Pony Princess Doll Marketing Revisited · 11:29pm Jan 14th, 2018
Nearly four years ago, I wrote a blog post: Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie attack Pony Princess Doll Marketing. This has turned out to be my most read post and has now gained over 1000 views – it’s not clear exactly why as I don’t think it is linked to anywhere off Fimfiction. Maybe it just features highly in some Google searches.
I’m quite proud of this one as it seemed to have hit on the right way to get the intended message across. It was inspired by this article about how the way toys are marketed as ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’ was reinforcing gender stereotypes and discouraging girls from entering science or engineering. This is something I care about. It was relevant to MLP. I wanted to blog about it, but I was pretty sure if I just wrote a straightforward post, no one would pay it much attention. Instead I got Twilight and Pinkie Pie to do it for me, in their way, which was far more effective.
At the time, My Little Pony was an interesting case study, as Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had together done an excellent job of promoting Lauren Faust’s “many different ways to be a girl” vision. But this was not reflected in the way the toys were marketed, with the commercials still doing the old pony princess stuff.
Four years on, things have changed a lot. For a while there were fears that without Faust, the show would morph back to a pink-and-glitter girls’ show. When the Equestria Girls dolls were first launched, they looked at bit like generic teenage girls’ stuff, and got a mixed response. Yet then things swung the other way. The Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games toys were music and action focussed.
Let’s do a Then and Now comparison:
The Crystal Princess Palace playset (2013), which Pinkie Pie ridiculed, is no longer on the Hasbro website. It had this description:
- Crystal Princess Palace playset comes with a Princess Twilight Sparkle pony figure
- Her wings move
- Dress your pony figure up in the dress, shoes, and accessories
- Includes blow dryer and perfume bottle
- Style her hair with the 2 barrettes
This was evidently written by someone who doesn’t know Twilight Sparkle. But the real problem is that it reinforced the stereotype that girls just think about dresses, accessories, perfume and hairstyles. While some girls do want this, they weren’t offered much in the way of alternatives.
Now the Hasbro site offers a Twilight Sparkle Story Set, with this description:
Twilight Sparkle loves to read and learn lessons in friendship. She’s also enjoys learning about science and exploring new things. Imagine this Twilight Sparkle figure reading her book accessory, looking up at the skies through her telescope accessory, and writing notes on her clipboard. Pretend she is writing her learnings in a letter to Princess Celestia, too!
Much better. Good to see someone in the Toy Design section watched the show. I am very pleased to see the focus on ‘learning about science and exploring new things’. And pony fans who do like fashion can get the Rarity Pony Story Set:
Rarity shares her generosity with everypony. She also loves fashion and creating her own styles. Imagine this Rarity figure in her fashion boutique using her ruler and sewing machine accessories to create her beautiful styles. Pretend she's adding fashionable flair to the included skirt.
Which also gets extra points as the focus is on ‘creating her own style’ instead of just dressing up.
So credit to Hasbro for listening to feedback from campaigners like Pink Stinks. To be fair, there are other factors at play. In this podcast Faust explains that the retailers play a big role. If Target say they will order 500 if it’s orange and 10,000 if it’s pink, then guess what colour it will be?
I haven’t yet found a commercial with both boys and girls playing with ponies, but it likely this will come. My Little Pony is no longer seen as a just a toy for girls now as so many young boys have grown up enjoying ponies. This was brought home to me when my neighbour’s little boy saw my Twilight Sparkle T-shirt for the first time, he was so excited she couldn’t stop him squealing. Even tough young men who shun all things pink acknowledge that Rainbow Dash is cool.
Progress! Also, I can't help but be amused by the full-circle transition of Twilight Sparkle as a toy. As with Smarty Pants, now you can pretend Twilight's doing her homework.
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If Target says they will order 500 if it's orange and 10,000 if it's pink, and if Target were a key client of mine, then I would put a lot of effort into teaching Target employees (the magic of) intertemporal portfolio choice and game theory. They should prefer mixed equilibrium (hedged) strategies. They should not assume one option is best.
Aligning the personalities of the toys with the show personalities was a great idea. Now we just need an imagination builder set (changelings that can change?) to inspire future Lauren Fausts.
It is nice to see that we make progress. On another front, we have our 1st Doctrix:
Random Person:
¿Who are you?
The Doctrix:
I am the Doctrix.
Random Person:
¿Doctrix Who?
The Doctrix:
No, just the Doctrix.
Hopefully, we shall have many Doctrices. By the way, we have a group devoted to Doctrix Whooves on FiMFiction:
Doctrix Whooves
Indeed.
I haven't kept up with the toy marketing, but I'm very glad to hear they fixed that problem - and even renamed the "play sets" to "story sets"!
There does seem to be a shift in toy marketing over the last few years, and it's one I'm happy to see. IIRC, Lego offered a female scientist kit which sold out in about .5 seconds (roughly). I haven't been paying attention to the advertising on the boxes--which I probably should, since I buy lots of pony action figures--but I'm glad to see that it's changing.
It's also worth noting that at least as it applies to ponies, Hasbro does pay some attention to the bronies. Who'd've thought we'd ever see a Derpy pony, especially in the early days with the conflicts associated with the fanon name? And yet, she was in the somewhat recent Wonderbolts set, and also the MLP movie set.
Oh holy moly that is a ridiculous step forward with the toys. I almost feel like I should go buy some just to reward them for actually making an effort to get it right.
I mean, for a while I had the Twilight Sparkle playset where she rode a scooter and owned a cat. But I wouldn't be embarrassed to own these.
Wow, those must be new! I just checked HasbroToyShop this morning and they weren't there. Those seem really true to the characters and I hope we get versions like those for the other M6.
Speaking of not there, I'm still trying to figure out where to get the beach-themed EqG Minis, other than by being gouged by randoms on Amazon...
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There have been some truly awesome toys. My cabinet of nerd shame runneth over, and I would encourage any fan to check out the toys, at least a little. It's getting to the point where even some of the more obscure characters and outfits are getting toys. Although I'm... actually not sure who your favorite ponies are, I must confess.
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That, good sir, was a colossal brain fart--no two ways around it.
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
I would ask Luna to send me dreams of Ms. Harshwhinny expressing her dismay in a variety of creative ways, but I'm afraid that might only encourage me.
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I will always support Harshwhinny-based encouragement!
(No, seriously. I have to. It's in my contract.)