Gender stereotyping is something that has always affected the way in which products are designed and created. Products are designed to appeal to men and women depending on the target market. In order to do this, products are made to appeal to a specific gender. This can be done through many means such as form, colour and size. There are many stereotypes which affect designing for specific genders. For example when designing for women, products are normally designed to be sleeker, smaller and generally have more vibrant colours and patterns, while for men they are normally more bulky, bigger and are normally a more subtle colour like black or brown. ‘Stereotypically women’s tastes still stand outside the true canon of aesthetic values of the dominant culture’ (Sparke, 1996). This quote refers to the fact that the stereotypes of women at the moment are massively out-dated and are not up to date with the role that women play in society at the moment. It goes on to say that ‘women would be quick to disassociate themselves from those tastes’ (ibid.). This supports the fact that stereotypes are made and that products of today are not doing any justice to dispel the gender stereotype towards women. There are many different types of products that have gender stereotypes but I am going to focus on two.
A company that has really made a profit from creating gender stereotyping is Mattel. Mattel are responsible for toys such as Hot Wheels, Barbie and WWE. They are notorious for stereotyping their toys to attract different genders. They hold such a monopoly in the toy industry that they affect the way in which children stereotype different genders. It is from the use of packaging to the actual toys themselves. ‘It's just so insidious and it shows how commercial forces can get under their skin even by that age’ (Palmer, 2006). This statement from Toxic Childhood reinforces the fact that most of the stereotypes come from commercial forces. The way products are branded and packaged makes children take a certain view of what to desire at a young age. I shall examine the example of Barbie and Ken. The Barbie and Ken toys are seen to be a girls’ toy and this is driven into the heads of children. The packaging plays a very big part in the stereotyping of what toys are for which gender. The packaging for Barbie and Ken is a pink box and quite a lot of the time has pictures of girls playing with these dolls on them (Figure 1). This automatically suggests that it is a girls’ toy because stereotypically pink has been seen to be a colour for girls while blue has been seen to be a colour for boys. As well as the packaging the actual product has been made to fit stereotypes. Barbie has been created with long blonde hair, blue eyes and a good physique. Children playing with the toy will aspire to look like this. Also because Barbie is such a well-known and popular toy, it looks like this is the “right” way to look. Mattel has taken this into account and really encouraged their target market to play with certain toys. ‘Little girls in advertisements are usually pictured playing with Barbie dolls in their bedrooms.’ (He). This statement further supports the fact that companies use product placement to further enhance the stereotypes of what kids like. Let’s take two different toys created by Mattel and how they are packaged and branded to attract different genders by playing with stereotypes. I am going to look at Barbie and Hot Wheels. Barbie is designed to attract girls while Hot Wheels is made for boys. The difference in product quality is significant because they are attracting different audiences. The Barbie dolls are more fragile and come apart while the hot wheels are a lot sturdier. This might be going along the stereotype that boys are more destructive and so their toys need to be built to be tougher so they do not damage as easily, while girls’ toys do not need to be built to withstand as much impact because they take care of them more and are less likely to break and damage them. Barbie dolls are made with a lot fewer joints on them with the only movement coming around the shoulders and hips while boys’ toys like Action Man are made with many more movable points such as the knee and elbows. ‘The simplicity and minimal number of joints in Barbie suggests the priority given to posing rather than action’ (Kirkham, 1996). This further enhances the point of stereotyping. The products are created to conform to stereotypes of men and women in our society. It suggests that the lack of movement shown in Barbie is due to the fact that she is there to be “dolled” up and made to look pretty instead of being used for an action or purpose. Even after more joints were added to the dolls it was still about portraying beauty rather than having an action. This is illustrated by the slogan that is on the box of Barbie ‘Now as Poseable as You Are’.
Another Product that reinforces gender stereotypes is watches. Men’s watches and women’s watches differ in many ways than originally catch the eye. Men’s watches are normally bigger and bulkier while women’s are normally smaller and sleeker. For example, Raymond Weil recently released a watch pairing called the freelancer (Fig. 3). The freelancer edition is supposed to be a watch for couples one for him and one for her so couples can match but at first glance it is obvious whose is who due to many reasons. The male version is bigger and bulkier with a diameter of 42mm while the female is smaller and sleeker with a diameter of 29mm. As well as this the female version is encrusted with 50 0.21carat diamonds. This further plays on the stereotype of diamonds are a woman’s best friend. The watch is made to be cute and quaint therefore appealing to the woman. Also the small face accommodates for the fact that women have smaller wrists therefore a big face might not fit. The bulkiness of the male watch might again suggest that men like products that are big and bulky rather than small and sleek. This is seen not only in this collection of watches but on many other collections. Many watch companies advertise their watches in ways that are supposed to entice different users. For example, Omega are currently running a campaign with various leading male actors like George Clooney and Daniel Craig. This creates someone who is purchasing and wearing the watch feel like they have the power of these male characters and creates the stereotype of being a leading male. Tag Heuer are currently using Lewis Hamilton as their face front for their male watches. He is the current Formula 1 champion. This is supposed to appeal to the car enthusiast in men and make them feel that by wearing this watch they can be a winner too. They are using Cameron Diaz as their female face front. This is supposed to make women feel sexy and be desirable to men. The message these two send a very message to their target audience and promote different stereotypes. The male is using the face of formula 1 probable on the most dangerous sports to appeal to the dangerous side in men, while the female is using the sultry, sexy side of things to appeal to women. So it reinforces the stereotype that women should be sleek and quaint while men are the thrill seekers and adventurers.
Is product design complicit in creating and/or reinforcing gender stereotypes? Yes because from a young age children are brought up believing certain products are made for women and certain are for men and this stays with them till they get older. But on the other hand as a result of this upbringing we desire products that fit into stereotypes and the argument is for something to sell to its target market it has to fit into a stereotype or else it wont sell. If Barbie was dark blue it will still sell to some but they would see a massive drop in sales because it is created to appeal to the girly side in girls and if Action Man was Pink I am pretty sure less young boys would desire it. As result even though it is bad to create gender stereotypes some of them have to be obeyed in order for products to sell.