Would You Like a Girl's Toy or a Boy's Toy With That?

Every now and then, maybe once or twice a month, our two hear the question I'm sure every child waits for, "Would you like a McDonald's for tea tonight?" The answer is always a resounding "YES" followed by some excitement. It's a treat for them and a big part of that is the toy they receive with their Happy Meal.

We pulled into our local McDonald's store at the weekend and made our way round the Drive-Thru. After placing our order we were met with the question "would you like a girl's toy or a boy's toy?" with each Happy Meal. How utterly ridiculous! My initial response was surprise as I thought the UK branch of McDonald's had stopped this nonsense years ago. After that, I was actually a little annoyed and my response of "How ridiculous. Why does it have to be gendered? Just chuck any toy in" was met with some bemusement by the staff member.

Image from McDonalds.co.uk

Why does everything have to be gendered? From clothes to toys to shoes to notepads, everything seems to be targeted at one gender or the other instead of either. What is the point of stereotyping children? To put them into neat little boxes or is there something more sinister to it? A purposeful segregation that tells little boys that have to be 'rough and tumble' and little girls they are 'pretty pink princesses'? When you really think about it, how completely silly is that?! Every child is different, they like different things and they play with different toys. Yes, some fit the stereotype but not all..why should they? Why can't toys be just that..toys?! Why must they be tailored to 'suit' each gender? It's utterly ridiculous.

Toys are there to be played with and the idea that they are gender specific can limit children's play and learning and, to be completely honest, is so outdated it puts me off a brand entirely. There are many shops I avoid buying from due to their gender stereotyping in store, Clarks being the perfect example. Have you seen their ridiculous 'throw-back' advertising lately?

It isn't the choices McDonald's are offering that bugs me, if you ignore the entirely pink range of Hello Kitty toys (another bugbear of mine) it all feels pretty gender neutral and they offer a good choice for the kids. It's the insinuation that one set of toys are for the girls and the other for the boys that really gets to me. It would much simpler to ask "would you like Hello Kitty or Hot Wheels?" instead, giving children an actual choice of what they want to play with instead of trying to cram them into a little box full of stereotypes based on their gender.

Have you encountered gender stereotyping in McDonald's or other stores recently? What do you think to it? Are you interested in banishing these stereotypes from our children's world's? Check out the fantastic Let Toys Be Toys Campaign!