My last post touched on the idea that consumerism is a force in promoting gender stereotypes. Crystal Smith, the author of The Achille Effect: What Pop Culture is Teaching Young Boys about Masculinity, posted an amazing word cloud created from toy ads. She demonstrated how the vocabulary used in these ads aimed at children may reinforce the gruff, violent, Hot-Wheels-loving boy stereotype, and also the princess, pink ruffles, doll-loving girl stereotype. Guess which one is for which gender:
It makes me wonder what else ads are reinforcing - ideas about race or class perhaps?
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