Dear Tonka,
I love your products, but, what is up with your latest commercial? Boys are “built different”, and Tonka Trucks are “built for boyhood”? Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME?
We don’t have to go into the obvious anatomical differences, obviously I know that boys are “built different”, considering that I have two of them myself. And hey! Whaddya know? Their genitals are different from my daughter’s genitals, thank you so much for pointing that out in your commercial! I might have made a very serious mistake in her potty training otherwise, so thanks for that.
But here’s a newsflash, Tonka-Girls like playing with Tonka Trucks! It’s true! And playing with them does not cause them to grow a penis, or anything! They can be the girliest girly girls on the planet, and still enjoy pushing a truck back and forth while making “vroom vroom” noises. Of course, they might fill the dumptruck with Little People, waffle blocks, and barrettes and then push it up and down the hallway, instead of pretending to be a macho construction worker or whatever, but still. GIRLS PLAY WITH TRUCKS TOO.
Commercials like that make me really wonder what the hell the ad agency was thinking. Here’s an ad I found from the 70s, showing not only a boy, but also a GIRL, playing with a Tonka Adventure Buggy. Or are girls just not “built correctly” to play with your dump trucks?
Photos to follow of my daughter wearing her frilliest dress and playing with a dump truck. If anyone reading this does marketing for Tonka, feel free to send me any of your products so I can make sure they are girl-appropriate. Seriously.
edited to add: please stop by MomReviews to read my review of Oxiclean Versatile Stain Remover, brought to you by Parent Bloggers Network-thanks!
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Bwahahaha! Grow a penis! *sigh* man am I glad you found me on cre8buzz
Both of my girls love dump trucks too. I mean, come on… you can put stuff in it. Us gals can always use something to put our hair clips and Polly Pockets in. It’s like a purse with wheels.
Twitter: pz5wjj
says:
LMAO! You are a riot!
And Tonka, you can send me stuff too! I have 2 boys, one with a birthday soon… I don’t mind! I’ll test them out for you too!
OMG! I cannot breathe. Now that was funny. I needed to read this today. Grow a penis! *oops*
What were Tonka saying? That girls are not allowed to play with Tonka trucks? Is it a Federal offence?
Yeah I don’t think they realize that little girls see value in the vehicles too.
Sometimes that value is “hey its like a big purse on wheels” but still, they ARE playing with them!
Sheesh Tonka! Have they not heard of equality?
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
Mary-”Purse on wheels”, love it! It’s the same reason they love pushing those little toy shopping carts around, too.
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
Mimi-We should start a campaign! We can email every independent toy company online that sells Tonka Trucks, and offer to do a product review for them, so that our readers know that both boys AND girls like trucks! In fact, there are a few showing up in my Google ads right now
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
Tanyetta-Glad you liked the post, it’s been a while since I had a good reason to break out the sarcastic humor
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
Graham-Tonka has a new TV commercial, the voiceover says “boys are built different” and “Built for boyhood”. The insinuation is that Tonka trucks are built specifically for boys. Which is so not true.
UGH! This makes me so sad. AND ANGRY!
My goodness…it seems that the folks at Tonka have upset you with their commercial.
I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes right now!!!!!
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
SJ-I know! This is freaking 2007, and here’s Tonka acting like it’s 1950. Besides, my daughter is way harder on her toys than my sons ever were-she needs tough Tonka trucks to play with!
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
R-It’s hard enough raising a daughter these days, giving her just the right amount of self esteem. I don’t want my daughter to think that there is anything she can’t do, and to me, that commercial is just reinforcing the stereotypes. I feel the same way when I hear about people getting upset if a toddler boy wants to play with a doll. Toys are toys, gender shouldn’t matter.
I haven’t seen that commercial, but if I had I would’ve reacted the same as you. What idiots! In this day and age the last place you think you’d find gender discrimination is in a toy commercial! That’s just ridiculous.
Heehee… Aren’t most ad agencies run by men though? And heaven forbid people question guys and their penises (right now is where my hubby would insert a South Park joke).
All my boys do is fill up laundry baskets and trucks with toys and push them around the house. Could be blocks, could be toy food, could be my laundry! I even have a *gasp* kitchen for my boys to play with. Heck, my 4yo’s the one that picked the toy kitchen instead of a tool bench like daddy’s. I just don’t want stuff to be full-on pink, that’s my only hangup (more because I don’t like pink than anything else).
I’m a mom of two boys and I have to say, I agree with you.
Change the tag line to “Built for Childhood” and leave it at that.
Our society’s ideas of what it means to be a man and a woman needs to change!
Twitter: Table4Five
says:
Queen-”Built for Childhood”-yes! Excellent comment
I sent a letter to Hasbro. Something really needs to be done. I am very upset over this. How dare they insinuate the whole “weaker sex” thing.
Hallo Table4five,
I like your post, and just happen to be working on an article about gendered toys. Would you be willing to send me your email address? The article needs more parent perspective, and I would love to ask you a few questions.
Cheers,
Jenna Beck
hahah you’re so funny. that commercial always annoyed me. But also because of the motto “boys are built different” they say that line in the add like 5 times but it’s not even grammatically correct. IT’S DIFFERENTLY not different. What kind of dumb asses wrote that commercial??
This advertising campaign put this mommy’s panties in such a bunch that I had to do…something. Besides, I was pretty sick and tired of my toddler son and daughter fighting over who was going to play with his dump truck.
I knew she needed a truck of her own, but, of course, feminine tomboy truck are not out there. So, Daddy and I purchased another Tonka and *gasp* painted it pink…
Please…and I mean please! Don’t tell me a board of executives at Hasbro voted on this commercial. I know what Hasbro was trying to imply. “Boys are tough and so is Tonka”. Well Hasbro…You just alienated a mass of female construction workers! In Minnesota, we can see them drive the dump trucks, run heavy construction equipment, and most likely, beat-up a few of your executives at once. Whether Tonka happened to be based in Mound Minnesota, would make interesting research for the causality for the female construction workers and if they played with Tonka as kids.
Take a hint! Make Tonka trucks that may be pink in color or otherwise geared toward the ladies. Maybe Hasbro could do some research of demographics, instead of shooting in the dark.
SO please tell me where to get colorfull Tonka trucks for my daughter for christmas. please. Just Email me. please. TY
Recentally I saw an add for Maruti sx4….”Men are back” …I mean what the hell are they trying to prove…These ads can sometimes be so hilaarious…:)
They’re just marketing to the audience that they know they have already hooked.
Twitter: pintuhs
says:
Tonka trucks are meant to be played with outside in sand and dirt, just like the real trucks do. Why would a boy want to place plastic “boulders” into a plastic dump truck when he can go outside and dump mud into it a steel beast instead? It is about realistic play.
As a parent, you want the best for your kid. You want a toy that will give them years of fun. And your kid wants a toy that won’t break during playtime. With a Tonka truck, it doesn’t matter if your kid pushes it, sits on it, or pretends the driver accidentally drove off the edge of a cliff. When you are made of steel, you can withstand just about anything.
You will find different kind of toys in the market for boys and girls manufactured by various companies but Tonka is the most reliable and quite famous company in this industry. You have to consider some factors like good quality, safety measures, affordability and durability while purchasing toys for your kids. Tonka trucks and toys fall in all these basic requirements of kids’ toys thus providing you reliability.