User:DYNordquist/Toy advertising

Targeting gender[edit]
Many companies selling toys also target children based on their genders. This is done in a variety of ways, such as how toys exclusively showcased in separate aisles depending on the intended gender or placing images of boys or girls on a certain product. Researchers have also found that commercial advertising towards children is gender specific in that they include certain linguistic techniques that perpetuate the gender stereotypes (e.g., verb usage, exaggerated voice intonations in the advertisement, speaking rules of children in the commercials, and the use of the word ‘power’). Children begin to develop stereotypical, gender based knowledge during preschool and by the age of seven they have strong, established views on toy gender. Research found that when children aged seven to eleven were asked to choose a toy, most selected traditional gendered based occupational toys, reflecting role play. Furthermore, studies have shown that children (boys and girls) between the ages of 3–11 years old held negative evaluations of boys violating gender roles involving physical appearance, with the concept of boys wearing girls’ clothing was equated as being almost as bad as the concept of theft. Overall, many similar gender norm violations of boys are also considered more negative than when girls violated norms, such as wearing clothes intended for boys or having short hair.