We’ve known all along that girls love the Ghostbusters. Even in the 1980s, there seemed to be just as many little girls wearing Ghostbusters t-shirts and carrying around ghost traps as boys. Everyone was into it. It seems that, at long last, Sony has finally become aware of this, and has announced that there will be “girl-centric” Ghostbusters toys coming out in conjunction with the Paul Feig reboot of the franchise. But what does that…mean, exactly?
As reported by IGN, Sony’s Senior VP of Global Consumer Products, Greg Economos, had this to say:
Ghostbusters is a big role-play brand, and whether the leads are male or female, 8-year-old boys are still going to want to capture ghosts. Having female leads includes girls in that too.
However, the IGN report goes on to speculate thusly:
As such, the merchandising program for the new movie will add girl-centric toys that wouldn’t have been viable 30 years ago—fashion dolls, for example.
*record scratch*
Fashion dolls? So, like, each of the Ghostbusters will come with their Ghostbuster uniform and… a dress with heels? I don’t even know what that means! But as a former little girl who grew up with the franchise, I can tell you that the last thing I was thinking about was fashion. I was thinking about busting ghosts.
Of course, I do enjoy fashion—so this isn’t to say that toys can/should never be fashion-related. But it’s interesting that when one discusses “girl-centric” toys, the assumption is that those toys will have something to do with dressing up a doll, or doing its hair, or something else beauty-related, because that’s all we train girls how to do, right? Boys bust ghosts, girls do hair.
Hopefully, this is simply speculation on IGN’s part. To hear Vivienne Waisman, Executive Director of Sony’s Global Consumer Products tell it, they seem to have a more level-headed approach to their broadening demographic than that. When discussing plans for the reboot toys, she says:
The style guide is so versatile that it allows us to accommodate for mass and specialty without having them conflict with each other. Mass will focus on those more iconic pieces like the Ecto-1 [the Ghostbuster’s car], while specialty will give the fanbase an opportunity to customize and do something that’s a bit more inclusive of their own preferences.
So, perhaps this is indicative of a Sony decision to focus on individual customization of these toys, rather than specifically designing a “girls’ line” separate from a “boys’ line.” That would be a wise move. For example, maybe an Ecto-1 that looks like the one in the film, but then comes with stuff that you can put on it to make it your own that would appeal to any gender, all in the same box. Reusable slime and flower decals. Mix-n-match accents with all sorts of color schemes. This way, children can play individually, without their toy packaging telling them that they should strictly adhere to a category on a box. However, this isn’t just a Sony decision – they’re working with over ninety new licensees to develop the new toys. Hopefully, all of these companies will jump on board the gender parity train.
And of course, in addition to the line of toys for the new film, they’ll continue creating merchandise for Ghost Corps, the Ivan Reitman/Dan Akroyd collective devoted to creating an expanded (and male-oriented) Ghostbusters universe tied to the original Ghostbusters franchise. You know, in case 30 years of a franchise wasn’t enough for you, and you think women are scary.
(Image via BricksArtist on Flickr)
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