Meld Girl- & Boy-Marketing Language

In the early 1970’s, actress and activist Marlo Thomas initiated her “Free to Be You and Me” project, designed to reduce gender stereotypes in children’s decision making. Now, more than a half century later, the state of California is requiring large retailers who sell toys in the state to maintain a gender-neutral aisle. The sponsor of the law, California Assemblymember Evan Low, says he was inspired to introduce his bill by an 8-year-old girl who asked, “Why should a store tell me what a girl’s shirt or toy is?”
     In October 2021, the same month that bill was signed into law, LEGO announced their “Ready for Girls” initiative. LEGO identified a problem—and also an opportunity to increase sales to a broader audience—with their survey results indicating how at that time 76% of parents reported they’d encourage LEGO play by a son, but only 24% would encourage LEGO play by a daughter.
     Yet, a California State University, Fullerton project finds that differences persist even now in media targeted to boys and girls—differences which could encourage self-stereotyping. This conclusion was based on studies of language characteristics in cartoon franchises associated with toys which a sample of U.S. parents said are targeted to girls, are targeted to boys, or are gender neutral. Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake were among the franchises considered girl-targeted; GI Joe and Star Wars, boy-targeted; and Care Bears and Harry Potter, gender neutral.
     Then, a machine-assisted analysis of language used in the franchise cartoons showed that scripts in the girl-targeted series were more emotionally positive overall than in those targeting boys. Scripts targeting girls did feature more phrasing expressing sadness, but also more phrasing expressing affiliation, which could be seen as a means for easing sadness. Scripts in boy-targeted series featured more phrasing expressing anger, power, and risk. Further, by comparing scripts of older and newer series from the same franchises, the researchers saw evidence that differences in language characteristics between girl-targeted and boy-targeted cartoons have decreased over the years.
     The researchers recommend marketers attend to the remaining differences when crafting messages intended to persuade children. The researchers also urge marketers to avoid language likely to reinforce negative self-stereotypes limiting a child’s developmental options. “This is not a call to cancel traditional gender representations, but rather a call for more balance,” they write. They’re acknowledging the cultural forces which expect circumscribed sexual roles.

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