No More Pink & Blue? Target Rides Gender Neutral Kids Trend, Releases New Line

Major retailers are saying goodbye to manufacturing and marketing kids’ products along traditional gender norms.

Target recently announced plans to launch a line of kids’ home décor products on Feb. 21 which pays little attention to “boy” and “girl” themed bedrooms. The discount retailer’s Pillowfort line will replace in-house brand, Circo, offering more gender neutral hues for bedding, wall décor, pillows, rugs, lamps and furniture.

“Girls like rockets and basketball. And boys like ponies,” Julie Guggemos, Target’s senior vice president of design and product development tells the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “We really wanted to develop a collection that would be universal.”

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The Minneapolis-based retailer gave up “boy” and “girl” store signs last summer after taking heat on Twitter when a mother pointed out store signs that read “building sets” and “girls’ building sets”.

Target is the latest company to bow to the preferences of today’s modern parents, many of which demand through social media firestorms that kids’ toys, clothing and home decor products stop pigeon holing children into only liking items intended for their gender.

Indeed, pink and blue colors for children’s products will likely become a practice of yesteryear. The question isn’t a matter of whether gender neutral products will become the norm, but rather, how soon? Judging by public sentiment over the past few years, the changes aren’t happening fast enough.

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Below are examples of four major brands that have taken heat for either manufacturing or marketing kids’ products according to gender stereotyping.

Disney

Halloween at Disney was a little different in 2015. For the first time in the multimedia company’s history it advertised children’s Halloween costumers on its website without the categories of “boys” and “girls”. Disney has routinely been accused of portraying unhealthy role models in films with hulking male heroes and damsels in distress.

Lego

Lego just can’t seem to shake its image of being a sexist toy company. When the toy giant came out with its ‘girl line’ in 2011 complete with pink and purples hearts, puppies and beauty salons — critics accused the company of gender stereotyping. Then in 2013, the company took further heat for a sexist set of construction worker stickers. And finally in 2014, an insightful 7-year-old girl became an online sensation after penning a letter to Lego asking the company reconsider girl Lego characters that hangout at the mall all day. To appease the masses, Lego launched a Research Institute set of girl characters who worked everyday in the fields of paleontology, chemistry and astronomy. The problem was it was a “limited edition” set, and after the product flew off store shelves, the company stopped producing the line.

Mattel

In 2015, Mattel Barbie released a hugely popular commercial of a boy playing with a Moschino Barbie, reeling in over 3 million views on YouTube. This was in response to years of public assault against the company by critics saying the toy manufacturer played too heavily into gender stereotyping, specifically portraying Barbie as solely interested in nail polish and makeup.

Amazon

The online retailer banished gender categorizations for kids’ toys last May. When shoppers look for children’s toys and games, they can no longer search by gender, only age and toy type.