This article, which appeared last week in Bloomberg Businessweek, details a meeting between a group of "Mommy Bloggers" and representatives of the world's largest toymaker, to discuss the apparent divide between Moms and the playing habits of their boys. Mattel claims that Mothers just don't understand the play patterns of their male youngsters, and why they love to crash, bash and throw their toys all over the place. The average Mom really doesn't get why toys like Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars and the like are so cool because "[she] has never played with them. She doesn't get why cars, engines, and all the shapes crashing and smashing are so cool."
At the meeting, the Mommy Bloggers were asked to create scrapbooks to reflect their family life, and were encouraged in a debate about toy cars and how they can benefit young boys.
Mattel is seeking to bridge the gap by offering up a special section on their website for Moms who want to learn more about the benefits of playing with toy cars. After all, Moms buy far more toys for their children on average than Dads do. The company wants to convey to Mothers everywhere that Hot Wheels and other toy cars are more than just fun - they help kids learn, boost creativity, and teach various other skills.
I'm just going to go ahead and give this whole thing a big fat FAIL.
First of all, the article didn't mention girl children even once, which leads me to assume that at this super important meeting, they weren't ever discussed. Newsflash: it isn't just boy children that play with Hot Wheels. Not by a long shot. In my experience, just about EVERY KID plays with Hot Wheels. Why? Because they are awesome.
The fact that Mattel would create a whole marketing strategy to try and bridge the divide between us poor befuddled Moms and our little boys without even attempting to include girls in the picture whatsoever is incredibly sexist. And where is Dad's place in this conversation? There are plenty of involved Fathers who might also like to enjoy being part of such a debate. Ah, but Mom is the one doing all the buying, and all the parenting (or so they assume), so Dad is irrelevant.
The assertion that Moms don't "get" the way boys play, presumably because we were never little boys and don't have the ingrained desire to crash, bonk and toss toys around, is quite simply, ridiculous. I have a three and a half year old son, and we play constantly. I "get" how and why he plays the way he does just fine. I understand the hilarity of throwing a toy car through the air. I understand wanting to race cars. I understand the impulse to collect one of every type and line them all up on the coffee table, and to crash them into each other, seeing which one is the "winner". I understand all of that, because I did all the same things when I was a kid.
I know, it's shocking, but it's true. Girls do play with toys that are "for boys" (simply meaning toys that are mainly marketed to boys, not that they are specifically for boys only). As a kid, I had more Hot Wheels, Transformers, and Tonka Trucks than I did Barbie dolls. Believe it or not, I loved to dig tunnels, race them, crash them, and take them apart. JUST LIKE BOY CHILDREN DO.
It's a pretty wide brush Mattel is sweeping over boy kids, isn't it? After all, there are probably plenty of little boys who don't play with Hot Wheels. Who enjoy coloring or Easy Bake ovens or even Barbie dolls instead. What about them? However will we understand the way they play without Mattel to guide us?
It is over-simplistic and patronizing to assume that Mothers with small male children have no idea about the way their kids play, and that we need to be educated (by the toy company that wants our money, no less) about how Hot Wheels are beneficial and promote creativity. I already knew that. I buy my kid a Hot Wheel or a Matchbox Car every time we go to a certain department store. We pick them out together. He has a massive collection, 90% of which I bought. So Mattel is right to want to market to me, I guess. The way they are going about it, though, is laughable. To imply that I, as a woman, am disconnected and uninformed about the way my child plays simply because I'm not a guy, is ridiculous. And not very likely to get me to spend more money with Mattel.
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