Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Gender Friendly Easy Bake Oven On The Way

Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of people — including big-name chefs — called on Hasbro, producer of the Easy Bake Oven, to advertise to end their sexist advertising and market to both boys and girls equally.

Today, the advocates, and the little girl who launched the big petition, got their answer: Hasbro will launch a new line of gender-neutral ovens, and feature more boys in their advertisements:

Hasbro says it will soon reveal a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven after meeting with a New Jersey girl who started a campaign calling on the toy maker to make one that appeals to all kids.[...]

It was there that they showed off a prototype of their newest Easy-Bake. It’s black, silver and blue, rather than purple and pink.

McKenna says the company is doing everything she asked, including putting boys in the ads.

Hasbro says it’s been working on the new color scheme for about 18 months. It says it could be on store shelves next summer.

Hasbro's decision shows good political will toward consumers, and it makes sense, with the growing media around the campaign. But there’s still a long way to go before advertisers and companies taking gendered marketing out of their repertoire.

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