Thread by @LetToysBeToys

Hello & welcome to all our new followers. Here’s a bit about us & what we’ve accomplished. When our campaign began in 2012, signs for ‘Boys’ Toys’ & ‘Girls’ Toys’ had become commonplace in the UK. We wanted to change that and we have! See the evolution of signs below! 1/

In 2014, our #LetBooksBeBooks campaign with @LetterboxLib led to 11 publishers including Usborne & Random House pledging to drop boy/girl labels from their children’s books - hugely important because no child should feel excluded from something they are naturally drawn to 2/

The signs & labels may be history but we continue to document/challenge every day all the ways that brands, manufacturers, publishers & retailers continue to signal to boys & girls (through languages, images, motifs & colour) that certain products are not really meant for them 3/

Thanks to this campaign, marketing & advertising show significant signs of moving towards good practice compared to those few short years ago. For example, we are starting to see girls & boys together in a lot more ads & promo images. This is - believe it or not - progress! 4/

This campaign is not about insisting girls must play with trucks & boys must play with dolls etc. It’s saying: if they want to, that’s fine. The reverse is also true. But it’s also acknowledging it’s often not really a free choice at the moment & THAT can change! 5/

We believe marketing practices have had far reaching social consequences on our expectations & treatment of girls & boys & that by breaking these down, we give kids more freedom to truly be themselves. Let them decide for themselves who they are & what ‘stuff’ they are into! 6/

There are many ways to be a girl! 7/

There are many ways to be a boy! 8/

But gender stereotyping suggests otherwise! All the little signals kids receive all day every day throughout childhood can add up to some very big messages about what it means to be a boy or girl and what life has in store for them. 9/

The good news is we’ve had a warm reception from several retailers & have begun conversations with some key players in the toy industry. The tide truly has turned though change can feel glacially slow when impatient for it! 10/

We receive messages from educators & individuals all over the world including India, Canada, Germany, Columbia & lately lots from South Korea! They’re inspired by our work & we hope this is indicative of a global shift in attitudes towards gender stereotyping 11/

So let’s keep going! The different messages boys and girls receive in childhood change them & contribute to some of the very real inequalities we see in adult life. Tackling childhood gender stereotyping means creating a more equal world for everyone 12/ THE END

PS Who are we? A tiny team of volunteers on their phones (!) juggling this work around our families & day jobs. We don’t have the luxury of time or budgets of other professional campaigns but we are doing our best to make a difference. Donations always appreciated! Thanks!