold princesses听听they go 鈥� from toy stores to grocery stores to hardware stores鈥攎akes our girls鈥� worlds shrink.

Nor any drop to drink.

So with this in mind, I鈥檝e been intrigued to see two anti-princess ad campaigns go viral in recent days.听Let鈥檚 take a look at them.

First, there are the听听for the all-girls鈥� Mercy Academy in Kentucky that tells prospective high school students, 鈥淵ou are not a princess.鈥� 鈥淟ife鈥檚 not a fairy tale.鈥� 鈥淒on鈥檛 wait for a prince.鈥�

These ads all feature the tagline 鈥淧repare for real life.鈥� They clearly speak back against the princess fantasy marketers have been pushing to young girls for the past decade, and they speak the truth to girls: that studying hard and preparing for college is what it takes to succeed in today鈥檚 world. Not romance. Not marriage. Not a glass slipper.

The fact that the ads have circulated all over the internet speaks volumes. People have been cheering for them, expressing delight. They are thrilled to see an ad for a girls鈥� school directly contradict princess culture. (People have also been expressing surprise that a Catholic academy, in particular, would be so progressive. I鈥檓 not surprised, though; as an undergrad, I attended听听when it was still an all-women鈥檚 college, and nuns can be听far听more feminist and forward-thinking than stereotypes would suggest!)

In a similar vein, a new ad for听GoldieBlox听has gone viral,听gaining 6 million views on YouTube in the past four days alone. GoldieBlox is a toy meant to be educational, to inspire girls to become engineers. As such, their ad is a complete pushback against princesses. It argues against the idea that girls get pink princess stuff while boys get听everything else.听The fierce little girls in the ad sing about wanting a change: they say they can use their brains and engineer, because 鈥� like the girls in a previous GoldieBlox ad sang 鈥� they are听.

Clearly, this ad鈥檚 virality shows that GoldieBlox is tapping into the same princess fatigue that has catapulted the ad for Mercy Academy into the spotlight. Parents are cheering it on, expressing delight for an ad that鈥檚 making such a great case for girls having diverse interests 鈥� for loving to build and create things 鈥� for having imaginations capable of expanding to include STEM-type activities.

But there鈥檚 one problem: the new GoldieBlox toy that this ad promotes, which appears on screen for only a few seconds, is actually princess-themed. Yes, really. It鈥檚 called 鈥�,鈥� and its promotional copy reads as follows:

鈥淚n this much-anticipated sequel, Goldie鈥檚 friends Ruby and Katinka compete in a princess pageant with the hopes of riding in the town parade. When Katinka loses the crown, Goldie and Ruby team up to build her a parade float as well as other听fun rolling, spinning, and whirling designs.鈥�*

I read the book, and here鈥檚 a quick summary of the plot.听Ruby (the African-American girl) has been preparing for 鈥渢he biggest event of the school year:鈥� the 鈥淢iss Princess Pageant.鈥� Goldie assures her she鈥檚 going to win, but their friend Katinka 鈥� a pink dolphin 鈥� exhibits mean girl behavior and is determined to with the crown. (She butts into the competition, saying rudely, 鈥淪tep aside, girls. You鈥檙e making me yawn. Judges watch ME as I twirl my baton.鈥�)

When Ruby wins the Princess Pageant, Katinka bursts into tears. The girls are kind and want to make her feel better, despite her mean behavior. So, what do they do? I was hoping they鈥檇 engage in some other activity together and assure her that princesses and pageantry aren鈥檛 very important. But that鈥檚 not what happens.听Instead, Ruby and Goldie build a float that Katinka can ride on, too. It ends with the whole town cheering 鈥渇or Katinka and Ruby, the Miss Princess Engineer.鈥�

So, taken together, the GoldieBlox campaign and product leave me scratching my head. Unlike the Mercy Academy ad, which tells girls they are听not听princesses and offers education as an antidote, GoldieBlox听as a brand is speaking out of both sides of their mouth. GoldieBlox claims to be anti-princess. It depicts girls who declare they are听not听princesses and who want to learn interesting new things, and it offers their toy as a solution; but then it turns around and offers girls a 鈥減rincess parade鈥� toy to play with.

And while it seems听everyone听has seen the new GoldieBlox advertisement, almost nobody realizes that the ad itself is for a princess-themed toy! (Every time someone has shared the ad with me, I鈥檝e asked if they knew this; the answer has been a uniform and surprised-sounding 鈥淣o.鈥�)听So GoldieBlox is having it both ways: appealing to parents with anti-princess rhetoric and then, in stores, selling girls on a princess-themed toy.

This is disappointing. I have been rooting for GoldieBlox since their Kickstarter days, and I love their mission to break stereotypes and spark a love of STEM in girls. But by pandering to princess culture, this new offering just isn鈥檛 living up to the promise.

So, I have to wonder: Why is this happening?

Here鈥檚 my take. While a school like Mercy Academy can sell girls on not being princesses and deliver on their promise to educate them in a princess-free environment, independent brands like GoldieBlox walk an awfully fine line in the marketplace. When they try to provide girls with something different, something STEM-oriented, they wind up swimming in a sea of princess products. They are competing with everything from the girly-girl听LEGO Friends听line (which also drew听heavy criticism听upon its release) to Barbies and Disney Princesses. So, to get picked up by major retailers and better appeal to girls shopping in toy stores, GoldieBlox apparently has to take a product meant to be non-conformist 鈥� as indicated by the ad campaign 鈥� and conform to the dominance of princess culture.

Sigh. If that doesn鈥檛 prove that 鈥減rincess鈥� is the dominant marketing force in girl culture, I don鈥檛 know what does.

So, while I support the GoldieBlox mission, I鈥檓 concerned. I鈥檓 concerned that by听using stereotypes to sell girls on STEM, GoldieBlox is unwittingly selling itself short 鈥� and, therefore, selling girls short in the process.

For the record, in the aftermath of a twitter conversation with GoldieBlox in which I expressed my concerns, the company has revised their description to conclude as follows: "When Katinka loses the crown, Ruby and Goldie build something great together, teaching their friends that creativity and friendship are more important than any pageant." Here's a听听via the Internet Archive.]

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. Rebecca Hains blogs at听