It's the little things...



Photos Courtesy of www.genderremixer.com

It is so true that the little things can sometimes bring the most joy. Well, I had that kind of moment today. I was exposed to an awesome website! It is totally entertaining and easy. It is also kind of scary to see how differntly toys are marketed to boys and girls.

Basically the premise is that you pick a "boy" toy and a "girl" toy and reverses the advertisement for the two. So think a pirate toy's commercial language over the visual image of some ponies playing house.When you see one commercial with another gendered set of audio, it is amazing what jumps out at you.

For me, I was able to pick out the marketing stratagies more clearly because of the over-lap. The announcer's for the "boy" toys seem to have come straight from the nearest monster truck rally, while the "girl" toy's advertising voices are sweet and wistful. Manly, tough, rugged, grrr.... VS. House, whispers, colorful, shhhh...the baby is sleeping. The it is impactful to see the gender binary in such a visual way.

I sometimes think that my son reacts to one toy or another based on the color of the item. It seems that girl toys are always pink and lavender and boys lean toward primary and bright colors. But kids are getting audio messages to reinforce the gender that the toy is intended for.

So add this to my to-do list: Design and produce a pink, purple and glittery pirate ship and see how confused it makes my son!

Please enjoy playing around with this remixer and let me know what you think.