Gender Neutral Toy Sections Are Now Law In California
How does the recent California law mandating gender-neutral toy sections in large retail stores impact the toy industry? This episode takes a deep dive into the nuances of this legislative change and its potential ripple effects on manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
The episode revisits a critical discussion from October 2021, examining the intricate details and recent amendments of the bill turned into law. We explore the initial intentions of the bill, which aimed to encompass childcare items, children's clothing, and toys, and discuss the significant changes it underwent before becoming law. One of the notable alterations includes the exclusion of children's clothing from the bill and the refined definition of 'childcare items,' emphasizing products designed for sleep, relaxation, feeding, sucking, or teething.
The Toy Coach sheds light on the financial implications of non-compliance with the new law, analyzing the fines and penalties associated with failing to adhere to the new regulations. The episode also covers consumer reactions and sentiments, highlighting how the law is perceived as both a progressive step and a performative act by different segments of the population.
The episode explores the opportunities and challenges this law presents for toy manufacturers, including the need for rapid adaptation and the possibility of developing new gender-neutral product lines.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of the California gender-neutral toy law, its implications for the toy industry, retail strategies, gender norms in toy marketing, and the broader societal implications of such legislative changes. It's an essential resource for toy industry professionals, retailers, manufacturers, marketers, and consumers looking to stay informed about the latest trends and regulations in the toy industry.
Episode Cliff Notes
Learn about the origins and updates of California's gender-neutral toy law [00:00:30]
Find out how Assembly Bill 1084 has evolved since its introduction [00:01:02]
Discover the implications for childcare items and toy categories [00:02:21]
Understand the changes in retail space and consumer attitudes [00:04:06]
Explore the financial implications of non-compliance with the law [00:03:36]
Delve into retail strategies for implementing gender-neutral sections [00:05:01]
Analyze the potential impact on toy manufacturers [00:24:12]
Examine the creative opportunities arising from these changes [00:34:23]
Discuss the broader implications for toy retailing and gender norms [00:37:27]
-
This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
HOUSE BILL NO. 1084
California Legislative Information on AB-1084 Gender neutral retail departments
Making It In The Toy Industry Podcast Episode #96Click here to view Walmart’s Gender Neutral Product Category Online
Click to view Gender Neutral Toys on Target.com -
[00:00:00] You are listening to Making It in the Toy Industry, episode number 202.
[00:00:05] Well, hey there, toy people, Azhelle Wade here, and welcome back to another episode of Making It in the Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.
[00:00:28] com. For today's episode,
[00:00:30] we are going to revisit an episode that we first released on October 20th, 2021. That was episode 96, And it announced the coming of the California law to empower gender neutral toys. And now is the best time to reshare this episode Because that bill that we addressed in that episode was recently signed into law and enforcement is scheduled to happen right now, [00:01:00] January of 2024.
[00:01:02] Since last doing that episode, there were some interesting changes to what was listed in the bill. So I do want to just quickly go over some of the changes. Then I would like to address some of the sentiments that consumers are having and then I'm going to reshare with you the previous episode, because now is a as good a time as any to dive into that. Okay, so first up, the bill that was passed into law was Assembly Bill 1084. Now, originally, this bill was meant to apply to childcare items, children's clothing, and toys.
[00:01:37] And it was meant to affect department stores that had a retail and online presence and were based in California with 500 employees or more. Some of the changes that came to that bill before it was passed were this.
[00:01:53] The bill originally applied to child care items, children's clothing, and toys. What we've seen since the bill [00:02:00] had passed, has now passed into law, children's clothing seems to be struck from that bill. However, the term child care item has been restated to say it means any product designed or intended by the manufacturer to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of children, or to help children with sucking or teething.
[00:02:21] So the clothing aspect of this bill has completely been removed, toys still remains, and this child care item term still remains. So these are the items and the types of products that are governed under this now law. The original bill stated that it required stores to dedicate one undivided area for each category. But now how the bill actually passed into law, it seems to be written so that you just need one undivided area that is gender neutral. Giving you more flexibility to kind of create a gender neutral corner as opposed to having to [00:03:00] create separate categories of gender neutral products.
[00:03:03] When the bill was first brought up, there were also limitations on signage. Within these gender neutral sections, you were not allowed to have signs that were specific for girls or boys, however, that version of the bill didn't pass. What did pass allows for signage within the specific gender neutral sections, as long as it doesn't categorize by gender at all. tHere were also some changes as far as the penalty. So originally the penalty for noncompliance was 1, 000 for every infraction and
[00:03:36] now the penalty is brought down to 250 and then 500 for every subsequent violation. What many consumers are saying, is that this is a very performative bill happening. just in time for election season and rather a very performative law now just happening in time for election season, because how much will it really affect these major department stores, [00:04:00] these major retailers to have to pay a 250 fine for not having this gender neutral section.
[00:04:06] As many of my Toy Creators Academy students know, I teach that the retail shelf space is seen as dollars per square foot, right? How much money can this one foot of space in my store generate?
[00:04:20] What we call a slot on a toy store shelf or a facing of a product is essentially the footprint that that product would take up on the shelf. Now, the drawback for this gender neutral edition because retailers are likely not going to want to have duplicate product in their girl section and in their gender neutral section but what might happen is this gender neutral space might have to replace a space where other items were living. While manufacturers will have an opportunity to potentially be featured in a new space in a store somebody, some product is going to lose out [00:05:00] on that square footage.
[00:05:01] space. Retailers might decide, to take that space away from, I don't know, let's say party goods. They could say, you know what, we're going to take a little bit of space away from party goods. We're going to turn that into the gender neutral space. Now, that would be best case scenario where toy companies then can say, Oh, great.
[00:05:17] There's like two feet more of space that we can vie for and we can get our product into whether it's existing product or we're going to create new gender neutral product, whatever, right? But a worst case scenario could be, well, retailers could decide, you know what, I cannot afford to take away SKUs that are selling in, let's say party goods.
[00:05:38] So I'm going to shift things around.
[00:05:41] Scarlett 2i2 USB-7: In that case that could mean there will be some manufacturers that are faced with the option of, Hey, you can live in our former girl aisle, or we can shift your product into this new gender neutral space. However, there's a benefit.
[00:05:57] of being in the girl's doll section. [00:06:00] When a little girl comes to the doll section looking for one doll, she has the opportunity to discover another doll that she didn't know was going to be there. If my doll gets moved into the gender neutral section, that little girl or little boy may never discover it because they don't know to look for it there.
[00:06:17] And then it requires retailers to educate their consumers of where to find their products in store. It does seem like these major department stores are expecting a larger rollout for this law in years to come because we can already see that Walmart and Target online both have gender neutral sections for their toys, and they both have unisex toy sections.
[00:06:43] The original bill did mention having a unisex category or having a gender neutral category on your website. And it does seem that these larger department stores are meeting those requirements early in expectation that they might get [00:07:00] rolled out in, in future adaptations and future revisions of this law.
[00:07:05] So in case you haven't had a chance to get fully up to date on this gender neutral law, I am now going to play back my episode when this bill was first announced from October 2021.
[00:07:18] Azhelle Wade: Today's episode is all about the new California law that requires retail stores with a toy department to have a gender neutral section for toys.
[00:07:31] First, we are going to start by defining what the new California law is. You know, I love my definitions. We'll get into how it will affect toy retailers, manufacturers, and just some predictions of how the design of heavily gendered toy brands may or may not have to evolve to fit in with this new law.
[00:07:55] We're going to have a conversation about how gender neutral is [00:08:00] defined in this new law. And toward the end of this episode, I'm going to share with you a conversation that I actually had inside of my Toy Creators Academy group coaching session last week, where we dove in to the legal definition and potential retail interpretation.
[00:08:19] of the term gender neutral. And so it's going to be a really interesting conversation today. Thank you for joining me. Let's dive right in. To start, I want to talk about what this new law is. Now, this is actually a bill listed as AB 1 0 8 4 gender neutral retail departments. So on October 11th, I posted an Instagram story, plain text that said, California law will require gender neutral toy section, posted it on my Instagram.
[00:08:54] And I have got to say toy people, I have never seen my awesome toy [00:09:00] Instagrammers more lively. You were all liking this post up in the comments, wanting to talk about it. A friend, Heather Sparks, was shocked saying, what about time? Captain VR said, I'm kind of amazed that some places still try to gender toys.
[00:09:19] Geek. kawaii said, plushies and video games have always been gender neutral. Come on. There were just so many great supportive celebratory comments and it put a huge smile on my face to see that the community stood behind this. So it's clear to me that this is a hot button issue for many people, but what.
[00:09:44] does this law actually mean? The headline that I shared was similar to headlines that you'll find online, and it can be interpreted in many different ways. California law will require gender neutral toy sections, but what kinds of toy [00:10:00] sections, where will they require? Acquire them. Is it only toys? Well, that's what we're gonna start diving into.
[00:10:05] So the bill states that starting in 2024, California retailers that have over 500 employees within the state and sell toys will be required to have a gender neutral section for their toys. Now the section can be in addition to usual girls and boy isles, or in replacement of now the gender neutral.
[00:10:30] section can be labeled at any discretion of the retailer, meaning they can call it whatever non gender specific term that they want. And within this section, they must have a reasonable mix of items that they sell, regardless of how those products were traditionally marketed. So I'm assuming that to mean items that they typically sell in their store.
[00:10:53] Must be mixed in this area regardless of if they were boy items or girl items in the past. Now, [00:11:00] according to the law, toy sellers have to show a reasonable selection of toys that can be played with by people of any gender. And if companies do not comply with the law, they will face a $250 fine for the first offense, and a $500 fine for subsequent offenses.
[00:11:21] Okay. I know with a company that has at least 500 employees, that's not a lot of money, especially to retailers, you know, if that size, but the subsequent offenses could mean for every item that is not in the correct place. Potentially, maybe there could be some weight behind that threat. Now, what you may not know is that the law actually applies not only to toys, but also to childcare accessories like bottles, pacifiers, sleep accessories, and more.
[00:11:51] The text of the law states that its purpose is to help buyers spot differences in similar products by having them [00:12:00] physically closer to each other in the store. For example, I guess we could look at it as a pink Lego set versus a blue Lego set, having them in the same space on the shelf, or maybe a fashion doll and a similarly shaped.
[00:12:17] action figure. Now, while diving into this part of the new law, I started to think that perhaps it could be a play toward price regulation of boy versus girl products, right? I'm sure you guys have all heard of the pink tax before, but does the pink tax really apply to toys? That's what I started asking myself because before diving into research for this episode.
[00:12:43] I thought the pink tax primarily affected adult women with things like razors, hair products and clothing. But according to bankrate. com, a study performed by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs [00:13:00] found that girls toys, quote unquote, cost an average of two dollars. To 13 percent more than boys toys that are the same other than their color.
[00:13:14] So in October of 2020, there was a pink tax ban that went into effect in New York. Now, if it went into effect on, you know, October of 2020, likely it was in the works much longer than that. And it was considered a real landmark move toward gender equality. Now this law that we're talking about today is a California law.
[00:13:37] And then the story of the pink tax ban and the average cost research. It is all New York based data, but could this move this gender neutral toy store law be California's attempt to have consumers kind of self regulate these disproportionate pricing across [00:14:00] genders? And what I mean by that is their goal to get boy and girl items together in a gender neutral themed or labeled space so that consumers can make more informed decisions and see the quality differences if there aren't any and see the price differences.
[00:14:20] Maybe just a thought, but just I love diving into where these things came from and why they might have come to be. Okay. So that is what the law is for the most part. So let's dive into how it will affect toy retailers. And first and foremost, the size of retailers we're looking at, they have to have 500 employees in California.
[00:14:46] So it's not like they can have a hundred employees in California and then employees elsewhere. And this law applies when I read the law, which I will link in the show notes. So head over to. The toy coach. [00:15:00] 96 to grab that link now for my toy coach podcast insiders I'm actually gonna do you one better than the link I'm gonna read the law to you right now or the bill for this law.
[00:15:11] Do not worry It's not super long but in case you are super busy and you're not gonna get a chance to check out the link Here we go. So it's an assembly bill number 10 84 that I'm reading to you from the legislative council's digest. This is from legislature. ca. gov. It, the loss, the loss starts with the title of the bill, a B 1 0 8 4 L O W gender neutral retail departments.
[00:15:42] Existing law, the UNRRA Civil Rights Act specifies that all persons within the jurisdiction of the state are free and equal and no matter their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic [00:16:00] information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of Every kind.
[00:16:19] This bill would require a retail department store that is physically located in California that has a total of 500 or more employees across all California retail department store locations that sells childcare items or toys to maintain a gender neutral section or area. To be labeled at the discretion of the retailer in which a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys.
[00:16:57] Beginning on January [00:17:00] 1, 2024, the bill would make a retail department store that fails to comply with these provisions liable for a civil penalty not to exceed 250 for a first violation or 500 for a subsequent violation as provided. It says the vote was majority appropriation. No fiscal committee. Yes.
[00:17:23] Local program. No, the, then the bill continues to say the people of the state of California do enact as follows. Section one, part 2. 57 commencing with section 55. 7 is added to division one of the civil code to read this part 2. 57 gender neutral retail departments, 55. 7 the legislator finds and declares.
[00:17:50] Both of the following a unjustified differences in similar products that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys can more [00:18:00] easily identified by the customer. If similar items are displayed closer to one another in one undivided area of the retail sales floor. B, keeping similar items that are traditionally marketed for either for girls or for boys separated makes it more difficult for the consumer to compare the products and incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is inappropriate.
[00:18:27] 55. 8 a, a retail department store that offers childcare items or toys for sale shall maintain a gender neutral section or area to be labeled at the discretion of the retailer in which a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys.
[00:18:55] B, this section shall apply only to retail department [00:19:00] stores that are physically located in California and have a total of 500 or more employees across all California retail department store locations. This section shall not apply to retail department stores that are physically located outside California.
[00:19:17] C. Beginning on January 1st, 2024, a retail department store that fails to comply with this section is liable for civil penalty not to exceed 250 for a first violation or 500 for a subsequent violation, which may be assessed and recovered in a civil action. Brought in the name of the people of the state of California by the attorney general or district attorney or city attorney in any court of competent jurisdiction.
[00:19:50] If the attorney general district attorney or city attorney prevails in an action under this subdivision, the court shall award to the attorney [00:20:00] general district attorney or city attorney, reasonable attorney fees and costs. D, for purposes of this section, one, childcare item means any product designed or intended by the manufacturer to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of children, or to help children with sucking or teething.
[00:20:23] Two, children means persons 12 years of age or less. Three, toy means a product designed or intended by the manufacturer to be used by children when they play. And that's it. That is the entire bill. I will put the link in the show notes again, head over to the toy coach. com forward slash 96 to grab, grab that link.
[00:20:45] But that is the entire bill that we're reading here that applies to this law.
[00:20:49] Okay. Let's dive right back into the rest of the episode. But it specifically states that it's 500 employees within the state of California. So first [00:21:00] and foremost, that means it's going to affect stores like Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, which is back. These stores may have to re POG or re planagram items to meet the new law.
[00:21:12] Now, if you were just listening and you were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what happened? A'Gelle's normally very slow with these things. She said re POG, re I don't know what she's talking about. Well, I've got you. Don't worry. POG is just like a short industry term for planogram. And a planogram is essentially a planned layout and positioning of where products should be placed on a shelf.
[00:21:35] Just imagine a floor plan for a house. But instead of it being for the layout of the house top view, it's for the layout of a wall, and it's kind of like a side view, so elevation view. So toy buyers plan a gram or POG products to determine how they're going to be displayed at retail. And buyers are usually assigned a single section in a store.
[00:21:59] So, [00:22:00] for example, a buyer could be responsible for the arts and crafts section at Walmart. That's the only section that they. Focus on buying product and planning, grabbing product for, let's say you're a toy company trying to sell a product to that buyer at Walmart. You might find that the buyer won't really touch product that could or should potentially live in other buyers.
[00:22:23] For example, a doodle fashion doll could be in the craft section or the doll section, but the buyers for both those sections are actually two different people. If the doll section buyer, let's say, were to find out that the craft section buyer already had that doll craft product, she likely or he wouldn't touch it.
[00:22:45] Or if the doll section buyer saw the product first, like maybe your doll section buyer saw your craft doll product first, but they just think that that product would be a better fit or makes more sense in the craft section, [00:23:00] they still might not touch it. So as not to encroach on category of product that another buyer is responsible for.
[00:23:07] But okay, I'm digressing. I'm going into a whole, whole lesson, but I want to get back to the California law. With this new California law, they're essentially creating, forced creating a brand new section of toy stores that we might have to have buyers. Manage. It's the gender neutral section. So now buyers and the owners of these retail stores are either going to need to decide whether they're okay just kind of all helping fill this gender neutral section as a group and duplicating products between other sections in order to fill that space and then share responsibility of that section.
[00:23:51] Or they'll assign one buyer to manage just the gender neutral section, or maybe the gender neutral section and another section in the [00:24:00] store. And then that buyer who's in charge of the gender neutral section will need to find and buy product exclusively for that section. Now, honestly, I think it's a great thing.
[00:24:12] I mean, other than the issue of finding the retail space, figuring out what product you're going to take out, what product you're going to swap in, figuring out if you're going to duplicate product in the store and just have it look like a hodgepodge like clearance style. section of your store, or if you're going to really have the product be redesigned, you know, I really believe that this gender neutral requirement, this new section requirement could create an opportunity for a nice visual break for shoppers.
[00:24:43] In toy stores and thus provide a way for toy retailers to freshen up their space the same way that we kind of blindly scroll through apps like Instagram and Facebook and marketers are all about stopping the scroll in that same [00:25:00] way you're trying to catch the gaze of consumers when they make their way into into your physical retail store and with everything being so one way, so sorted by gender and then brand, it can be really hard to create a visually intriguing part of a toy store that kind of stands out from everything else.
[00:25:23] So this could create an opportunity within the turmoil since we have to now create these gender neutral sections. So, what does all this mean for toy manufacturers? Well, what's really cool is it could mean that toy manufacturers begin to preemptively develop gender neutral lines to fill in the coming need of retailers.
[00:25:49] So likely, they won't be developing completely new product, but they will probably be developing New packaging and new branding. Now, [00:26:00] while the California law seems to allow a retailer to simply mix traditional girl and boy products in a new gender neutral space, we can assume that some toy retailers may not love how that visually affects the flow of their toy store.
[00:26:20] And when they see that hodgepodge clearance style look in this gender neutral section, they may lean toward buying product aesthetically developed with this gender neutral section in mind. So, So this could make opportunity for toy manufacturers who can quickly turn around small gender neutral programs, likely comprised of the top selling products from their toy and girl lines.
[00:26:53] This could actually create opportunity for them to acquire shelf space that they [00:27:00] previously didn't have an opportunity to acquire. Okay. Well, now that we've gone over what this law is and what it could mean for toy retailers and manufacturers in California, I want to share with you some topics brought up in my latest group coaching session with my Toy Creators Academy students last week.
[00:27:23] So the question that came up in our call was this, what defines something as gender neutral specifically in this law? And I have to say it's a little confusing because the law doesn't specifically define gender neutral. The law defines the term childcare item. It defines the term children and the term toy, but it does not define what gender neutral is.
[00:27:51] So overall, the law explains how retailers should fill this gender neutral section. It seems that retailers are expected [00:28:00] to place traditionally boys and girls toys together in the same area to let consumers decide which ones they want to buy, thus making the new section gender neutral in theory. How will a store be called out for not abiding by this law?
[00:28:19] What will define not abiding by this law? And since there was really no clear definition of A, the size that this gender neutral section needed to be and B, what gender neutral actually is in the law, of course, I just looked it up because I love a good definition. So the Oxford Dictionary defines gender neutral as this.
[00:28:41] Suitable for, applicable to, or common to both male and female genders. So, you could theoretically have an all pink, gender neutral aisle, and you could argue that the [00:29:00] product is suitable for and applicable to both genders. I mean, who is to really say that? A all pink aisle isn't suitable. I mean, the product itself is still suitable and applicable.
[00:29:14] You can definitely see boys playing with girls toys. I mean, this is the whole reason this law came into existence, right? Because there really is no dividing line. There really shouldn't be a dividing line. But in my opinion, it seems to me that the word common is that word that is going to help define and separate what will and won't fall within the guidelines.
[00:29:39] What is common? I'm assuming that is similar to what is traditionally accepted, but again, it is very vague. Now a lot of this new California law is left up to the toy sellers discretion seemingly seems like they [00:30:00] can put whatever signage they want for their gender neutral section, but it just has to not be deemed a boys or girls section specifically.
[00:30:09] So the selection of toys. is also up to the retailer. Even the size of the area is up to the seller. It just has to be quote reasonable. So how is the toy aisle going to change? This is what my students and I really dove into beyond this gender neutral discussion. What is going to happen to our toy aisles if this Gender neutral law expands if it's more than just a section, right?
[00:30:39] If it becomes an aisle, if it becomes the entire department, what will happen? So one of the things that I've just. I've just always thought would be beautiful is if our toys were defined by vibe, by mood and thus by color and what if the [00:31:00] gender neutral section became the rainbow section and the rainbow section in a sense of like, like, The vibe that each color emits and the child gets to shop by what vibe they have.
[00:31:12] And that's when my student Maya Gill chimed in and said, yes, rainbow products are super popular right now. Rainbow themes in toys. She's seen it everywhere, like LOL surprises, entire rainbow high doll collection. And then when we think about LGBTQ communities, Lego created like an everyone is awesome Lego set for pride month to represent.
[00:31:40] all of the colors of LGBTQA. I mean, rainbow products have just grown, exploded in popularity. UNO also released like a pride edition with a rainbow themed deck and It's not just toy brands that are trying to be more [00:32:00] inclusive, even without California's law, Target stores have actually not had gender toy areas since 2015.
[00:32:09] They took out the signs and now let parents and kids pick what toys they like from themselves. They sort it by category, by brand still. And Toys R Us, which is back, actually removed gender toy aisles in 2013. And Walmart. also doesn't use gendered signage for, for toys, as we talked about earlier, is toy signage enough?
[00:32:34] What else are retailers going to be required to do to meet this law? And this conversation with my students just sparked a bunch of things. One of the points that was brought up was, well, why don't they organize? toy aisles by age or by play pattern. And I mean, play pattern is such a tricky one because often [00:33:00] with toys, we're trying so hard to build out the marketing elements of each product.
[00:33:04] So we have multiple play patterns in one product. But age is something that I've seen in a toy store recently when I was traveling abroad. I believe I was in Portugal at the time and I ran into this beautiful toy store. I will throw up a couple of images from the toy store in the show notes so you could check it out.
[00:33:24] But the toy store was divided by age and it was very clean and it did make for a very Easy shop, but it was a totally different experience. So that was the conversation that I dove into with my students this past week. And we're just all very excited to see how this unfolds, not just with this new law, but it's starting a whole new conversation, a whole new precedent.
[00:33:52] And that is really what's exciting. It's inspiring people to think about a new way that we look at our toy retail. [00:34:00] space. And I have to say when shop ability is made easier in store, that's the only way you're going to be able to compete with online. Now let's stop to think about the opportunity that this could all create for existing gender neutral toy brands and up and coming gender neutral toy brands.
[00:34:23] Aside from the conversation about rainbow packaging, aside from how things will be organized in stores, we can also surmise that there might be an opportunity here for these brands, because as I said, toy retailers are going to have to repop their spaces and they may not love the outcome of utilizing what they already buy.
[00:34:45] So they may be interested in looking ahead for future seasons and buying specific product to fill this new required gender neutral space. And if these products do well, we could surmise that toy [00:35:00] stores will roll out gender neutral sections in other branches of their stores. side of California and thus affecting the toy industry as a whole.
[00:35:10] Now let's think about the potential opportunity for gender neutral brands, either existing gender neutral brands or up and coming gender neutral brands. Of these gender neutral toys were intentionally created to be gender neutral. Others just are, I mean, take a look at Plato, for example, this Hasbro line has been enjoyed by kids of any gender since 1956.
[00:35:38] And it's typically not marketed toward a specific gender. In 2012, Easy Bake Oven released a more neutrally colored line of ovens after a 13 year old girl wrote and petitioned them because her four year old brother wanted one, but she didn't think he would like the pink and purple that was available.
[00:35:59] In [00:36:00] 2019, Mattel launched a line of gender neutral dolls called Creatable World, and this doll encourages all kinds of play. Self identifying play from the beginning was the purpose and the benefit of playing with dolls for all kids, not just girls. Now other toys on the market try to encourage girls to feel comfortable doing activities that they weren't encouraged to do in the past, like GoldieBlox, which makes engineering toys geared toward girls, and other companies, even ones like Crate and Barrel, are making more neutrally colored doll houses that kids of any gender can enjoy.
[00:36:42] So boys who were once made fun of for playing with doll houses can actually enjoy and feel comfortable playing with the product and playing in that play pattern of the product. Before I jump into the summary of today's episode, I'd like to take a quick break and [00:37:00] give a listener shout out to Misty Castaneda.
[00:37:03] Misty is a graduate of Toy Creators Academy, but the big reason I want to give her a shout out today is to support her. Congratulations to Misty for launching her Kickstarter for her toy product, the Global Kittizens. Misty, if you want to teach your children empathy and culture, check out the Global Kittisons.
[00:37:27] They are a group of diverse characters from around the world that are inspiring young children to discover different cultures, embrace others, and encourage belonging. Misty's Kickstarter campaign launched just a day ago. So if you would like to check out the dolls and maybe get one for yourself, I will leave a link in the show notes to both.
[00:37:49] I hope you support our fellow toy creators. Congratulations, Misty, and best of luck. Okay, let's get into a conclusion of what we learned today about the new law [00:38:00] in California that requires toy stores to make gender neutral toys, that it's for stores with 500 or more employees that they have to have a designated.
[00:38:10] section that features toys that commonly were traditionally boys or girls toys kind of mixed together or can have new products in it as well. But the size of that space is up for interpretation and what gender neutral means seems to be up for interpretation. They can name that space whatever they like.
[00:38:32] And I told you my opinions on how it might affect retailers and the formation of buyers and the spaces they're assigned to and then toy manufacturers, how it will affect them, what they might be doing preemptively to get ready for this change and a Assuming more changes may come down the line in other states or bigger changes for California.
[00:38:55] Then we dove into a conversation that I had with my Toy Creators [00:39:00] Academy students. If you want to learn more about that program, head over to toycreatorsacademy. com because we meet every Thursday for 12 weeks and we dive into conversations like this and so many more. Okay. Toy people. Here is your action item for next week.
[00:39:18] I want you to find a gender neutral toy brand or toy product, and I want you to go into the Facebook community and share it. Post it on the wall. I want to see it. I want us to build a little bit of a library, a compendium, and talk about it, and see how we all fit. feel about the gender neutral products and just start to get more familiar with ones that are out there that maybe we already know about, but maybe we'll find some from this exercise that we've never seen before to join the Facebook community.
[00:39:48] If you haven't joined already, head over to the toy coach. com forward slash 96 and I will put the link there so you can join me and share some of the gender neutral [00:40:00] toy products and brands that you find. As always, thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there.
[00:40:11] So it means the world to me that you tune into this one until next week. I'll see you later. Toy people.
-
🎓 Unlock dozens of trusted factory contacts, develop your idea, and grow your toy company contact list TODAY by joining Toy Creators Academy®, submit an application here.