If you walk down the aisle of any toy store it is clear what toys are marketed towards boy and which are marketed towards girls. Girl toys are almost always related to domestic tasks such as cooking (play kitchens), motherhood (baby dolls, which can now actually wet their diapers…creepy) and dolls and princesses (think anything Barbie). But the toy industry is changing and GoldieBlox is a force behind it.
In case you don’t know (I had to google it), GoldieBlox is a toy brand that creates toys to introduce young girls to the field of engineering. A female engineer named Debbie Sterling started the company in 2012. The toys are meant to follow a storyline and have the girls building along as the story progresses. The brand initially started out with one kit but now includes multiple stories that all involve helping “GoldieBlox” help her farm friends with various tasks such as building farm machinery.
A couple days ago GoldieBlox released their latest ad. It is a spoof off the classic 80’s “this is your brain on drugs” PSA which features taking an egg and frying it. In their ad, GoldieBlox shows the difference between a brain on “princesses” and a brain on engineering. Along the way there are little post it notes with facts about girls and the engineering field. Take a look.
While I think this ad is cute it’s not my favorite overall. There are many contradictory things in the ad that I take issue with. The little girl in the start is wearing a white lab coat but for some reason they throw fairy wings on her. The wings seem to take her into the field of princesses, which the company is trying to get girls away from. This ad is also targeting towards children (though legally they’ll probably claim their parents), however the ad is dull and wouldn’t capture the attention of most girls in their target age usage demographic. I do applaud the company for what they are trying to do but they could use some new ad material. The egg is cleaver since it is Easter time and the spoof off the 80’s is clever since most young parents probably would have viewed the original PSA in high school. I think brands like GoldieBlox is pushing the toy industry in the right way but they have to get over some creative hurdles before their message will take hold.
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