Boy's and Girl's Toys

Remove gender from the Happy Meal

Since McDonald's started selling Happy Meals in 1977, they have been separating boy's and girl's toys. Every time a Happy Meal is ordered, a McDonald's employee asks the customer if they want a toy designed for a male or a female. Often times, the former are based off of characters from movies or television shows or vehicles, featuring blue and neutral colours. The latter are more likely to be pink and purple dolls or accessories.

The notion that girls like fashion and beauty-oriented toys while boys prefer to play with machinery and action figures is outdated. Making the assumption that biological sex is directly connected to personal interest is both harmful and illogical. Every child has their own personality and preferences, regardless of their sex.

The topic of gender is a whole other issue. For children who don't feel comfortable identifying as cisgender - especially those who haven't come to terms with their identity - it would be damaging to consistently receive toys based on their sex rather than their preferences. Being forced into a floral pink girl box or a studded blue boy box could be incredibly confusing, if not traumatic. It can be difficult for fully grown adults to admit that they don't fit the traditional gender norms. For a six year old whose parents make decisions for them, it could be nearly impossible.

That's not to mention cisgender children who simply don't adhere to the traditional boy/girl stereotypes. If Brittany likes Hot Wheels and Tom likes Polly Pocket, why deny them of enjoyment and comfortability? If the purpose of Happy Meal toys is for kids to have fun, it doesn't make sense to impose such strict guidelines on Happy Meal toys.

In any other situation, it would be considered inappropriate to divide human beings based on their sex. Frankly, it would likely be considered sexist. In an article by Antonia-Ayres Brown of Slate Magazine, she recounts her decision to send a letter to McDonald's CEO regarding gendering their toys. She asks, "would be legal for McDonald’s 'to ask at a job interview whether someone wanted a man’s job or a woman’s job?'" In this context, distributing toys made for either boys or girls becomes clearly absurd. 

The simplest solution is to rephrase the question, "Do you want a boy's or girl's toy?". It would be just as concise to ask, "Would you like a Hot Wheels toy or a Polly Pocket toy?", which removes the aspect of gender from the equation while still making the toy somewhat personalized. According to Brown's article, she was alerted that some managers have already begun to do so. But they seem to have done so by their own accord rather than that of the company as a whole. As a result, it is not being properly enforced.

Parents and other concerned customers have also made requests for McDonald's to start asking which type of toy the child would prefer rather than the sex of the child. Joel Newton of Playground Dad made such a request on Playground Dad, specifying that his daughter would rather have a "boy's toy". Emma Waverman recounts a similar experience, citing a petition by fellow mom Jennifer Larson that pleas, "Let kids be kids!"

It could be argued that this issue is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and the truth that it certainly is a small step forward. However, it is a step forward. In North America's progressive society, it's increasingly important to fight discrimination of any sort. It is too late in history to be shamelessly reaffirming toxic gender stereotypes, and McDonald's policy on Happy Meal toys does exactly that.

How I improved my title's SEO: When I used Google Trends to search "Happy Meal toys", I found that Mcdonald's had a higher score, so I added the company's name to my title. 

Photo by SouthernWI