Burger King Doesn’t Get It
Posted on 10. May, 2010 by Brian Reid in advertising, gender equity
One of the battles that I’ve utterly given up on is the idea that fast food restaurants should do away with “girl” toys and “boy” toys. I think it’s silly, and I’m on record as believing that — 9 times out of 10 — the “boy” toy is far superior to the “girl” toy, especially for the intended audience.
But I don’t think that we’ll ever do away with the gendered toys. All I can ask is that the restaurants try to be subtle about the gender roles they are imposing. If you order a “boy” toy at the McDonald’s drive-thru, the little confirm-your-order display lists it as a “truck toy” (no mater what the item is). It’s an acknowledgment that — maybe — that’s a toy that a boy *or* a girl might want.
Burger King, on the other hand, makes clear that the cool toys are “FOR BOYS,” and the jewelry is “FOR GIRLS,” right on the bag that contains the kid’s food. Nice work, BK. Way to stamp gender roles in big font.
For the record, we got the 7″ Ironman figure. It hasn’t left my daughter’s sight since she took it out of the bag. “FOR BOYS,” my ass.