A look at the language used in advertisements for children’s toys finds them deeply gendered. Boys toys refer to “battle”, “power”, “hero” and “action”, while girl ads speak of “love”, “fun”, “magic” and “babies”.
Toys
Daily Proposition: Build a kingdom out of Lego
Aside from cycling around the neighbourhood wearing super cool stack-hats, Super Mario 3 marathons on the Nintendo and that awkward phase when jigsaw puzzles became cool again, Cat Wall’s childhood was largely defined by Lego.
Barbie goes geeky
Female geeks from all over the world united to vote in a campaign by Mattel to let fans choose Barbie’s next career move. The result? Babs is now a computer engineer.
Toy story: the rise and fall and rise of Lego
From 1998 to 2004, the previously booming Lego empire fell to pieces. But instead of losing its little yellow head, the company turned it all around by thinking outside of the box and embracing the toy world’s new kid on the block: video games.
The hottest toy this Christmas: an $8 toy hamster
For once, the hottest toy of the Christmas holidays is something parents can actually afford: $8 toy hamsters called Zhu Zhu Pets are flying off the shelves.
Study: What kids nickname Lego pieces
Every household has its own set of words for describing particular Lego pieces, says Giles Turnbull: one kid’s “round flat one-er” is another kid’s “bronze jewel”. And so he set out to document the Lego dialects that are unique to different families.
Golly, the Hun should be black, white and red (faced) all over
A Melbourne toy shop has moved some of its products out of its display windows, and the Herald Sun was on hand to fan one of the oldest beat-ups in the book: “innocent children oppressed by PC killjoys”.
Why would you buy something you were born with?
You can now buy a breast feeding doll for your child. That’s no biggie, breast is best. The weird bit is the bra with fake flower nipples that comes with it, slightly defeating the au natural vibe.
Preparing kids for a life of menial labour
Educational toys are all the rage, but with the economy in the dumps, it’s time to get realistic about your kids’ prospects. Cracked look at nine real kids’ toys that will kick-start your offspring’s career as a check-out chick, burger flipper, garbo or cabbie.
Video of the Day: When toys go bad
Transformers, Terminator, Batman… There are only so many action movies to recycle. Time for a new source of inspiration: toys
Barbie gets a tramp stamp
Mattel has made the latest Barbie doll with a set of tattoos in a move they claim makes the doll more “up to date”.
