Someone listened! They really did!!! ME!!! I changed the world!!! WOOOOOOOOT!!!!!
Okay, maybe I’m reaching here. If my daily blog hits reach into double digits, I do a victory dance. (No, I will not post a video of the victory dance. It’s enough that the people who have witnessed it in person are still running around in circles trying to poke out their mind’s eye with a fork.)
Last fall and winter, I did a good bit of blogging about gender issues. Roles, stereotypes, perceptions, treatment in the media, politics – all related to gender. A couple of those posts focused on the condescending and misguided launch of the pink Lego line of toys. At the end of it, though, I still backed the idea of buying the pink Legos – but buying them for boys as well as for girls. (I was particularly incensed by this Today Show clip, wherein Donnie Deutch, Matt Lauer, and Nancy Snyderman openly mocked the notion that a parent might ever be brave enough to buy pink toys for their son. Morons.) So, if you’re in the mood, you can read my powerful and irrefutable logic regarding pink and pink legos here, here and here. For those of you who can’t handle that much brilliance in one sitting, here’s a brief summary.
Every color should be for both genders. Including pink. The end. Or something like that. Trust me, I’m more articulate in the links provided above, so just go read them.
So, imagine my joy and surprise when I was watching the Olympics, and this commercial for Chevy trucks came on.
Notice anything? ANYONE NOTICE ANYTHING? It’s an ad for a TRUCK. The little boy in the ad is playing with a toy version of the TRUCK. In his lovely toy world he has set up for this truck are PINK THINGS. Yes. A pink house, pink ponies, girls in pink, etc. Among other toys included in this imaginary world are monkeys, a rocket, a Ken doll, and a Barbie-type doll with DARK hair who is dressed like a badass. (Yes, her proportions are ridiculous. Yes, her midriff is showing. I addressed my thoughts on issues like these in other blog posts.) Even lovelier, though, is that this inclusion of pink in a boy’s world is treated in the commercial as a total non-issue – as I’ve been arguing for YEARS that it should be.
Way to go, Chevrolet. I wish I could afford to buy a Chevy truck for the sole purpose of making a statement of support and appreciation. A Chevy TOY truck will have to do for now. In the meantime, Donnie Deutch, Matt Lauer and Nancy Snyderman can kiss My Little Pony’s pink butt.
OK, not bad. I’m guessing the kid has a sister. But I’d have liked it better if it went just a step further—from daughters too sons. Or from mothers to sons. It would’ve been really cool to see a woman like Xena step out of that truck! 😀
It doesn’t matter if he has a sister. The boy is shown playing with the toys as if it’s nothing remarkable. Which it isn’t. 🙂 I’m sure LOTSA people would have liked to see Xena step out of that truck! 😉
Awww that was a nice commercial. Now I have to go back and see what brilliant comment I left on one of the pink lego posts. I’m really hoping it wasn’t a Moron one.
Hehe – Kenya, you’ve never left a moronic comment on ANY of my posts. 🙂 How you been, girlie?
That’s funny – when I saw the ad I was mildly annoyed by the sterotypes of Dad coming hom in the truck and Mom being there to greet him (although it is a cute ad).
Yes, a couple of people have said that – but I’m primarily referring to the fact that a little boy is being shown happily playing with what have been stereotypically “girl” toys as if it were the norm and perfectly okay.
Actually, the original version of this ad played on the Sportsman and Outdoor Channels as early as November of last year. The “girl” toys were much more prominently features, as was the little boy’s sister, playing happily next to him. BTW, if no-one has watched these channels previously, they are the so-called “hunting” and “gun” channels, whose programming is tailored toward the more “grass roots” areas of the country.
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