...Hikmet Örnek(01) Okt.Ece Yılmaz SEC 317 Gender Issues on Education 28.03.2014 GENDER AND TOYS As all we know, we begin to learn our gender as soon as we are born. And it strengthens in time. The most effective reason of this is the environment. What I mean is the family and teachers. Thus, toys are very important for gender discrimination. As different colors for boys and girls are learned from the beginning, toys are, too. For example, dolls are given to girls while boys play with cars or balls. There are some reasons for different toys according to gender. Firstly, it makes us ready for our duties in the future. In some sort, it decides that home is the place of women and work is for men. Secondly, there are gender differences in abiliities and behaviour as Kimberly Wright Cassidy writes. There are some generalizations about gender issues. For example, girls are better at verbal and writing skills while boys are better at numerical skills like math or phsyics. This leads parents to choice different toys. Another generalization is that boys are more active than girls. However, there are some axamples like Egalia which is a school stopping gender differences and Baby X experimentation which denies these generalizations. In ‘’X A Fabulous Child’’ written by Louis Gould, the baby X is given both doll and ball. In addition to this, ball is given by the mother while doll is given by the father. At the end...
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...people receive as a kid affects the way people view things as they grow older. When people think of kid’s toys, people do not really think much more beyond the surface of the toy. Toys are some of the first things kids interact with, which means the messages that these toys send to the kids are impactful and will leave an impression on them. Boys and girls’ toys enforces multiple ideologies on how boys and girls should act and be. When going to any type of toy store, people can clearly see difference between the toys for girls and the toys for boys. Even the simplest of toys are separated by gender just because of the color scheme that it holds. Legos are simple toy blocks, but they have two separate sets, one for girls and one for boys. The appearance of the toy, the activities of each set, and the packaging of the toy reinforces stereotypes and the connotative meaning of boys and girls. One difference between the girl and boy Legos are their packaging. The packaging of the girl and boy Lego sets are almost completely different. The boy packaging has dark colors, such as blues, blacks, greens, yellows and reds. Some of the boy packaging also has just boys playing with the Legos on the front of it. When it comes to the boys’ Legos none of the colors are bright and colorful, but the girls’ Legos...
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...When you think of a gift for a little girl, what comes to mind? A Disney Princess DVD? A mountain of pink cupcakes? A toy convertible for Barbie? These are the things that most of us have come to believe that all girls like. These are also the products marketers have created for girls… Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is an ongoing debate about gender-based marketing and in particular with gender-based marketing being focused on young children. . One of the events that triggered this debate was when LEGO came out with a product line for girls called Friends. The TV ad shows wonderful town of Heartlake where “Stephanie” and her friends get to enjoy “all the things girls love”: interior decorating, getting pedicures and baking cupcakes. The sets feature taller and shapelier feminine figurines that lock into pink, purple and pastel green settings, such as a dream house, a splash pool and a beauty shop. LEGO has created this product based on four years of behavioral research. This research purportedly led them to the conclusion that girls like everything pink, romantic and cute [5]. The product has generated outrage. The company was accused by many parents of feeding kids the gender stereotypes and locking them in to blue and pink roles in very young age. Marketing to children is even more of a grey area than marketing to women. When it comes to child psychology the foundation of any debate is the question as to whether their tastes are a product of either nature or...
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...Gender Socialization through Toys and Sports In today’s society, there are many guidelines of how one should act and be. Gender socialization is the process where people take on notions of gender roles, gender ideas and gender behaviours. At an early age, boys and girls are told how to behave and act according to societal norms of gender behaviours and roles. The comparison of Jane Smiley’s article “You Can Never Have too Many” and John McMurty’s , “Kill ‘Em! Crush ‘Em! Eat ‘Em Raw!” provides an insight about how gender socialization is conditioned through toys and sports at an early age. Also teaching and reinforcing stereotypical gender roles through traits, appearances and occupation. (this is an incomplete sentence and it doesn’t flow very well with the previous sentence) Specific toys and sports are associated with certain genders and generalizes the role that boys and girls should uphold. Male characteristics are thought to be strong, tough and are unable to show weakness whereas female roles are to be nurturing, supportive and caring. In Jane Smiley’s article, the author focuses on how Barbie plays a positive role model in her daughter’s childhood. Barbie is portrayed as beautiful woman who posses feminine qualities. Young girls who tend to play with Barbie dolls have a mind set that they should grow up to be like Barbie. “Lucy could apply lipstick with her eyes closed by the time she was five.” (Smiley 238) This quote shows that children are easily influenced by the...
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...Ven Ramos Sociology 100 Professor Sellers 4 May 2015 Socialization of Gender Toys R Us has been around for many years. When you go online you will notice that the boys section have action-oriented categories and the girls section has homemaking, beauty and imaginary categories. The baby section is the only one that is not separated by gender. According to the text book Gender is defined as “ psychological, social and cultural aspect of maleness and femaleness”. According to the textbook, “girl toys revolve around themes of domestic, fashion and motherhood.” while “boy toys, are emphasize action and adventure and encourage exploration, competition and aggression”. The four toys that I chose for boys are: Hot wheels, Minecraft, LEGO Train set and Home Depot Deluxe Power Tool Set. The toys that I chose for the girls are: My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle, Barbie, LEGO Friends Dolphin Cruiser and the Wooden Kitchen Center. The Hot wheels cars are different in size and have multiple colors, which are usually dark colors such as black, blue, green etc. The cars can teaches boys how to identify cars and grow up to like them as the boys grow up. Minecraft started out as a videogame that became popular where toys created for boys to play with. The package comes with Steve, Pig, Chestnut Horse, Saddle, two Grass Blocks and two Hay Blocks. The toys mimic the game where boys pretend to be Steve, who is the main character of the game and goes out to the virtual world and builds...
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...are ofter blue or red. Boys' and girls' toys often differ greatly. Girls are found to have more dolls, crafts, and domestic objects, and boys are found to have more blocks, sport related toys, and vehicles. By age three children can distinguish whether a toy is a “girl” toy or a “boy” toy. They also prefer playing in same sex groups. One study done showed that adults interact infants differently based on their sex. If the adults thinks that the infant is a girl, then they used more feminine toys (e. g. dolls) and will talk the the baby more...
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...the notion of others- so if someone pick up his toy, he may throw a tantrum or voice a protest as he sees his object is an extension of his self Age 3 * Child’s brain is almost fully grown * Lying- a developmental milestone! As it demands quite advanced cognitive and social skills * Almost 4- children will lie on a regular basis * Purpose is different: 3- lie to avoid punishment; older child- control a social situation * Awareness of gender identity * Enjoy grown-up role play * Sharing responsibilities: household chores They enjoy learning about their world through role play and imitation * Sense of self has expanded- to include sense of others and this inspired him to share, take turns, empathize, and do cooperative play. It is also an ideal time to establish shared family events such as regular mealtimes * Peer pressure * When it comes to deciding on who is right and who is wrong, 3 year olds will go with the majority. * Age 3 * Play is the dominant feature of preschool life. Preschool phase is said to be the most playful stage of human life. Based on your observations or experiences, what are the toys usually enjoyed by preschool children? * Cooperative play * e.g. invention or copying of a set of rules; can spontaneously change rules * Others: puzzles, board games, card games, drawing and painting * Imaginary friends- invisible presence or a favorite toy that has been enrolled to play the part of the friend...
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...go, Lego is for Girls Lego is a company that manufactured construction toys. Construction toys are variety of different pieces that allow making different models. (Tracy) Lego group is based in small town called Billund in Denmark. Because of Lego, Billund became second busiest airport in Denmark. And population doubles to above 6,500 each day during Lego business hours. (Leo) Lego started making toys in 1932 and in 1934 company came to be called “LEGO”. Lego is the number 1 brand in Europe and number 2 in the U.S. (Brad) Lego also became successful in technological field with video games and iPhone apps. (Joseph) However, Logo has serious competition in the market for construction toys. Logo has to strategies and develops with new ideas to beat the competition. Lego has compaction from brand name company Coco, Rasti, Tente, and Mega Brands. CoCo is Chinese toy company made same kind of toys that Logo produced and sell for low price. Logo sued the CoCo company for copyright. Over the years, Logo had more competition for gender differences in how kids play. Now, after research Lego will aim at girls 5 and up to stay in market and increased market value. January 1st Lego group lanced new toys in U.S market. USA always been big market for Lego since long time, Lego determined it was better to introduce the new toy after holidays. After holidays, Wal-Mart and Target would give more shelf because holydays rush is over. Lego group chief executive Jorgen...
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...Everyone has a toy that they loved to play with while they were growing up. However, most did not realize that these toys were building blocks for their development. There are numerous toys that are being sold in stores, like Toys R Us and Babies R Us that are amazing for kids. Toys are able to stimulate perceptual abilities, motor skills, etc. with bright lights, animal sounds, bright colors, and various shapes. The toys I picked to analyze are, Fisher-Price Bright Beats Dance & Move Beatbo, VTech Busy Time Activity Cube, Fisher-Price Classic Xylophone, and Fisher-Price Wood 40-Piece Learn and Grow Blocks. The Fisher-Price Bright Beats Dance & Move Beatbo is a very colorful and interactive toy. This toy is for the age’s 9-36 months. I believe this is an...
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...Children never sit back and think how the toys they play with affect how they see the world around them; and often the adult in their lives don’t worry about how much their child’s favorite can affect them, now and in their futures. With Barbie being a popular child’s toy for decades, and with her in a world that has become increasingly filled with ways the media can reach children, one can wonder, how much of an impact does a seemingly docile doll have on children? Barbie caused quite a stir when she was first introduced in 1959. Many adults were outraged claiming she had too much of an adult figure to be a toy for children. Soon after Barbie’s introduction to toy shelves though, women realized that Barbie could be used as a teaching tool...
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...The year is 1945, when the toy company Mattel is born. Along with truly great toys, this company gives a lot to the community and environment as well as being the world's leading toy company. Mattel is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of toy products. The company's major brands include Barbie, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Fisher-Price, and American Girl. With headquarters in El Segundo, California, Mattel has offices and facilities in 36 countries and sells its products in more than 150 nations throughout the world. In 1945, Ruth and Elliot Handler and Harold "Matt Matson develop this new company out of their garage workshop located in Southern California. Although the first products they create are simply picture frames, Elliot takes the left over pieces of these frames and put them to use to make dollhouse furniture. These dollhouse furniture pieces were just a side business for Elliot though. Harold Matson soon sells out his partner, and, being confident from the success of the dollhouse furniture, the Handler's decide to turn the companies' emphasis on toys. In the year 1947, the "Uke-A-Doodle is the first, in a line if musical toys. In 1948, Mattel is incorporated in Hawthorne, California. During the year 1955, Mattel becomes involved with "Mickey Mouse Club . This very popular show soon become the major spot of advertising for Mattel, which revolutionized they way the toys were marketed. It also introduced they another great product, the "Burp...
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...Gg Toys Case St G.G.Toys Thedecline margins our popular in on Gtoftry doIIproduct become has intolerable. production Increasing haae costs dropped pretaxmarginto less our than10%, below historical our 257omargins, wearegoing If far to increase margins, need consider our we to drastically shiftingour production towards sfecialtydolts aie that earning large prnniumin priceoaer standard line. a our doll -Robert Parker,President, G.G.Toys Background Robert Parker, president of G.G. Toys, was discussing last month's operating results with Audrey Hausner, G.G.'s conkoller, and David Morehouse, G.G.'s manufacturing manager. The meeting was taking place in an atmosphere tinged with apprehension because margins on thelr most popular product, the "Geoffrey doll," had been declining rapidly in the last few years due to rising production costs (summary operating results for the previous month, March 2000, arc shown in Exhibits 1 and 2). Parker saw no choice but to shift the company's product mix towards specialty dolls that carried a high price premium, and thus, a 34% margin. G.G. Toys was a leading supplier of high-quality dolls to retail toy stores throughout the U.S, The comPany had started with a unique design for molding highly durable dolls using vinyl and resin materials. G.G. quickly established a loyal customer base among retailers because of the high quality and popularity of its manufactured dolls. It soon established a major presence in the market with its high-volume...
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...[Writer Name] [Supervisor Name] [Subject] [Date] Fieldwork Paper In my fieldwork project observed a number of gamers who will be divided into 2 categories of addicts and non addicts. People who play for more than 5 hours a day are called addicts and those who play less time than that are called non-addicts. Which will focus on the specific players in a game called World of Warcraft. This game is a very popular game worldwide with over 5000 people playing at any given time (Cronin 113-147). Its popularity is one of the reasons why people are getting addicted to it. Gamers are all the time looking for new and interesting games and as they find something new they started playing and telling their friends and family about it. In this way those people themselves get obsessed of games as well as they make others overwhelmed with the interest of gaming. I would define this group of players as a culture because they have their own way of life that is very different from anything one is, they spend much of their time in gaming which is no more than a way to get busy. And this activity does not mean anything useful. In addition at one point these 5000 players are playing then a sort of a social group of their own. Some of my songs are complete addicts and play this game at least 8 hours a day without worrying about college, sleep or work. These people have no friends and not have any food because they are busy playing Warcraft all day (Mayra 45-113). We think that it will be a great...
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...Lego occupies a strong position in the market for construction toys with relatively few rivals one must consider that Lego is now competing in boarder market of children's entertainment which in the lead up to 2004 began in include large incumbents from the electronics sector such as Sega and Nintendo. Power of buys The power of the buyer in the case of Lego may be seen as relatively high with low switching costs between alternative toys and even substitute products such as video games and television. Power of suppliers The power of suppliers may be seen as average, Lego's products on the whole may be seen as largely based upon standardised inputs such as plastics and chemicals. There is the consideration that were Lego chooses to move into non-traditional areas such as sets associated with films or games the power of suppliers will increase as a key input becomes that of licences which is a form of intellectual property. Threat of substitutes This may be seen as the largest threat to the Lego group in the run up to the end of 2004. Although it is difficult to define what market a company occupies (Grant 2008, Porter 2004) for the purpose of considering the impact of substitution one must consider Lego to be a provider of children's entertainment. In this case the threat from substitutes are rather high given that consumers may substitute between alternative traditional toys such as action figures or toy cars through to electronic products such as video games and...
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...Jennifer Smith G.G. Toys: Case study #2 G.G. Toys was a toy manufacturer facing problems with productivity and profitability. The company found a profitable product in their Geoffrey doll and Specialty branded doll #106. Retailers could customize to the specifications and buying habits of their customer base. On average, the Geoffrey Doll cost $19.19 to produce, and the #106 doll $23.74. To access in a study of their overhead cost for both of their plants, research showed that: 1. A setup was performed in the Chicago facility each time a modification to the dolls was made. Additionally, each time a specialty-branded doll was produced, a separate setup was required to process the raw materials to the required specifications. 2. Workers in the Chicago facility often operated several machines simultaneously once they were set up. Thus, machine-related expenses might relate more to the machine hours of a product than to its production-run labor hours. Because each retailer required slight alterations to the Geoffrey doll's overall appearance, a new setup and production run was required for each design change. Retailers were found to be conservative in their ordering patterns, ordering fewer units more frequently. Thus increasing the number of setups required, causing increased labor and material cost. The research done by the external group did show an area of opportunity. Because setup is time consuming, labor intensive, and costly, it would be within reason...
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