Thursday, August 5, 2010

Must These Really Be Pink?

I've asked before whether you can have too much pink baby gear and toys. I've noticed over the past year that lots of toys which used to just be in primary or neutral colors are being "feminized" in pink versions. Which seems to be a marketing ploy because, honestly, when these popular toys only came in primary colors, my then-toddler daughter and her girl friends played with them just fine. What do you think? Would you specifically buy the products above in their pink versions versus their originals? I personally wouldn't have done so for my firstborn daughter, since I figured I might have a son later on. I even bought her some unisex pajamas to wear at night so that I'd have at least a few hand-me-downs for that hypothetical boy. I realize other moms might not be as thrift-minded!

Take a look at these:

Fisher-Price Little People Spin 'N Fly Airplane - Pink


Playskool Busy Ball Popper - Pink


Little People - Little Movers Pink School Bus

LeapFrog Learn & Groove Musical Table - Pink


We had all of these in their original colors. Would you buy these for a daughter?

13 comments:

  1. No. Like you, I'd want something I could keep in case of a boy. And even if I wasn't going to have another kid, there is only so much pink a mom can stand!

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  2. No, too much pink! Plus, I don't like the implicit message that there are 'boy colors' and 'girl colors.'

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  3. I don't understand all the pink. I buy the basic primary, although my two oldest are girls. I want toys to not seem too girly for my younger son. It's also easier to sell the primary colored toys at a garage sale or pawn them off to a friend.

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  4. I agree with Mary. Also, I have a boy and if this new baby is a girl, I will not be buying pink toys. I will once again buy the originals.

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  5. even carseats...

    I like to use my toys and stuff for multiple children, so I went basic.

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  6. I will admit I might have bought the leap frog with the pink, but the bus and airplane I bought in the original-the pink plane and bus seemed odd.

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  7. nope--what if my next kid is a boy? it sends the message "these are girl toys" and "those are boy toys"....no thank you!

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  8. I thought the same thing! We did get the pink ball popper when our original broke (6 years in) but only because it was about $20 cheaper than the blue/original one. I don't understand why everything has to be so gender-specific/biased.

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  9. I utterly detest all the "pinafication" of perfectly gender-neutral toys. Blame it on my lack of love for pink in the first place or the fact that I have 3 boys already (and an unknown-gender baby on the way), but it makes me ill. The reality is that I don't like gender-ized toys of any sort (I avoid both the "boy" aisle and the "girl" aisle at big box stores).

    The trend to turn everything pink just makes it feel like there's something more valuable about girls. Most people wouldn't choose to pass those pink things on to boys, either, so it seems entirely wasteful to have pink toys, pink strollers, etc.

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  10. Err, "pinkafication." Excuse the typo!

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  11. I love pink, but I hate that it is marketed to girls and the parents of girls.It's too much. Worse, though, is a toy catalog from a store that prides itself to be more forward thinking - The science toys were clearly aimed at boys while the art section was clearly aimed at girls. Argh.

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  12. I tend to stay away from the pink stuff... I don't want her to be stereotyped before she even know what that means... So, to answer your question- we would buy the toys in primary colors, but not the pink versions at all

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  13. For what it's worth--I'd have my son play with the pink table or ball popper.

    Pink strollers are stinkin adorable.

    I understand buying neutral for economics sake, but don't hate on the pink.

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