Crossing Genders at McDonalds
I can’t believe the holidays are over already. I’m prompted to write because of a beef (no pun intended;)) today. My house is in a shambles from all the work stuff this week (yes, sales are coming in!:). So I decided to break one of my cardinal rules and take the kids to McDonalds for supper. I have a love hate relationship with McDonalds. I love the taste of the food for about 10 seconds and then the greasy feeling kicks in and I feel like crap after. Not to mention the nightmare it does on the waist line. The kids have heard me harp many times over the years about the issues with McDonalds both from a health and ethical perspective. Although, yes, hippocritically I take the kids there for a quick fix every so often.
So tonight, I order the kids happy meals. The toy choices are yugioh and pet store. Both boys have decided they want the Pet Store toy. When I get to the counter, the woman asks me if I want a boy toy or a girl toy. It was one of the days, one of those days where I didn’t let it slide. When annoyance of the long wait in line and two hungry kids flopping around caused me to blurt out. “That’s rather stereotypical don’t you think. I think it would be more appropriate to ask if I would like the yugio or Pet store toys, not the boy or girl toys as both toys can be used by both genders.” The cashier looked at me like I was a freak, said nothing. I grabbed my food and left. Then in typical fashion Alec reacts to this and starts with his “she said they’re girl toys, I can’t play with this”. Sigh.
Yes, I know, maybe it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But for some reason I’m still startled when this happens. That I keep thinking that way of thinking has finally been relegated to the dinosaurs. But then this happens and I realize it’s still very prevalant and perpetuated by media giants like McDonalds. Yes, I know some toys are more liked by girls than boys and vice versa, but why label them, let kids make their own choices.
Posted by By: lisa | 
2007/01/06 | Life - SoapBox - kids - marketing | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]
