Pinkstinks is a

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

founded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in May 2008 by twin sisters Emma Moore and Abi Moore (born 1971, London) to raise awareness of what they claim is damage caused by

gender stereotyping A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

of children. Pinkstinks claims that the

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

of gender-specific products to young children encourages girls to limit their ambitions later in life.

Activities

Pinkstinks has created a listing of "Pinkstinks Approved" companies providing non-gender-specific play and learning products for children. In 2009 the campaign was reported as urging parents to boycott shops selling pink toys and gifts. In 2010 Pinkstinks criticised

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

for labelling underwear aimed at six-year-old girls as "bra tops".

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

, Marks and Spencer and

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

have responded quickly to criticism by Pinkstinks, removing a "girls" label from a pink

Playmobil Playmobil () is a German line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group (Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co KG), headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. The signature Playmobil toy is a tall (1:24 scale) human figure with a smiling face. A wide range ...

set and a "boys" label from a science kit and adding non-gender-specific labels to children's nurse and doctor outfits.

Awards and recognition

The campaign's founders, Abi and Emma Moore, won an award in the Women Creating Change category at the 2009

Sheila McKechnie Foundation The Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) is a charity based in the United Kingdom. The foundation is a type of civil society campaign. It was founded in 2005 to support new and inexperienced campaigners, and to champion the right to campaign, offeri ...

awards. In 2012 Pinkstinks won the

Mumsnet Mumsnet is a London-based internet forum, created in 2000 by Justine Roberts for discussion between parents of children and teenagers. History and finances Mumsnet was created in 2000 by Justine Roberts, who came up with the idea of a we ...

Award for Promoting Body Confidence in Children. In 2009

Bridget Prentice Bridget Theresa Prentice (' Corr; born 28 December 1952) is a British politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham East from 1992 to 2010. She was married to the Labour MP Gordon Prentice from 1975 until their divorce in 2000. ...

MP, who was then

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

Justice Minister, backed Pinkstinks' campaign to boycott shops selling

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

gifts which were aimed particularly at either girls or boys, saying "It's about not funnelling girls into pretty, pretty jobs, but giving them aspirations and challenging them to fulfil their potential". Speaking in the UK

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Lady Morgan Sydney, Lady Morgan (''née'' Owenson; 25 December 1781? – 14 April 1859), was an Irish novelist, best known for '' The Wild Irish Girl'' (1806)'','' a romantic, and some critics suggest, "proto-feminist", novel with political and patriotic o ...

, the junior children's minister, said that "it is extremely important that we ensure girls have a chance to play with trucks and trains and wear blue if they look pretty in blue and we shouldn't be defining how young people are looked after by the colour of their toys". The campaign has also been backed by

Ed Mayo Ed Mayo (born 14 April 1964), is the CEO of the London-based charity Pilotlight. He is the former Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, the UK trade association for co-operatives and former Chief executive of the British National Consumer Counc ...

, author and former UK government adviser on consumer issues, who said: "I feel this colour apartheid is one of the things that sets children on two separate railway tracks. One leads to higher pay, and higher status and one doesn't." According to Mayo, before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

pink was more usually associated with boys, while blue – traditionally the colour of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

– was linked with girls. He said: "When you walk into a toy store, as the campaign Pinkstinks has argued, it is as if feminism had never happened."

International impact

Pinkstinks has attracted attention in other countries and has inspired the setting up of a similar campaign in Germany, set up in 2012 and based in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel.

References

External links

Official UK website

Pinkstinks video: "There's more than one way to be a girl"
2011
Pinkstinks video: "SLAP – On the face of Childhood"
2012
Pinkstinks GermanyGirls Out Loud: creating shining starsLet Toys Be ToysPigtail PalsPrincess Free Zone
2008 establishments in England Advocacy groups in Germany Advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Gender roles Girls' toys and games Non-profit organisations based in Hamburg Non-profit organisations based in London Organizations established in 2012 Parents' organizations Toy controversies Toy culture

Activities

Awards and recognition

International impact

See also

References

Further reading

External links