For this post, I will be giving my thoughts on the blog post of a fellow classmate (Thank you for the inspiration, Arina!) whose observations gave me much food for thought.

At the risk of sounding like an old graybeard, back in the days when I was young, you would 100% see only boys in Nerf Gun ads, and only girls in bracelet-making kit ads. No exceptions. From Arina’s post, I’m glad to see that things have changed.

To add to what she’s written, here are two reasons why toy firms should market toys gender-neutrally, and how that can bring benefits to both society and firms.

1) Choosing gender-neutral marketing can be a way for toy sellers to practice corporate social responsibility.

Gender-based toy marketing can be damaging to human relationships in society, especially in families. Growing up, I always liked stereotypical boys’ toys more; because of this, I have had countless fights with my parents who think there is something “wrong” with me.

Looking back, I see how their viewpoints could be caused by gender-based marketing. A good toy firm or reseller should not be pepetuating these social divides by arbitrarily grouping children into archetypes. By marketing gender-neutrally, firms can not only give children the freedom to choose toys with less fear of discrimination, but also make Society more harmonious.

Yet, it’s not only about equality, or the freedom of human choice or fighting gender stereotypes, because…

2) Firms who market toys based on gender lose opportunities to profit.

Each gender can be considered as its own customer segment. If more customers means more revenue, why should firms miss out on the chance to gain a whole new customer segment for just the minimal cost of slightly changing an advertising strategy?

Essentially, toy firms that still practice gender-based marketing might be losing customers who are ashamed to buy their products even though they demand it. In some cases, those customers might even purchase from competitors.