Kids鈥� shoe stores: Boys are superheroes and girls are princesses
Kids' shoe stores can be an interesting look into the minds of today's marketers, who continue to promote the 'Frailty Myth' through advertising that urges girls to be pretty princesses, and boys to be tough superheroes.
Kids' shoe stores can be an interesting look into the minds of today's marketers, who continue to promote the 'Frailty Myth' through advertising that urges girls to be pretty princesses, and boys to be tough superheroes.
A few days ago, Melissa at Pigtail Pals聽wrote about a conversation聽she overheard, in which her 6-year-old daughter鈥檚 classmate insisted that sparkly shoes are not for playing 鈥� they鈥檙e for looking pretty:
鈥淵our shoes are ugly,鈥� said the kindergarten classmate.
鈥淣o they are not,鈥� replied the 6-year-old Original Pigtail Pal, Amelia.
鈥淭hey are. Look how pretty mine are,鈥� the classmate taps her toes for emphasis.
鈥淭hey are the same pair of shoes. Like the exact same,鈥� explains Amelia.
鈥淭hey aren鈥檛 the same. Mine still have all of the pretty sparkles. I didn鈥檛 get them messed up,鈥� boasted the girl, in full sparkle. [...] 鈥淎melia, you should care a little bit about being pretty or you won鈥檛 get a boyfriend,鈥� says the classmate.
Where do young girls get the idea that it鈥檚 more important to keep their sparkly shoes looking pretty than to play? Let鈥檚 consider Stride Rite鈥檚 marketing strategy for its play shoes (ie, sneakers), which I recently witnessed at a Stride Rite store near me.
For girls:聽The instruction to 鈥渟parkle with every step.鈥� (Like pretty Cinderella, whose glass slippers were really impractical but helped her find romance.)
For boys:聽鈥淟ook out! Here comes Spiderman!鈥� (Active, energetic, powerful.)
A quick review of StrideRite.com reveals more of the same: girls are meant to be looked at, so their play shoes are a route to prettiness, while boys are meant to be active, so their play shoes are made for play. Excerpts from the gallery:
- Cinderella sneakers 鈥渢ransport your little princess to a world of fantasy鈥�
- Hello Kitty Keds are 鈥渢he cutest sneakers on the block鈥�
- Glitzy Pets sneakers help girls 鈥渢o really shine and steal the show鈥�
- Spiderman sneakers offer 鈥渓ight-up powers,鈥� 鈥渘o matter what kind of web he spins鈥�
- Star Wars sneakers with 鈥渓ighted technology鈥� are good for 鈥測our little adventurer鈥檚 feet鈥�
- Lightning McQueen sneakers, also with 鈥渓ighted technology,鈥� let boys 鈥渂e as fast as the legendary Cars Lightning McQueen on-and-off the track鈥�
In other words, Stride Rite鈥檚 marketing strategies 鈥� like聽other聽companies鈥� 鈥� reinforce the sex role biases that keep boys active and girls passive. As Colette Dowling has argued, these biases are at the root of the聽Frailty Myth: Boys learn 鈥渢o use their bodies in skilled ways, and this gives them a good sense of their physical capacities and limits. [...] Girls hold themselves back from full, complete movement, Although it鈥檚 usually something girls are unaware of, they actually learn to hamper their movements, developing a 鈥榖ody timidity that increases with age.鈥欌�澛�
I鈥檒l give Amelia from Pigtail Pals the last word: as she told her friend, 鈥淵ou should care less about being pretty and more about playing with us. My mom says there鈥檚 lots of different ways to be a girl.鈥�
Well said, Amelia!
Marketers: You would do well to take this same advice: care less about girls being pretty and more about their play.
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聽rebeccahains.wordpress.com.