A feminist journey into the forgotten wilds of Saturday-afternoon YTV programming.
I was watching ‘The Dog Who Saved Halloween’ on YTV last Saturday afternoon—as one does—and the experience was a little like stumbling into a strange wormhole back to my childhood. There have been a lot of societal changes since I was a child, particularly in regards to gender norms and sexuality. As an adult I have seen many examples of society slowly beginning to openly embrace boys who like traditionally feminine things and vice versa. Having lived through these changes, watching YTV again for the first time in years was interesting to say the least.
The commercials were so steeped in gender stereotypes that I felt like I was watching an extended parody by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
One ad that stood out in particular was Barbie’s ‘Anything is Possible’ campaign. According to Barbie, what is possible for young girls appears to consist mainly of shopping, baking, and fashion.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a gal who happens to love baking and I have no issue with girls who enjoy fashion or shopping. I generally think we should enjoy whatever makes us happy and not worry too much about being a stereotype of our gender. What I do have an issue with is the fact that marketing for children has not changed at all in the past 20 years.
The commercials which feature only girls have several universal traits: everything is drenched in pink, the animals have giant eyes, and the toys are focused on fashion, motherhood, and baking. I went to Mattel’s online shopping website to look into the Anything is Possible campaign and see if maybe they did have dolls in the line that were not so stereotypical. In the Barbie career section, I found Cake Baker, Ice Skater, Nurse, and Actress. To be fair, I also found Teacher, Soccer Player and Tennis Star.
Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with any of these careers, and kids should be free to dream about whatever future interests them. It is a little odd though that Mattel only seemed to promote dolls for careers that have been perceived as acceptably “feminine” for generations now.
At the bottom of the page, in the small print describing the line, they indicated that there was a ‘geek-chic’ Computer Engineer Barbie. My hopes raised a little— it wasn’t part of the main ad campaign, or featured on the page at all, but it least it existed. When I clicked on the link though, I got a page that said “Sorry, we couldn’t find that’. Helpfully, the site offered a suggestion for what I might like instead: Ballerina Barbie.
As for the commercials which featured only boys, they were all very adrenaline filled, with fast cars, muscular super heroes, and weapon-toting warriors, all backed up by bitchin’ 90’s electric guitar riffs. Once again, there is nothing wrong with any of this, but the last time I checked, girls liked that stuff too. (You can’t tell me I’m the only girl who ever jumped off a sofa emulating Raphael the Ninja Turtle. So cool. So rude.)
As I’ve previously stated, there’s nothing wrong with boys wanting Transformers, or girls begging their parents for EZ Bake ovens—people should be free to like whatever they want without worrying about playing into their own gender stereotypes. We just need to inject a little diversity into the marketing. Show a boy baking cupcakes with the girls, or a face- painted girl going Rambo with one of those awesome Nerf Miniguns. Children should be taught that there is no shame in enjoying something that traditionally is associated with the opposite sex. Many parents are already down with this message, but the media plays a huge role in our impressions of what is normal, especially when we are young.
It’s true that as adults we are faced with a similar barrage of ads, but it’s even more important for children to be exposed to diversity. They are living through their formative years, and they are going to internalize these messages. As a bisexual, video game obsessed girl who bakes and refuses to pluck her eyebrows, something as seemingly minor as a more diverse slate of Mattel ads might have helped me feel a little less freakish growing up.
And no, despite the 600-word feminist tangent, I haven’t forgotten the most important takeaway from my experience Saturday afternoon—The Dog Who Saved Halloween is everything you think it is. I give it two thumbs up.
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