A Critical Review of Wal-Mart's Toy Department

When it comes to the social construction of gender, the way toy stores advertise their product play a huge role in the contribution. Sitting on the floor looking at the Walmart toy selection, I noticed a few things that I never really paid close attention to before. First, when did the colors pink and blue become a tool used as a gender binary? Second, why does it seem to be a pattern of the professions that the toy emulate in regards to each gender? Third, what does this all mean?

This paper will summarize the ERR articles from the bulleted topics and issues. This paper will also include summaries on toys that may encourage violence and aggression, toys that may promote pro-social behavior, gender stereotyping in toy selection, and cultural stereotyping or, lack of cultural awareness in toys.

The toy section at Target had many clear differences in the toys for boys and the toys for girls. The types of toys that were out on the shelves were different, but also the way the toys were presented were different. Girls toys mainly consisted of stuffed animals, dress up clothes, babies and dolls including Bratz, Barbies and fairies. The primary colors of all these toys consisted of different shades of purple, pink, and white. There were bits of blue and yellow but it seemed that all the colors stood out and had a type of feminine aspect to them. Besides color, the girl’s toys were often soft and fuzzy or

We will first start with Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby is a family owned Christian Arts and Crafts store. Unless you have been under a rock for the past two

ToyWorld, Inc. was founded in 1973 by David Dunton. Before that, he had been employed as production manager by a large manufacturer of plastic toys. Mr. Dunton and his former assistant, Jack McClintock, established Toy World, Inc. with their savings in 1973. Originally a partnership, the firm was incorporated in1974, with Mr. Dunton taking 75% of the capital stock and Mr. McClintock taking 25%. The latter served as production manager, and Mr. Dunton, as president, was responsible for overall direction of the company’s affairs. After a series of illnesses, Mr. Dunton’s health deteriorated, and he was forced

In the article, “The Gender Marketing of Toys: An Analysis of Color and Type of Toy on the Disney Website” authors Carol Auster and Claire Mansbach examined gender marketing of Disney products on the Internet. The way toys are marketed to the public shapes the perception of whether it is appropriate for a particular child to play with a certain toy. The authors found it important to study Disney toys marketed on the Internet because children spend much of their time surrounded by toys, e-commerce has growth significantly in the past decade, and Disney is dominant in the toy industry. This study is of particular importance because past studies did not explore how Disney marketers use the Internet to create gender divides based on toy characteristics and how it shapes gender expectations (Mansbach, 375).

When you enter any store that has a children’s toy aisle, you automatically figure out which side is for boys and which side is for girls. On the girls’ side, you generally see lots of pink and purple, and glitter too. Blues and greens, as well as many other dark colors, fill the boy’s side of the aisle. The division of this aisle and the colors associated with male or female toys is known as the idea of gender-stereotyped toys.

For babies from 0-24 months, you'll find a large selection of educational toys that help the child learn valuable coordination skills while having fun. For preschool children, Walmart carries more advanced educational toys as well as playhouses that more than one child can enjoy at a time.

The Tonka ad portrays boys as tough construction workers that build and destroy things. The girl’s commercial included a stereotypical Barbie doll that wears pink and does her hair. The people who create these toys and advertise them should realize that not all children are the same. A girl may want to play with Batman Legos and a boy may want to play with an Easy Bake oven. If they continue to advertise and make these products stereotypical, children will grow up to be exactly what they portrayed they should be like. Boys will grow up to be violent and girls will be insecure about how they look. Today in our society social media also plays a big part on how men, women, and children view themselves. In the article titled, “Not an Object”,

Have you ever wonder how toys were characterized in department stores? When you think of a toy store, you think about Toys “R” Us, Books-A-Million, Full Moon Games or Five and Below. I never went to a store to figure out the true meaning on what toys truly belongs to a gender. Toys generally became gendered when they’re broadcasted on television. For this particular project, I choose to go to Walmart. Walmart has a variety of everything.Walmart has four aisles with just toys. In class we had a discussion on how did television affect children. As a child, I asked for toys that were most popular. After visiting the store and actually paying attention to how toys are broadcasted by the gender I noticed that most of the toys were represented

Inside Toyland, written by Christine L. Williams, is a look into toy stores and the race, class, and gender issues. Williams worked about six weeks at two toy stores, Diamond Toys and Toy Warehouse, long enough to be able to detect patterns in store operations and the interactions between the workers and the costumers. She wanted to attempt to describe and analyze the rules that govern giant toy stores. Her main goal was to understand how shopping was socially organized and how it might be transformed to enhance the lives of workers. During the twentieth century, toy stores became bigger and helped suburbanization and deregulation. Specialty toy stores existed but sold mainly to adults, not to children. Men used to be the workers at toy

Gender identity, color association, and toy advertisement are object that in society has changed the perceptive of a culture's expectations. In the early eighteen century, society views towards the children association with gender were not existent. Although, in the 1920s, the classification of sex identity started to emerge because of social changes occurring in the labor force. As a result, gender colors such as, pink and blue rose to promote gender individualization, and maintain social norms. Consequently, the usage of gender colors created a social stereotype of gender expectations. The media then used gender associations to portray social expectations on children’s toys. As a result, of toy generalization, children grow up to develop

Toys “R” Us, Inc., founded in 1948, has been privately held by Bain Capital Partners, KKR Partners and Vernado Realty Trust since 2006. Toy’s “R” Us. Inc., and its subsidiaries is the only specialty toy retailer with three brands of toys and juvenile products: Toy’s “R” Us, Babies “R” Us, and FAO Schwarz. During the holiday season it operates a Toy’s “R” Us Express in shopping malls around the United States. As of January 2015, the company, which is headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, operates 863 “brick and mortar” Toy’s “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores. It operates in two business segments: Toy’s “R” US Domestic in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam and Toy’s “R” Us, International with a chain of 745 franchises and licenses including 250 brick and mortar stores in 39 countries in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Toy’s “R” Us, Inc., operates a portfolio of three e-commerce sites: Toyrsrus.com, Babiesrus.com and FAO.com. Toy’s “R” Us, Inc., offers a diversified array of products for infants and juveniles of both genders, and currently is making changes in marketing strategy toward gender neutrality. Merchandise for babies include infant apparel, gear, care products, furniture, bedding, room décor and commodities. Juvenile products include action figures, dolls, vehicles, and role-play toys and accessories; electronics, video game systems, accessories, software and tablets. Toy’s “R” Us, Inc., carries educational products,

This paper researched the fact that the Toys “R” Us Company was displaying a weakness in financial related issues due to the lack of proper strategic planning. This made the company susceptible to many threats in the industry’s competitive environment. The research has shown that its main competitors Walmart, Target, and Amazon are functioning successfully in the industry while Toys R Us heads for bankruptcy. This research emphasizes the fact that Toys R Us has not taken steps to strategize its operations properly which resulted in a loss of revenue and opportunities in their environment. If the company does not take steps to better its strategic planning, the company will not

In the large corporation of Toys “R” Us, toys are marketed in all different ways, mainly by gender. In the front of the store, on the right side, there is a section made all for Legos. In the middle, the American Girl Doll section stands out tremendously right in the front. On the left front side of the store, there are all electronics. Legos, American Girl Dolls, and electronics are the most popular and most expensive types of toys that children love to play with. These eye-catching toys are right in the front so it is like a magnet for children. Throughout the rest of the store, there are many aisles that specify where other toys are. The aisles that stood out most were on the left side of the store. These aisles were split in half showing one side that said “fashion dolls” and the other “action figures.” The aisle right next to that