The change comes amid complaints from consumers that their kids won’t play together because boys don’t want to play with Barbies and girls don’t want want to play with action figures. Keeping that in mind, will merging the toy and clothing sections really change anything?
Attention Target shoppers: Say goodbye to “girls’ building sets” and “boys’ bedding.”
The big box retailer announced Friday that it will start phasing out gender-based signage in some departments. The shift comes in response to customer feedback that distinguishing between products for girls and boys is unnecessary and maybe even harmful.
Parents and gender equality advocates welcomed the news as a significant step with potential to inspire other retailers.
“This change is a step towards removing gender limitations in childhood, but when one of the world’s largest retailers does this, the ripple effect will be significant,” author Melissa Atkins Wardy said in her blog, Pigtail Pals & Ballcap Buddies, which promotes gender-neutral toys, apparel and other products for children.
The changes will come over the next few months, the company said. Signs in the kids’ bedding area will no longer feature suggestions for boys or girls. In the toys aisles, references to gender, including the use of pink, blue, yellow or green paper on the walls of shelves, also will be removed.
A small minority of commenters criticized Target in the online statement for giving into pressure to promote “politically correct fads” and “homogenize the genders.”
Far more people applauded the decision.
Boys and girls don’t play with certain toys because of the genders they’re aimed towards. Most don’t even think about that when picking up a Barbie or a Transformer. Kids will play with whatever sparks their imagination. Removing signage won’t change that.
Read more at CNN
Photo: Mike Mozart on Flickr
I have never been that thrilled with Target. But now, I will NEVER shop there. What foolishness!
“political correctness” will never go away. It will never go away because conservatives who whine about political correctness will never let it go away and willl keep bitching about it. They call so many things “politically correct” that the phrase has lost all meaning except for one, which is anything conservatives don’t like.
How does somebody saying “Happy holidays” limit freedom of expression and thought? Starbucks not having “Merry Christmas” on their coffee cups, how does that limit freedom of expression and thought? Target changing their signs, how does that limit freedom of expression and thought? Somebody giving different lyrics to a song, how does that limit freedom of expression and thought? How does any of that restrict any of your freedoms. The fact is they don’t, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that conservatives don’t like them and because they don’t like them that automatically makes them politically correct.