I love pritt sticks. They, more than any doll, car, lego set or teddy bear made me a very happy child. Which is why I was so disgusted to spy the above item on WHSmiths' shelves. It appears pritt stick is no longer unisex, no longer a simple tool to aid the creativity of developing children. No, we now have pink pritt stick: 'Just 4 girls'. Pink is a colour that is thrust upon young girls as 'their' colour by marketing and old fashioned idiots from a very early age. I know some researchers come up with notions to say otherwise [1], but I refuse to believe that it is healthy to declare one colour suitable for 'girls only' and then market it to them and their parents indiscriminatingly. It is as unfair to little boys as to the little girls to declare them separate entities who can have little in common.Why do we need a pink pritt stick? I doubt girls need encouraging into the arena of 'sticking things'. Why don't boys have a pritt stick 'Just 4 boys'? Why can't boys use pink? Is it in any way correct to tell boys to use the grown up pritt stick whilst telling the girls -that as they are girls- they should use something childish and frivolous?
So thank you pritt stick, for removing another unisex activity from those available to children, you were once my dear dear friend. I expected this rubbish from Mattel and Toys R Us but not from you. If you had just marketed coloured pritt sticks, I would have totally bought a purple one.
[1] Disputed here
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Agreed. I am also delighted that you are continuing the blogging tradition of having a separate label for outbursts of vitriol, and that you have named it after yourself to avoid confusion.
ReplyDeleteAgree wholeheartedly. I was recently ranting about this similar issue following an attempt to buy baby clothing for a newborn. I refused point blank to buy anything pink or blue, instead getting a brown teddy bear towel. People need to vote with their feet, and, you know, their bloody brains.
ReplyDeleteGood old Ben Goldacre. What a dude.
Baby/children's clothing is indeed another horrible instance of the pink infestation. Don't people understand that orange, brown and black will hide the dribbled baby food better?
ReplyDeleteI will admit to liking the pink and blue baby clothing custom. Identifying the gender of such tiny sprogs is difficult at best and when parents take mortal offence when you call their darling baby girl a boy, or strapping young lad a girl, having a colour scheme for easy identification makes a level of sense. Either that or big labels on foreheads would also be acceptable.
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