Playing house

When people view this advertisement, they either think it is a great product that their little girl will love, or an extremely stereotyped and biased ad. This commercial features girls playing house with their Rose Petal Cottage. Many people would say that it enforces the stereotype that women must be in the kitchen and this type of product is conditioning girls for that. However, I think that this thinking is wrong. In a way, it is a vicious circle. Throughout generations of advertising, us, our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents, etc. have been seeing that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Playing with dolls and houses is for girls and playing with cars and army men is for boys. It is hard to break this thinking suddenly. Our culture is so ingrained with this thinking that it is most often not a conscious decision that the girl wants the pink, it is just what she wants. Manufacturers create products that sell, and for girls it is products like the Rose Petal Cottage. Sure, it is nice to say that they should start creating gender neutral products, but this is much easier said than done. Gender specificity exists in all aspects of life, and the biggest thing is that important to remember is to be inclusive. If a boy wants to play with these pink "girlie" products, he should not be ashamed of it and he should be allowed to.