Girls' games and toys
Encyclopedia
Girls' games and toys are a large yet difficult market for the children's toy industry. Creating games and toys that can be mass-marketed to girls is challenging for today's toy companies. Nancy Zwiers, an industry consultant and former head of worldwide marketing for Mattel's Barbie doll line, has pointed out the male-centred bias that makes development of girls' toys difficult:
Girls gravitate towards "music, clothes, make-up, television talent shows and celebrities". Girls also demonstrate a longer loyalty to characters in games and toys marketed towards them. A variety of global toy companies have marketed themselves to this aspect of girls' development, for example, the Hello Kitty brand, and the Disney princess series of products. Boys have shown an interest in computer games at an ever-younger age in recent years.
The reasons why girls prefer pink are unknown, and scientists are currently researching the phenomenon. Theories are divided between the nature-versus-nurture question. Social conditioning
is one possible factor, since girls are surrounded by pink accessories and clothing from birth in some cultures. However, it has been proposed that a preference for pink is "hard-wired". One recent study showed "a marked preference for pink among girls and women in different cultures".
Amplifying gender identity differences between boys and girls is to the benefit of toy sellers. Targeted marketing has for many decades used the technique of categorizing children into segments for marketing purposes, much as the industry does with adults. Childhood age segments that are popularly believed to be identified by psychologists were in fact invented by children's clothing and toy manufacturers. Peggy Orenstein has drawn attention to research by Daniel Cook (a "historian of childhood consumerism"), that reveals the marketing origins of the familiar age group known as "toddler":
Tween girls became identified as a huge market during the 1990s. The pop music group the Spice Girls
were an act based on a group of female performers representing character traits, with nicknames such as Scary Spice, Baby Spice, and Sporty Spice. They were originally a less edgy variation on the girl-group character acts such as the Mary Jane Girls
organized by Rick James
and Vanity 6
created by Prince
, with an intended teenage audience. To the surprise of the recording industry, the Spice Girls were an enormous success with prepubescent "tween" girls, who identified with the flirtatious sexuality of the group and the "Girl Power
" theme, which marketers subsequently promoted to the hilt. In 1998, the year the Spice Girls enjoyed their peak success, tweens spent an estimated $1.4 Billion, according to a YTV Tween report.Marketing to tween girls is a full-fledged entertainment industry trend today, with toys and merchandise associated with television shows, music groups and celebrities, for example Justin Bieber
, Miley Cyrus
, and Selena Gomez
.
toy invented in Japan in the 1990s. It has sold tens of millions of units worldwide in its various versions. The Tamagotchi is an egg-shaped computerized toy that mimics a pet, and requires that the user update it regularly to feed it and provide other care. It remains particularly popular with young girls, however, and recent marketing is targeted towards girls; girls "like the new outfits and other items that can be downloaded via cellphone and transferred to their Tamagotchi device".
Worldwide video game sales have soared beyond traditional toy and game sales in the past decade, particularly in North America and the Middle East. Nintendo Wii is a well-known recent innovation, which sells games aimed at either girls or boys, or both. Large traditional toy companies such as Hasbro have joined the trend, creating game applications for the iPhone and other smartphones, which are increasingly being used by children in affluent countries.
In recent years, a number of companies have opened chain retail outlets in shopping centres to provide a play experience that goes beyond selling toys. Hamley's flagship store in London opened a "Hair and Nail Bar" dedicated to girls in 2009, and it has shown great popularity with girls in the 7 to 8-year-old range. Justice, a preteen girls' clothing store chain with more than 40 stores in the northeastern U.S., has a line of beauty and spa products available in its stores as well as clothing. In the United States, store chains in shopping malls that focus solely on makeup and spa experiences for preteen girls have been opening at a brisk pace. Tabby, for example, is a chain offering makeup parties in malls in several states.
The trend has proven somewhat resilient even in difficult economic times; one American study confirmed that 62 percent of parents would prefer to cut back on spending on themselves in favour of spending money on their children. On the other hand, Club Libby Lu
, an American chain that at one point peaked with 98 stores, closed its doors in 2009 citing the dismal state of the economy as the reason. Scooops children's spas are a chain that has opened outlets in several U.S. states and Canada in recent years, including an outlet in Mall of America.
Aside from the store chains dedicated to offering beauty services to girls, toy manufacturers have adapted to the trend by tying it to their doll products. The American Girl line of dolls and books has dedicated stores across the United States, such as Mall of America
and American Girl Place in Los Angeles, that include a doll hair salon, a photo studio and party hosting. The Nickelodeon television company's resort in Florida includes a girls' spa. The formula is proving to be successful globally. The world's largest Barbie doll store, a six-floor building in Shanghai, includes a "full-service day spa" where girls can get their hair cut and have a manicure done, as well as buying accessories and clothes emulating a Barbie-influenced style.
the night before her wedding.
Children's games during the Middle Ages and earlier are something of a mystery, since the rules of the games were passed from generation to generation orally. In rare cases, the games survived long enough to be recorded in later centuries. Pieter Bruegel's painting Children's Games (1560) depicts many games popular with Flemish children of the time. Girls can be shown playing games that involve balls, musical instruments, and games that involved carrying other children or performing other challenges. Hide-and-seek, Leapfrog
and Tag (game)
are some perenially popular games that seem to have survived over the centuries in Europe and North America.
Fashion doll
s were creations used by adults in early modern Europe. Fashion dolls were prototype samples of clothing styles, passed between adults who were involved in designing or purchasing expensive dresses and suits. Once the dolls were outdated, they were apparently given to girls as toys. Interestingly, a recent trend in the Barbie doll line in particular is to produce "collectors" versions of the doll marketed to adults, with Barbie wearing historic couture reproductions.
Board game
s, paper doll
s, doll houses and other toys were creations of the Victorian era that remain popular today. Other historic and vintage girls' pastimes include Paper fortune tellers, which date from the 1920s.
"Age compression"
"Age compression" is a toy industry term that describes the modern trend of children moving through play stages faster than they did in the past. Children have a desire to progress to more complex toys at a faster pace, girls in particular. Barbie dolls, for example, were once marketed to girls around 8 years old, but have been found to be more popular in recent years with girls around 3 years old. The packaging for the dolls labels them appropriate for ages 3 and up. Boys, in contrast, apparently enjoy games and toys over a longer timespan, gravitating towards toys that meet their interest in assembling and disassembling mechanical toys, and toys that "move fast and things that fight". An industry executive points out that girls have entered the "tween" phase by the time they are 8 years old and want non-traditional toys, whereas boys have been maintaining an interest in traditional toys until they are 12 years old, meaning the traditional toy industry holds onto their boy customers for 50% longer than their girl customers.Girls gravitate towards "music, clothes, make-up, television talent shows and celebrities". Girls also demonstrate a longer loyalty to characters in games and toys marketed towards them. A variety of global toy companies have marketed themselves to this aspect of girls' development, for example, the Hello Kitty brand, and the Disney princess series of products. Boys have shown an interest in computer games at an ever-younger age in recent years.
Pink phenomenon
In Western countries in recent years, girls' games and toys have shifted towards a dominant use of the colour pink. Adults shopping for girls' toys can easily spot the girls' toy section in a store because of the rows of aisles almost entirely stacked with bright pink products. There has been a backlash against the predominant use of pink in girls' toys. One British parent launched a campaign called Pinkstinks against retailers marketing educational toys to girls in pink. The almost exclusive use of pink for girls' toys has raised concern that it is polarizing gender identity from an early age, to the detriment of girls, by over-emphasizing beauty and passivity over fun and creativity.The reasons why girls prefer pink are unknown, and scientists are currently researching the phenomenon. Theories are divided between the nature-versus-nurture question. Social conditioning
Social conditioning
Social conditioning refers to the sociological process of training individuals in a society to act or respond in a manner generally approved by the society in general and peer groups within society. The concept is stronger than that of socialization, which refers to the process of inheriting norms,...
is one possible factor, since girls are surrounded by pink accessories and clothing from birth in some cultures. However, it has been proposed that a preference for pink is "hard-wired". One recent study showed "a marked preference for pink among girls and women in different cultures".
Amplifying gender identity differences between boys and girls is to the benefit of toy sellers. Targeted marketing has for many decades used the technique of categorizing children into segments for marketing purposes, much as the industry does with adults. Childhood age segments that are popularly believed to be identified by psychologists were in fact invented by children's clothing and toy manufacturers. Peggy Orenstein has drawn attention to research by Daniel Cook (a "historian of childhood consumerism"), that reveals the marketing origins of the familiar age group known as "toddler":
Tween marketing
Similarly, the age group known as the "tween", was a marketing invention dating to the mid-1980s, to describe children aged eight to 15. Today it is popularly understood to be a valid developmental phase. Tween marketing has spread beyond Western countries. In India, marketing research shows children in the 8 to 14-year-old age range, predominantly girls, shifting their preferences away from traditional products towards mass-marketed merchandize such as the Disney Princess line and Hannah Montana.Tween girls became identified as a huge market during the 1990s. The pop music group the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
were an act based on a group of female performers representing character traits, with nicknames such as Scary Spice, Baby Spice, and Sporty Spice. They were originally a less edgy variation on the girl-group character acts such as the Mary Jane Girls
Mary Jane Girls
The Mary Jane Girls were an American R&B, soul, funk and disco group in the 1980s. They were protégées of singer Rick James. They are known for their hit songs "All Night Long", "Candyman" and "In My House".-Formation:...
organized by Rick James
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B...
and Vanity 6
Vanity 6
Vanity 6 was a female vocal trio assembled by Prince in the early 1980s.They released one studio album, which blended the sounds of pop, New Wave, dance music, R&B, and funk.-Formation:...
created by Prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
, with an intended teenage audience. To the surprise of the recording industry, the Spice Girls were an enormous success with prepubescent "tween" girls, who identified with the flirtatious sexuality of the group and the "Girl Power
Girl Power
The phrase "girl power", as a term of empowerment, expressed a cultural phenomenon of the 1990s and early 2000s. It is also linked to third-wave feminism...
" theme, which marketers subsequently promoted to the hilt. In 1998, the year the Spice Girls enjoyed their peak success, tweens spent an estimated $1.4 Billion, according to a YTV Tween report.Marketing to tween girls is a full-fledged entertainment industry trend today, with toys and merchandise associated with television shows, music groups and celebrities, for example Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
, Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....
, and Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...
.
Technology and toys
Technology has been embraced by many toy companies because of the gender-neutral best-selling toys that it helps create. One example is the popular TamagotchiTamagotchi
The is a handheld digital pet, created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. As of 2010, over 76 million Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide...
toy invented in Japan in the 1990s. It has sold tens of millions of units worldwide in its various versions. The Tamagotchi is an egg-shaped computerized toy that mimics a pet, and requires that the user update it regularly to feed it and provide other care. It remains particularly popular with young girls, however, and recent marketing is targeted towards girls; girls "like the new outfits and other items that can be downloaded via cellphone and transferred to their Tamagotchi device".
Worldwide video game sales have soared beyond traditional toy and game sales in the past decade, particularly in North America and the Middle East. Nintendo Wii is a well-known recent innovation, which sells games aimed at either girls or boys, or both. Large traditional toy companies such as Hasbro have joined the trend, creating game applications for the iPhone and other smartphones, which are increasingly being used by children in affluent countries.
Beauty spas for girls
Girls show an interest in beauty and grooming at a young age, before they are 10. Jane Davies, a British beauty therapist who provides private onsite makeover parties for preteens:In recent years, a number of companies have opened chain retail outlets in shopping centres to provide a play experience that goes beyond selling toys. Hamley's flagship store in London opened a "Hair and Nail Bar" dedicated to girls in 2009, and it has shown great popularity with girls in the 7 to 8-year-old range. Justice, a preteen girls' clothing store chain with more than 40 stores in the northeastern U.S., has a line of beauty and spa products available in its stores as well as clothing. In the United States, store chains in shopping malls that focus solely on makeup and spa experiences for preteen girls have been opening at a brisk pace. Tabby, for example, is a chain offering makeup parties in malls in several states.
The trend has proven somewhat resilient even in difficult economic times; one American study confirmed that 62 percent of parents would prefer to cut back on spending on themselves in favour of spending money on their children. On the other hand, Club Libby Lu
Club Libby Lu
Club Libby Lu was an experiential/experience-based retailer for preteen girls ages five through twelve. Founded by Mary Drolet, a former executive at Claire's and Montgomery Ward, in August 2000, the store chain operated 98 stores in 28 states in the United States before closing in early 2009.Club...
, an American chain that at one point peaked with 98 stores, closed its doors in 2009 citing the dismal state of the economy as the reason. Scooops children's spas are a chain that has opened outlets in several U.S. states and Canada in recent years, including an outlet in Mall of America.
Aside from the store chains dedicated to offering beauty services to girls, toy manufacturers have adapted to the trend by tying it to their doll products. The American Girl line of dolls and books has dedicated stores across the United States, such as Mall of America
Mall of America
The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...
and American Girl Place in Los Angeles, that include a doll hair salon, a photo studio and party hosting. The Nickelodeon television company's resort in Florida includes a girls' spa. The formula is proving to be successful globally. The world's largest Barbie doll store, a six-floor building in Shanghai, includes a "full-service day spa" where girls can get their hair cut and have a manicure done, as well as buying accessories and clothes emulating a Barbie-influenced style.
History
Girls' games and toys are fascinating artifacts of past cultures. The oldest toys for girls are dolls that date from around 2000 BCE in Egypt. Children in Ancient Greece played with dolls made of rags, wood, wax or clay, sometimes with moveable arms and legs. Rattles, hoops and yo-yos were other common toys. When a young woman was to be married in Ancient Greece, she would sacrifice her dolls and toys and other youthful possessions to ArtemisArtemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
the night before her wedding.
Children's games during the Middle Ages and earlier are something of a mystery, since the rules of the games were passed from generation to generation orally. In rare cases, the games survived long enough to be recorded in later centuries. Pieter Bruegel's painting Children's Games (1560) depicts many games popular with Flemish children of the time. Girls can be shown playing games that involve balls, musical instruments, and games that involved carrying other children or performing other challenges. Hide-and-seek, Leapfrog
Leapfrog
Leapfrog is a children's game in which players vault over each other's stooped backs. The first participant rests hands on knees and bends over, which is called giving a back. Games of this sort have been called by this name since at least the late sixteenth century.The next player places hands on...
and Tag (game)
Tag (game)
Tag is a playground game played worldwide that involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to tag or touch them, usually with their fingers. There are many variations...
are some perenially popular games that seem to have survived over the centuries in Europe and North America.
Fashion doll
Fashion doll
Fashion dolls are dolls primarily designed to be dressed to reflect fashion trends. They are manufactured both as toys for children to play with and as collectibles for adult collectors. The dolls are usually modeled after teen girls or adult women, though child, male, and even some non-human...
s were creations used by adults in early modern Europe. Fashion dolls were prototype samples of clothing styles, passed between adults who were involved in designing or purchasing expensive dresses and suits. Once the dolls were outdated, they were apparently given to girls as toys. Interestingly, a recent trend in the Barbie doll line in particular is to produce "collectors" versions of the doll marketed to adults, with Barbie wearing historic couture reproductions.
Board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
s, paper doll
Paper doll
Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper, with separate clothes that are usually held onto the dolls by folding tabs. They have been inexpensive children's toys for almost two hundred years. Today, many artists are turning paper dolls into an art form....
s, doll houses and other toys were creations of the Victorian era that remain popular today. Other historic and vintage girls' pastimes include Paper fortune tellers, which date from the 1920s.
See also
- DollDollA doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
- ToyToyA toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
- Toy museumToy museumToy museums are museums for toys. They typically showcase toys from a particular culture or period. Some museums such as the American Museum of Natural History have toys on display in their permanent collection, but are not full-fledged toy museums and as such are not listed here. Also,...
- GirlGirlA girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.-Etymology:...