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Toy Store Commercial Casually Tosses Gender Norms Aside, Is Great as a Result

The holiday season is almost upon us—after we get all spooky for the rest of the month—and that probably means we’ve got a lot of gendered advertising coming our way, since we still live in a world of “boys'” and “girls'” toy aisles. Before that all kicks off, then, why not watch this UK commercial for Smyths Toys Superstores that tosses the gendered marketing out the window and gives us a kid who wants to fly through space and wear dresses?

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And he doesn’t recoil at the sight of the color pink! To a lot of us—and to plenty of commenters on Facebook—nothing about the commercial probably feels too remarkable at all, but that’s just the thing: The all-too-common gendered marketing for toys doesn’t match up with a lot of our experiences with real kids. Kids just want to play and use their imaginations, and the way toys are marketed puts too many artificial limits on how they do it.

More like this, please.

(via Hello Giggles, image via screengrab)

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Author
Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct <em>Geekosystem</em> (RIP), and then at <em>The Mary Sue</em> starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at <em>Smash Bros.</em>

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